their  Breeding  and  Management. 
53 
is  suggested  that  the  foreigner  has  taken  away  our  mares  as  a man 
eats  cherries  out  of  a pottle,  first  picking  the  best,  then  eating 
up  all.  People  forget  the  great  and  material  influence  of  natural 
barriers,  which  steam  and  rail  suddenly  broke  down  ; the  rapidity 
more  than  the  mass  is  telling,  and  has  led  to  the  consequently 
wide  and  extraordinary  geographical  distribution  of  the  thorough- 
bred and  other  English  horses.  Railways  in  England  have 
dislocated  or  distracted,  not  lessened,  the  demand  for  horses,  an 
illustration  of  a principle  I laid  down  in  a previous  volume  of 
this  ‘ Journal  ’ : — “ True  it  is  that  the  creation  of  any  one  exceed- 
ing industrial  momentum  is  certain  to  excite  an  endless  parallel, 
and  converging  lines  on  unexpected,  and  often  marvellously 
rapid  progress.”  * Hence  the  general  and  profitable  increase  of 
the  Clydesdale,  the  Shire,  the  Suffolk,  and  other  heavy  horses. 
In  very  many  breeding  districts  sheep  and  cattle  have  eaten  up 
the  horse.  Every  one,  without  any  exception,  interested  in 
half-bred  horses,  deplores  the  virtual  extinction,  consequent  on 
the  various  causes  stated,  of  the  famous  Cleveland  breed,  together 
with  the  old  pack-horse  and  Chapman  mares,  with  fine  shoulders 
but  drooping  quarters,  and  the  farmers’  mare  of  all  work — the 
general-purpose  mare.  The  farmer  who  works  his  brood-mare 
has  no  doubt  a pull  over  any  mere  stud  establishment.  The 
crying  evil  is,  we  constantly  breed  from  refuse  mares  : the  farmer, 
if  he  reflects,  really  knows  better — it  is  like  seeking  to  skim 
cream  off  blue-milk  ! The  only  plan  is  to  retain  on  farms  likely 
Allies  to  breed  from.  The  dam,  the  mother,  is  an  all-important 
factor  ; in  addition  to  half  the  original  germ,  she  solely  nourishes 
the  embryo.  Above  all  things,  aptitude  and  energy  are  elements 
of  excellence  in  anything : it  is  essential  the  mare  should  have 
energy, — that  is,  mettle.  That  ancient  Grecian  sporting  man 
understood  the  art  of  breeding  who,  when  asked  at  the  supreme 
moment  if  a certain  horse  would  probably  win  the  great  Olympic 
Stakes,  unhesitatingly  replied,  “ You  must  ask  the  horse’s  dam.” 
He  has  made  a good  progress  in  a business  who  has  thought 
well  of  it  beforehand ; yet,  in  the  conjunction  of  horses,  it 
appears  men  often  act  with  no  more  consideration  than  their 
wives  would  give  a hasty  pudding.  In  this  affair  we  should 
remember  the  stable-door  is  shut  in  Nature’s  face,  for  under 
domestication  natural  sexual  selection  cannot  exist.  No  breeder 
of  experience  doubts  the  tendency  to  inheritance,  though  the 
exact  laws  are  unknown : like  produces  like  — the  mingled 
qualities  of  parents  — is  the  rule,  with,  especially  in  cross- 
breeding, numerous  and  most  disheartening  exceptions.  All 
are  agreed  that  in  cross-breeding  there  must  be,  to  produce  a 
* Jour.  Eoy.  Agri.  Soc.  vol.  xi.  Art.  “ Wool.' 
