Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-07-27

blood that as general rule the colts
tracing in male line to Justin Morgan,
kept entire, have been chosen because
they showed Morgan characteristics, and
that the ready Intelligence of breeders
will enable them to choose for breeding
in future those registered animals that
conform most nearly to the Morgan
type-we deemed 1t best to include ami
mails as far down as the sixth genera
ton in direct male descent, when no
other Morgan blood came in. This
gives one siXty-fourth, and for similar
reasons the rule was extended to in
cude all meritorious animals having
that fraction or more of the blood pro-
vided they trace in direct male line to
Justin Morgan the right being reserved
to reject all animals found not to be
meritorious.
Active work on the Morgan Register
was begun in the fall of 1854, and has
since been prosecuted as vigorously as
circumstances would permit. As soon
as the project was advertised, it met
with an enthusiastic response from
breeders and admirers of the Morgan
Horse all over the country, demonstrate
ing in thousand instances the strong
hold which the Morgans have on the
affections of the people. The excellent
work. entitled, Morgan Horses, by
d. c. Linsley of Mddlebury, Vermont,
published in 1857, furnished a precedent
and foundation for the Morgan Register.
That work gave graphic description of
the Morgan family, its history to that
time, and pedigrees of about two hun
bred and forty stations of the blood,
Considerable portions of Mr.. Linsley's
work are given within; the pedigrees
published by him have been re-investi-
gated as far as possible, but most of
them have been found very correct.
In the preparation of the present work,
and the inquiries and Investigations con-
nected Herewith. extending over "A
period of eight years, we have used in
correspondence nearly hundred thous-
and letters, and have personally visited
most of the States in the union, some
of them several times. made repeated eX-
cursions into the Provinces of Quebec
and Ontario, and also visited Mexico.
Neither trouble nor expense has been
spared to learn all pertinent facts con-
corning every pedigree.
We have also adopted the system,
which seems to us to be the only true
one, of setting down as ascertained and
proven only those facts which we deem
to be ascertained and proven by methods
and measures of proof that are sufficient.
We have not stated matters AS facts
when all we knew was that previous
author had so stated them. For in
stance, having observed that statements
in recorded pedigrees, that one animal
was the sire of another, when the breed
er is not given, are very often erroneous,
we give such statements invariably un-
der "said to be-. We do not give
these statements at all unless we deem
them probable; so that where the ex-
preston "said to be" occurs in a pedi-
gree in this work it means that we be-
lieve cross probable; and in many,
perhaps majority, of cases. it will have
been set down absolutely in some other
work, but not otherwise proven to us.
The fruits OF the registration here be-
gun are already apparent. The prOduc-
ton of Morgan horses as distinct breed
has been taken up in earnest at many
places throughout the country by COM
panies and individuals, while many
Others are selecting, buying and selling
horses of Morgan blood and type, at a
profit. The best people want them for
all the purposes of business and pleas
ure. They are acknowledged to be
among the best roadsters in the world !;
their intelligence and dOcility are unsur-
passed, and their symmetry Of form and
pride of carriage are proverbial. There
is no question but that they would be
i'm demand, even If none of the blood
were ever again to be seen upon the
track; but we have no doubt that in the
future as in the past many individuals
of this family will always be found upon
the trotting turf Indeed, we should
not be surprised if this should become
true to greater extent than in the past,
and that the quality OF long endurance
in track work, combined with speed,
which the records show that the Nor
gans possess to remarkable degree
(see AppendiX) should cause them to be
much sought after for racing purposes.
If 1t be true that of late there are
more Hambletonian than Morgan trot-
tiers, it is in part certainly because many
times more are bred and trained for that
purpose. The first horse that ever
trotted mile in rs was Beppo, said to be
by Clifford Morgan. The stallion record
of the world has been held twice by
Morgan horses; for several years the
greatest living sire of trotters was a
Morgan; a Morgan horse was the first
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