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Show 202 SELECTION CHAP. XX. at this early period " some of the best principles of breading must have beou stca.dily and long pursued." It was ordered, according to 1\loses, that "Thou shalt not lot thy cattle gencl~r with a diverse kind;" but mules were purchased,32 so that at this early period other nations must have cross~d the horse a~d ~ss. It is said 33 that Erichthonius, some generatiOnS before the rr~Jan war, had many brood-mares, "which by his care and judgm~nt in the choice of stallions produced a breed of horses superiOr to any in the surrounding countries." Homer (Book v.) speaks of JEneas's horses as bred from mares which were put to the steeds of Laomedon. Plato, in his 'Republic,' says to Glaucus, "I see that you raise at your house a great many dogs for the chase. Do you take care about breeding and pairing them ? Among animals of good blood, are there not always some which are superior to the rest?" To which Glaucus answers in the affirmative.34 Alexander the Great selected tho finest Indian cattle to send to Macedonia to improve the breed.35 According to Pliny,36 King Pyrrhus had an especially valuable breed of oxen ; and he did not suffer the bulls and cows to come together till four years old, that the breed might not degenerate. Virgil, in his Georgics (lib. iii.), gives as strong advice as any modern agriculturist could do, carefully to select the breeding stock; "to note the tribe, the lineage, and the sire; whom to reserve for husband of the herd; "-to brand the progeny ;-to select sheep of the purest white, and to examine if thei.T tongues are swarthy. vVe have seen that the Romans kept pedigrees of their pigeons, and this would have been a senseless proceeding had not great care been taken in breeding them. Columella gives detailed instructions about breeding fowls : "Let the breeding hens therefore be of a choice colour, " a robust body, square-built, full-breasted, with large heads, " with upright and bright-red combs. Those are believed to be " the best bred which have five toes." 37 According to Tacitus, the Celts attended to the races of their domestic animals ; 32 V olz, ' Beitrage zur KuJtmgeschicht o,' 1852, s. 47. 33 Mitford's ' History of Greece,' vol. i. p. 73. a4 Dr. Dally, translated in 'Antbropo-logical Review,' May 1864, p. 101. 35 Volz, 'Bcitrage,' &c., 1852, s. 80. 36 'History of the World,' cb. 45. 37 ' Gardener's Chronicle,' 1848, p. 323. CHAP. XX. BY THE ANCIENTS. 203 and Crosar states that they paid high prices to merchants for fine imported horses.38 In regard to plants, Virgil speaks of yearly culling the largest seeds ; and Celsus says, "where the corn aud crop is but small, we must pick out the best ears of corn, and of them lay up our seed separately by itself." 39 Coming clown the stream of time, we may be brief. At about the beginning of the ninth century Charlemagne expressly ordered his officers to take great care of his stallions ; and if any proved bad or old, to forewarn him in good time before they were put to the mares.40 Even in a country so little civilised as Ireland during the ninth century, it would appear from some ancient verses,41 describing a ransom demanded by Cormac, that animals from particular places, or having a particular character, were valued. Thus it is said,- Two pigs of the pigs of Mac Lir, A ram and ewe both round and red, I brought with me fTom Aengus. I brought wjth me a stallion and a mare From the beautiful stud of Manannan, A bull and a white cow from Druim Cain. Athelstan, in 930, received as a present from Germany, runninghorses ; and he prohibited the exportation of English horses. King John imported " one hundred chosen stallions from Flanders." 42 On June 16th, 1305, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury, begging for the loan of any choice stallion, and promising its return at the end of the season.43 rrhere are numerous records at ancient periods in English history of the importation of choice animals of various kinds, and of foolish laws against their exportation. In the reigns of Henry VII. and VIII. it was ordered that the magistrates, at Micbaelmas, should scour the heaths and commons, and destroy all mares beneath a certain size.44 Some of our earlier kings passed laws against the slaughtering rams of any good breed before they were seven years old, so that they 38 Reynier, 'De l'Economie des Celtes,' 1818, pp. 487, 503. 3~ Lc Couteur ou Wheat, p. 15. 40 :M:icb l, 'Des Haras,' 1861, p. 84. 41 Sir W. Wilde, an 'Essay on Un-manufactured Animal Remains,' &c., 1860, p. 11. 42 Col. Hamilton Smith, ' Nat. Library,' vol. xii., Horses, pp. 135, HO. 43 Michel, 'Des Haras,' p. 90. H Mr. Baker, 'History of the Horse,' Veterinary, vol. xiii. p. 423. |