Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-02-16
THE BREEDING OF HEAVY HORSES

From the earliest times to the present
day it has been great misfortune and loss
to mankind that so little attention has been
paid to the breeding and rearing of more
perfect and powerful race of horses for
heavy farm and road work, and the use OF
the city dray and large express and truck
wagon. Poets, from the sublime Job down
to the high-spirited Byron, have been pro-
fuse in their descriptions and praises of
the horse for war, the chase, and the
courser, while historians, travellers and
sportsmen have been ever eloquent over
them in volumes of prose. Strange that
the most generally useful of all the differ.
emit breeds OF horses should, with few ex.
ceptions, be ignored and passed by in
silence, and so much be written and spoken
of others which, although requisite for
special purposes, and worthy of high ad.
miration, have contributed less to the bene-
fit of humanity. But fortunately great
change in this respect has taken place
within the past few years in Europe as well
as in America. 1856
A numerous society, composed of noble
men, the landed gentry, and farmers of
Scotland, has recently been formed for the
purpose of improving the breed of their
larger sort of horses This society takes
the name of Clydesdale, and that distin-
guished nobleman, Earl Dunmore, has been
devoting considerable part of his time
during the past two years to editing a
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 as the Shire aud other of her best
large breeds of horses. The Prince of
Wales, Earl Ellesmere, and other noble
men are giving no little attention to the
getting out of their Stud Book, and the
whole landed interest of the United King
dom 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 / ZOO
guineas Isl 900 to $4,000 has been the
common price in Great Britain for select
heavy horses for breeding purposes, and
even 800 guineas (S7, 500 has been re-
fused for few of the very choicest, while
so to so guineas $3.50 to S400) is the or
binary price of those for farm and dray
work alone. In France, Belgium, Holland,
and few districts in Northern Germany,
prices have also advanced considerably,
and greater attention is given than former
ly to the improvement of their horses, all
of which shows the rapidly increased inter-
est in the subject abroad. Nor has this
matter been neglected in America, partic-
ularly in the last four years, during which
large numbers of powerful heavy animals
have been imported into Canada and the
United States from Great Britain and
France, with few also from Flanders.
The Clydesdale breed has been more
generally preferred for Canada while
the Percheron and Normandy have
taken precedence in our own country.
For the Percheron and Norman in
America a Stud Book was published in
1877, by Mr.. j. FL. Sanders, of Chicago,
Illinois. A revised edition followed the
next year, of 2l2 large octave pages, hand
somely got up, with numerous fine engrav-
ings The object of this Stud Book is to
preserve an accurate record of the males
and females imported from France and
their full-bred descendants, so that the
public may not be imposed upon hereafter
by unprincipled dealers palming off their
inferior grades tor full breds. L a. B. Allen,
in Harper's Magazine.