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the trotter would require many pages, for which no time can here be allotted, and the 
horse literature of the country only can give it. Suffice it to say, however, that his 
descent has been largely drawn from the thoroughbred for many years back in his an- 
cestry. 
Trotting horses of celebrity have been recorded in the English periodicals of years 
ago, particularly Bellfounder, who trotted 19} miles in an hour; but in the trottmg 
horse, classed by himself, England, as compared with America, has yet made no dis- 
tinguished record; and that the American trotter has been most skillfuly bred and 
trained to his recent astonishing achievements is a testimonial to our native enterprise 
beyond that of any other country. Thirty years ago, a horse that could trot a mile in 
three minutes was considered a remarkable animal. That three minutes has been 
gradually reduced from year to year, until, in 1875, the mare Goldsmith Maid, at eighteen 
years of age, made her mile in 2 minutes and 14 seconds, and repeated it in the present 
year, 1876, in the same time. We now have scores of horses which make their mile in 
less than 2} minutes on the trotting-courses of the country, as well as hundreds of 
them who easily do their mile in 3 minutes speed. Thus the American trotter stands 
at the head of his class over all others in the civilized world, as yet discbvered. 
If it be inquired in what remarkable manner the rapid speed and high qualities of 
the trotter have benefited the ordinary horse stock of the country, the answer is read- 
ily given in the fact that our better class of driving horses has been wonderfully im- 
proved in action, as well as in quicker movement, sureness of step, higher pleasure to 
all who either drive or ride after them, and in the increased marketable price they ob- 
tain for their breeders. 
Next in order we may remark, in the absence of a more appropriate name, upon 
THE HORSE OF ALL WORK, equally adapted to family use, the labors of the farm, or 
ether purposes. I doubtif any part of the world, climate and soil considered, can 
show a better class of horses than those bred in the United States and the neighbor- 
ing province of Canada. Made up of no particular breed, but an infusion of different 
bloods, they answer an admirable purpose for almost all uses, so far as size, endurance, 
muscular action, and longevity are concerned. A composite breed they may be called, 
if such a miscellaneous admixture can be called a breed at all. They are of all colors 
and all sizes, from fourteen and a half to sixteen anda half hands high, and weigh nine 
to twelve or thirteen hundred pounds in fair condition of flesh. They are bred and 
reared by all good farmers who make horse-rearing a branch of their industry, and are 
bought and distributed all over the country, in village, town, and city, where, aside 
from mere fancy use, the horse is needed. Good stallions are kept for service in al- 
most every neighborhood of the land, and of these the horse-breeder takes his choice 
for service to his mares, and succeeds in their production as his skill and care may deter- 
mine. There is another example of the value of our horse of all work in Great Britain, 
which can boast as good horses, of their kind, as any part of Europe. Since the street 
rail-car has been introduced into Great Britain, within the past year or two, it has 
been found that they had no class of horses especially fitted for that work. It required 
the sinewy, elastic movement, coupled with the medium size and endurance in our 
all-work horse. As a consequence, many hundreds of American horses have been pur- 
chased in our northern States and Canada for export to Britain, for other purposes as 
well as for street railways, and the trade is still continued to the mutual advantage 
ef both countries. 
Another class demanded for exclusive purposes is 
THE DRAUGHT-HORSE, PROPER, needed for heavy farm labors, and drawing the weighty 
loads in our commercial and manufacturing cities and towns, for which the ordinary 
horse of our farmers is incompetent. Of this class, if we have any which may be called 
“ ancient ” among us—say a hundred years or more—first in order stands the Conestoga, 
of Pennsylvania. The name is a local one, taken from a river of the central part of 
that State. He is supposed to be a native of Flanders, and to have been introduced 
by the German immigrants soon after they settled in Pennsylvania some time in 
the last century. This horse is still reared in Pennsylvania, but in smaller numbers 
than formerly, and in several other States, and is a decided favorite with those 
who breed and use them. Nearly or quite a hundred years ago, when the settle- 
ments of that State had extended westward over the Alleghany Mountains, when 
towns began to spring up, and heavy transportation between them and the seaboard 
became necessary, the huge canvas-covered wagons, carrying six tons and upwards of 
merchandise, were drawn by spans of four to eight horses, with sometimes a ninth one 
in single harness as a leader. Those horses ranged from sixteen and a half to seven- 
teen and a half hands high, with bodies solid and bulky in proportion. Long before 
canals and railroads were known in our country, caravans of those teams were daily 
seen at all seasons of the year traversing the roads over the mountains between Phila- 
delphia and Pittsburgh, and with bear-skin housings upon the hames, and an arch of 
bells above them, with the driver seated on the near wheel-horse; a more picturesque 
spectacle of the kind could rarely be imagined. Their usual rate of travel was about 
twelve to fourteen miles a day. But those caravans, since the construction of raif- 
