THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE. 491 



How are these two classes of facts to be reconciled? The 

 theory that gregarious animals — animals that, like horses, cattle, 

 and sheep, go naturally in herds — are an exception to the rule that 

 in-breeding is attended by debility in the offspring, is not very 

 satisfactory. It cannot be true, as has been asserted, that in a 

 wild state one stallion would keep his own herd of mares and all 

 of his own female progeny to himself for several years, and that 

 hence breeding with his own offspring would be in accordance 

 with Nature's plan. In a wild state there would be as many 

 males as females ; his herd of mares would be but one or two ; 

 half of his offspring would be males ; they would each contend 

 for and obtain some sexual opportunities ; the fillies of one sire 

 would naturally bo squandered everywhere among other herds 

 before they were old enough to breed ; and all the -conditions 

 would favor continual out-crossing rather than in-breeding. Pigs 

 are gregarious, and in-breeding spoils the breed of them in one 

 generation. No matter how near the hog-breeder has brought his 

 stock to perfection, one single in-breeding spoils all. In chickens, 

 if in-breeding is continued for several years, the first noticeable 

 result is their increased productiveness of eggs. The stock be- 

 comes smaller and more delicate with each successive in-breeding ; 

 and all weakly animals are more prolific than stronger ones, hence 

 the increased number of eggs. When the conditions of life de- 

 press and retard the development of plants or animals, they become 

 more prolific because their offspring will come into being under 

 circumstances unfavorable to the continuance of their existence, 

 and Nature equalizes the chances by producing more of them. 

 It is in accordance with this law that fat animals and idle animals 

 are not sure to breed ; that families living luxuriously for a few 

 generations have very few children, while those that " live from 

 hand to mouth" are proverbially fruitful — " A fool for luck, and 

 a poor man for children." The chickens are more prolific for a 

 few generations, but continue the in-breeding, and they become 

 so very weakly and small that the experiment will end in a good 

 out-cross. If it were continued longer in the same direction, the 

 result would probably be the extinction of the stock. 



Hambletonian, Plato, and Abdallah, the in-bred descendants 

 of Messenger, were remarkable for giving the trotting quality to 

 their descendants. Taking Messenger as a single source of the 

 trotting quality, and supposing there was not another horse in the, 

 country above mediocrity in that respect, we might expect some 

 of his fillies to inherit his trotting in great degree. To perpetuate 

 that particular quality in her offspring, it would be better to breed 

 her to her sire than to any horse of another stock, though her 

 offspring might lose something in stamina by the iu-breeding. It 

 might be still better to breed her to any son of Messenger that 



