The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1880-02-13
RECENT IMPROVEMENT IN TnE.BREEbiSG
OF HEAVY HORSES.

From the earliest times TO the present day
il has been a great misfortune and loss to
mankind that so little attention has been
paid to the breeding and rearing of more
Powerful race of horses for heavy farm and
road work, and the use of the city dray and
large expresses and truck wagons. Poets
from the sublime Job down to the high
spirited Byron, have been profuse in their
descriptions and praises of the horse for
war, the chase, and the course while his
torians, travellers, and sportsmen have been
ever eloquent over them in volumes of prose
Strange that the most generally useful ofall
the different breeds of horses should, with.
few exceptions, be ignored aud passed by
in silence ,andso much be written and spoken
ofothers which, although requisit for special
purposes, and worthy of high admiration,
have contributed less to the benefit of hu-
manily. But fortunately great change in
this respect has taken place within the past
few years in Europe as we'll as in America.
A numerous society, composed of noble
men, the landed gentry, and farmers of Scot.
land, has recently been formed for the pur-
pose of improving the breed of their larger
sort of horses. This society takes the name
of Clydesdae and that distinguished no.
bleman Earl Dunmore has been devotng a
considerable part of his time during the
last two years to editing Stud Book of their
horses, classed also as Clydesdale. The first
volume of this has already been published, =,
and the matter for the second is collecting.
England is now zealously following the
laudable example set her by Scotland for
what has long been known a. the Shire and
other of her best large breeds of horses
The Prince of Wales, Earl Ellesmere, and
and other noblemen are giving no little At
tention to the getting out of their Stud
Book, and the whole landed interest of the
United Kingdom is fast waking up to the
Importance of improvement of this most
useful Of all their breeds of horses.
Within the past three years 200 to 1000
guineas( $4,000 to S5000l has been the CON
mon price in Great Britain for select heavy
horses for breeding purposes, and even 1900
guineas $3.50 to S400) is the ordinary price
OF those for farm and dray work alone. In
France, Belgium, Holland and few districts
of Northern Germany, prices have also ad-
vanced considerably, and greater attention
is given than formerly to the improvement
oftheir horses, ,all of which shows the rapidly
increased interest in the subject abroad. Nor
has this matter been neglected in America
particularly in the past four years, during
which large numbers of powerful heavy al
imals haye been imported into Canada and
the United States from Great Britain and
France with few also from Flanders. The
Cydesdale breed have been more generally
preferred for Canada, while the Percheror
and Norman have taken precedence in our
own country.
For the Percheron and Norman in Amer.
lea Stud Book was published in 1877, by
Mr.. j. H. Sanders, of Chicago, Illinois
A revised edition followed the next veal
of 2l2 large octave pages, handsomely go
up, with numerous fine engravings. The
object of this Stud Book IS to preserve or
accurate record of the males and fema les i'm
ported from France and their full bred de
cendants, so that the public may not be i'm
posed upon here after by unprncipled deal
ers palmng off their inferior grades for full
breds.-A. B. ALLEN, Harpers Magazine 70,
February.