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PROCEEDINGS OE THE SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION. 
elaboration of the germ. The same argument applies with 
greater force to the mare ; if under five years of age, while 
her own growth is incomplete, she is expected to extract from 
food nourishment sufficient to complete her own structure 
and at the same time provide for the growing wants of the 
foal she carries, the expectation cannot end otherwise than 
in disappointment. An error of this kind is not, however, 
likely to occur here, as the generality of imported mares are 
already aged ; the case is simply mentioned lest any one 
having a likely young mare should be tempted to realise 
premature results. But there is another error in breeding 
much more likely to occur, and having committed it on more 
than one occasion I can the more freely animadvert on its 
impropriety, and that is to have a mare covered within a 
few days after she has foaled. This practise is common 
everywhere and yet nothing can tend more rapidly to de- 
feat all attempts at improvement ; a little reflection must 
show that the foal at the mother’s feet should, till old 
enough to feed freely at least, receive from her milk the 
whole amount of nourishment necessary to supply the wants 
of its rapid growth. But how can this be expected from an 
animal who, in addition to the foal at her foot, carries ano- 
ther inside ? By this practise the health of the dam is im- 
paired and the foal turns out a weed when compared with 
others raised on sounder principles. "Whatever mode of feed- 
ing you adopt, let it be abundant during the early months, 
and on no account wean the foal as long as it thrives in the 
mother’s company, as long as the latter gives milk freely, 
were it even for 10 or 11 months. It is true that the mare, 
during all that time, is only earning her keep, but no brood 
mare should do more ; the end in view is to raise a valua- 
ble animal, and the result will be successful in proportion 
