Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1895-01-04
The MORGAN AND THE HACKNEY
CROSS.
JOSEPH BATTELLr
MiddleburV. VT.
TFrom The Rider and Drivcr.l


CARPENTERsvILLE H., Nov. 2S' lS9l'
ToHe Editor Of the Rider and DIttcr -
| have been much interested in your
editorial i'm the Rider and Driver OF
November 9th regarding the American
trotter, the English Hackney, the Nor
gan horse and the cross between the
Hackney and the trottcr.
Your character ization of the trotter
and the Hackney as the greyhound ana
bulldog seems to me very appropriate
! have made collection of pictures OF
the fastest trottiug horses in the coun-
try, and it is hardly possible for one to
look at them without being impress ed
with their strong resemblance to grey
hounds.
The question arises, would it be posi-
BILE to produce the useful shepherd dog
by cross between the greyhound and
bulldog; or the general utility horse
with speed enough for all useful pur-
poses, with beauty of form and action
with substance and endurance for heavy
loads or long drives when required; can
all these valuable qualities be secured in
the greatest perfection by cross be-
tween the trotter and Hackney?
Does not the past history of the de-
velopment and modification of types OF
domestic animals prove that such
changes must be brought about by slow
degrees?
Has not the fact been repeatedly dem
onstrated that crosses of such extreme
types as the trotter and Hackney do
not result in any uniformity of produce
that the progeny will sometimes vecr
towards one extreme and sometimes to-
wards the othcr-and that sometimes ia
the same animal will be reproduced the
extreme of one parent in some character
istics and she extreme of the other par
ent in other characteristics. and that
only in very small minority of eases
will the progeny be uniform mean be-
tween the two parents in its general
character. ard even in such cases there
is no certainty that when you have pro
duced one or more animals of the re-
quired characters that they will repro
duce themselves?
In short. has it not become a scien!if-
cally established fact that he who would
attempt to produce new lype of animal,
mean between two extreme types, by
crossing the extremes, must be possess
ed of almost infinite patience and perSe-
Ii l. !,
many generations. before reaching his
goal; that he must select few of those
coming nearest his ideal type from each
generation, and reject all the rest, breed
ing only from the selected few, and so
on through generation after generation
until he has gradually reached his ideal
type, and established it so that it will
reproduce itself with something like
uniformity?
In view OF this IIerculean task, re-
quiring so mach time, it would seem
much wiser 90 begin with horse al
ready very near the ideal type wanted.
Who will say that the horse nearest
the type of the ideal gentleman's road
ster is not the Morgan? He has beauty
of form and action, with spirit and
style; he has speed enough for every
place, unless it is the turf; he has sub
stance and endurance for every use.
He is only lacking in size, and even this
fault is more imaginary than real; but
granting that he is too small, is ii not
much easier to gradually increase his
size little by proper selection and
breeding than to attempt to produce a
new type from snch extremes as the
trOtter and the Hackney?
Yours truly,
DELOS DUNTON.