ON THE MANAGEMENT OF FARM HORSES- 107 
female. But although, in obedience to this principle, I believe 
that it is principally by means of the male that various improved 
breeds will be rendered more perfect, yet I by no means wish it to 
be inferred that I consider the qualities of the female a matter of 
indifference. So far from this being the case, I would censure in 
the strongest terms that utter neglect of the qualifications of the 
female which is so frequently displayed, particularly with horses, 
regarding it as the most grievous error appertaining to breeding. 
It is of equal importance to study the qualification of the female as 
of the male, though their respective excellencies may not be the 
same. Hereditary disease and weakness of constitution are much 
more likely to be communicated to the offspring by the mother than 
by the father, which is in keeping with the fact of the long and 
intimate connexion kept up between the dam and the offspring, 
both before and after birth, till weaning takes place. As the same 
blood nourishes both, both are likely to become affected by any 
unhealthy change in this fluid. Soundness of constitution is, 
therefore, an indispensable requisite in the female. 
I offer these remarks as general rules, but by no means as rules 
without exceptions ; and I do not wish it to be inferred that the 
female has no influence in those qualifications in which the male is 
pre-eminent, for it sometimes happens that the female has greater 
influence in these respects than the male, and in all cases some 
degree is possessed. Thus, when a handsome well-bred mare is 
covered by a large coarse stallion, the defects of the latter are 
generally considerably softened down — the head is finer, and the 
frame of the offspring, though larger than that of the dam, is 
handsomer than that of the sire. The result of this cross is 
generally superior to an opposite assortment, where the sire is 
thorough-bred and the dam a coarse heavy animal. The progeny 
in this case is often unequal and ill arranged, possessing perhaps 
the fine legs of the sire and the coarse body of the dam. We 
may, therefore, with much propriety endeavour to modify the 
defects of one parent by opposite qualities in the other; and though 
we may not always, we shall often, succeed to a certain extent in 
the accomplishment of our wishes. We shall succeed, however, 
the more perfectly by attending to those qualities in which the 
respective influence of the male and the female is most likely to 
be exercised : that is, the size and external conformation we should 
seek to govern by means of the male, and the constitution and 
nervous system through that of the female. The fact, however, 
of the male animal begetting from fifty to a hundred offspring in 
the course of a year, whilst the female does not produce more than 
one or two, must and always will cause improvements to be 
effected in breeds of animals principally by means of the male. 
