XXVI. 



Regarding Early Maturity. — Lady Suffolk and Apollo. — Lady Suffolk and 

 Dutchman. — Suffolk and Cato. — Suffolk, Lady Victory, ar i Lafayette. 

 — Suffolk, Henry, Celeste, and Oato. — Suffolk and Don Juan. — Suffolk 

 and Ellen Jewett. — Suffolk and Independence. — Suffolk and Dutcli- 

 man. — Suffolk, Celeste, and Napoleon. — Suffolk against Time. — Suf- 

 folk against Bonaparte. — Suffolk and Aaron Burr. 



THE commencement of Lady Suffolk's history interested 

 tliose who remembered her performances five-and- 

 twenty years before, and revived the discussion about the 

 forcing-system and early maturity. It was admitted that 

 David Bryant trotted the mare too much in her first season ; 

 but ?ome still held that early maturity was a good thing, and 

 predicted that it will be hereafter one of the chief aims of the 

 breeders. I am somewhat afraid that it will ; and being con- 

 vinced that it will be mischievous, and end in the premature 

 decay of many good horses, I have protested against it. 

 The argument is this : if a colt can be made as good at 

 three years old as another will be at five or six, there is a 

 great saving of time and expense. Now, this is not the 

 proper way to state the question ; for a colt may be as fast 

 at three as another is at five or six, and still be an inferior 

 horse ; and it is my opinion that the method adopted to make 

 him at three equal to what the other will be at six is almost 

 certain to render him an inferior animal as regards duration. 

 As I before stated, when treating of this matter, early 

 maturity is almost always followed by early decay. If it 

 could be had without that result, it would of course be a 

 good thing to strive for ; but the forcing with strong feed 

 when young, and the hard work of training and trotting at 



318 



