SELECTING BREEDING STOCK. 155 



when twenty-five years old. The reproductive powers of the 

 stallion depend more on condition than age. There has been 

 much speculation as to the comparative value of foals got by 

 certain stallions at different periods of life. 



Boston was sired by Timoleon when eighteen years old, 

 who, in turn, sired the great Lexington at the age of sixteen 

 years. 



Volunteer sired St. Julian when fourteen years old. Im- 

 ported Diomed sired the great Sir Archy (called the Godolphin 

 Arabian of America) at the advanced age of twenty-seven 

 years. The pair of the greatest combined ages at coupling 

 were George Wilkes 26, Patsy 17 = 43, and the produce was 

 Brignoli Wilkes, 2.141, while the next oldest were Abdallah 25,. 

 Kent mare 15 = 40, and the result was the greatest horse of all, 

 Kysdyk's Hambletonian. The next oldest pair were Aberdeen 

 22, Kentucl?y Central 17 = 39, and the produce was Kentucky 

 Union, 2.11f, the best two-year-old of her year. On the other 

 hand, we find three couplings in which the combined ages of 

 sire and dam were six years each that produced respectively, 

 Jack, 2.11|, Elfrida, 2.13i, and Merman, 2.14J. As an ex- 

 ample of an old sire and young mare, we find that Hambletonian, 

 twenty-five years, was coupled with Camptown, three years, 

 and produced the great sire Egbert. 



SELECTING THE BROOD MAEE. 



In selecting the brood mare it should ever be borne in mind 

 that the foal carries at least fifty per cent, of the blood of the 

 dam, and yet there is a great difference in mares as breeders, 

 as some breed after the horse while others breed after them- 

 selves ; and, again, others divide their influence with the sire in 

 nearly equal proportions. 



The first of this class, those who breed almost directly after 

 the horse, are, in breeding parlance, termed passive breeders; 

 those breeding after themselves are positive breeders, and 

 those who divide their influence with the sire are termed inter- 

 mediate breeders. 



