Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-01-29
Recent Improvement i'm 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 rear
ing 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-spirit-
ed Byron, have been profuse in their de-
seriptions and praises of the horse for
war, the chase, and the course; while
historians, travellers, and sportsmen have
been ever eloquent over them in vol
umes of prose- Strange that the most
generally useful of all the different
breeds of horses should, with few excep-
tions, be ignored and passed by in 81
lence, and so much be written and
spoken of others which, although requi-
site for special purposes, and worthy of
high admiration, have contributed less
to the benefit of humanity. But fortu-
nately great change in this respect has
taken place within the past few years
in Europe as well as in America.
A numerous society. composed of no
blemen, 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 so
ciety takes the name of Clydesdale, and
that distinguished nobleman Earl Dun
more has been deyoting considerable
part of his time during the past 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 as the Shire and 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
Kingdom is fast waking up to the i'm
pOrtance of Improvement of this most
useful of all their breeds of horses.
Within the past three years 200 to
1000 guineas $4,000 to S5O0O) has been
the common price in Great Britain for
select heavy horses for breeding pur-
poses, and even 1900 guineas (S75OO has
been refused for few of the very
choicest, while so to so guineas ($25O to
s4OO) is the ordinary price of these for
farm and dray work alone. In France
Belgium, Holland, and few districts OF
Northern Germany, prices have also ad'
Yanced considerably, and greater atten
ftion is given than formerly to the i'm
provement of their horses, all of which
shows the rapidly increased interest in
the subject abroad. Nor has this matter
been neglected in America, particularly
in the last four years, during which
large numbers of powerful heavy ami.
mails have been imported into Canada
and the United States from Great
Britain and France, with few alst
from Flanders. The Clydesdale breed
has been more generally preferred fol
Canada, while the PercherOn and Nor
man have taken precedence in our OWL
country.
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For the Porcheron and Norman in
America 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
handsomely got up, with numerous fint
engravings. The object of this STUD
Bood 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 for full
breeds.-[A B. Allen, in Harper's Maga
zine for February.
/