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442 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. [July nor too small." To ensure the mare being stinted she should be perfectly healthy, and living as much as possible in a state of na- ture ; not overfed with corn, but rather have cooling diet, unless she is poor. Fattened animals often prove barren. The best time for covering is when the heat commences. If convenient it is often recommended to do so a second time when the heat passes off. " Like the broodmare," says Stonehenge, "the stallion re- quires several essentials, commencing also, like her, 1st with his blood ; 2ndly, his in- dividual shape ; 3rdly, his health ; 4thly, his temper. But there is this difficulty in selecting the stallion, that he must not only be suitable, but he must also be adapted to the particular mare which he is to serve. Thus it will be manifest that the task is more difficult than the fixing upon a broodmare, because (leaving out of consideration all other points but blood) in the case a mare only has to be chosen, which is of good blood, for her particular work ; while in the other there must be the same attention paid to this particular, and also to the stallion's suitability to the mare, or to " hit" with her blood. The rock upon which most men split is a bigoted favouritism for some particular horse ; thus one puts all his mares to Birkenhead, another to Hunting Horn, although they may every one be of different blood and form. Now this cannot possibly be righf, if there is any principle whatever in breeding; and however good a horse may be, he cannot be suited to all mares. Some say that any sound thorough-bred horse will do for a thorough-bred mare of the same kind, and that all is a lottery ; but I hope you now perceive that there is some science required to enable the breeder to draw many 'prizes. That the system generally followed of late is a bad one, I am satisfied, and with the usual and constant crossing and recrossing it is almost a lottery; but upon proper principles and careful management, there would be fewer blanks than at present. We cannot expect to find a perfect mare nor a per feet horse; there is some' "if this," or "but that" in all them. The breeder, however, must be particularly careful that both should not be faulty in the same place —that both should not have the same objection—and whereon one is deficient the other must be unusually developed. In thus matching his mares the judgment of the breeder is proved, that they may " hit" well. The same rule of course applies to all animals. Mr. Bell well observes, that " the importance of the influence of the sire in breeding horses is in no point more clearly proved than by the fact that the progeny of the most celebrated race-horses have generally sustained the reputation of their sires. Thus the descendants of Eclipse numbered no less than 364 winners, and those of Matchem, Highflyer, and other celebrated horses have partaken of the same inherited excellence. Sultan, the property of the Duke of Beaufort, which covered at £30 a mare after he was 20 years old, Snap of the House, General, and Admiral of Ludlow, and not forgetting Sir Sampson, were celebrated stallions in this country 20 and 30 years ago ; and though they are long since dead, yet they now live, and are well known in their descendants. It is a remarkable fact that the first male put to a female, especially if he be potent, influences more or less the progeny of that female by subsequent males. A striking case of this kind was first published in the Philosophical Transactions. A splendid mare, seven-eighths Arab, had a mule by a quagga, in the year 1816, the mule bearing the unmistakable marks and stripes of the quagga. In the year 1817, 1818, and 1823, this mare again foaled, and although she had not seen the quagga since 1816, her three foals were all marked with the curious quagga marks. Nor is this by any means an isolated case. Meckel observed similar results in the crossing of a wild boar with a domestic sow. Mr. Orton veri- fied this fact in the case of dogs, and poultry. Mr. Merrick, in the Veterinarian, records the experience of his groom, who has had the management of stallions for 14 years, " that he has frequently noticed that well-bred mares, which had been difficult to stint with thorough-bred horses, have bred to an inferior, and subsequently to a thorough-bred stallion ; but her stock by the latter has frequently showed traces of inferior blood, not to have been expected from the breed of either the sire or dam. You will, therefore, bear in mind that it is especially important that the first male given to a female should be well bred. I know that there is a foolish notion with some people about dogs, that the first litter is not likely to be good, therefore they allow the bitch for the first time to go about with
1859.] THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 443 any and every dog, little thinking the bad effect such treatment has upon future litters. In explanation of this phenomenon that eminent physiologist, Professor Carpenter, in his celebrated work upon " Human Physiology," writes : " Some of these cases appear referrable to the strong mental impressions left by 4 the first male parent upon the female ; but there are others which seem to render it more likely that the blood of the female has imbibed from that of the foetus, Ihrough the placental circulation, some of the attributes which the latter has derived from its male parent; and that the female may communicate these, with those proper to herself, to the subsequent offspring of a different male parent- age." The same author also writes " There seems good reason to believe that the attributes of the germ are in great degree dependent not merely upon the habitual condition of the parents, which have furnished its original components, but even upon the condition in which those parents may be at time of sexual congress. Of this we have a remarkable proof in the phenomenon well known to breeders of horses, that a strong mental impression, made upon the female by a particular male, will give the offspring a resemblance to him, even though she had no sexual in- tercourse with him. In conclusion, allow me to say that agricultural societies are to be blamed very much for the little attention they pay to horses as compared with other stock, especially poultry. They ought to give liberal prizes to the brood mares and stallions of all breeds, and pay as much attention to them—they deserve more—as to cattle, &c. The best stallion should have to travel within the district of the society during next season, and not to re- ceive the prize until the end of that time. I must add that our great landlords generally overlook the interest of their tenants, and consequently their own also, in not keeping good thorough-bred stallions, of different breeds, for the use of their tenants at a nominal charge. Farmers themselves also overlook their own interest too often by being " penny wise and pound foolish," in looking more at the fee of the horse, when they engage him, than at his shape. Examine your pickles, sweet-meats, and everything put away. Treatment of Peach Trees. R. Seamans, of Cccilton, Maryland, thus gives his plan of treatment of peach trees, which he cultivates on a large scale : " They should be carefully examined every year, and all the worms and ova destroyed. A shovelful of wood ashes thrown around the roots every spring is beneficial. When six years old, the soil should be cautiously removed for about two feet round the trunk, so as to examine the root. A strong wash of lime and some salt should then be applied to the top of the root at the trunk and for about eighteen inches above it, prior to which application the rough bark should be scraped off. The removed soil is left open for one week, then placed in its former position. A yearly examination for worms, a rich soil, and careful cultivation, are all necessary for the prosperity of the peach tree. Extirpating Thistles from Grass Land. - To me there have appeared few things more extraordinary in the history of farming knowledge than the perverse tenacity with which prejudice has so long preferred thef scythe to the roller in keeping down thistles. In the North Riding of Yorkshire, as far back as forty years ago, the roller was an approved instrument for destroying thistles in pasture grounds: and most effective it proved to be—the bruise and crush of the top of the plant extending in mortification to the root. No doubt of it, the scythe makes a clean sweep—so does a surgeon when he cuts a leg oft'; but let a crushed leg remain attached to the body, and the undertaker will assuredly have employment. Pitch Phenomenon at Sea. While the bark Holla, of New York, was in the Gulf of Mexico, on May 4th, it passed through a scum of smoking pitch, which extended for several miles, and emitted a most nauseating odour. It was supposed by her captain (Mr. Rogers) to be thrown up by' a submarine eruption from some part of the bottom of the ocean. This, we think, is the true explanation of the phenomenon. There are extensive formations of mineral pitch in Cuba, Trinidad, and other West India islands, and no doubt there are beds of this material under the waters of the gulf. Scientific American.
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