696 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
Mambrino, the sire of Messenger; and if, as is very probable, Bell- 
founder, the sire of the dam of Rysdyk’s Hambletonian, was a de- 
scendant of Shales, there was a remote consanguinity between the 
male and female lines of Hambletonian’s inheritance. Euren tabulates 
the pedigree of Blaze, and remarks, ‘‘There would appear to be a 
large proportion of English blood in the dam of Blaze, though no 
one can say what was its character, whether running, trotting, or 
ambling.” And, commenting further, he reasons: 
The fact that in the seventh generation from Blaze, on each side, the reunion of 
the blood in Rysdyk’s Hambletonion, the sire of so many fast American trotting 
horses, should have proved to have been of the most impressive character, would 
appear to warrant the conclusion that there was a strong latent trotting tendency 
in the ancestors of one, if not on both sides of Blaze. 
lao not attribute much importance to the influence of remote 
crosses, except in one sense—the historical importance of that in- 
fluence as a starting point, from which it, meeting kindred and 
strengthening crosses through successive generations, rises at each re- 
move, stronger, better, and infinitely superior to its origin. 
Messenger was imported to Philadelphia in 1788; was kept in Penn- 
sylvania and New Jersey for the first six years of his life in America, 
and was variously kept on Long Island, in Dutchess, Westchester, 
and Orange Counties, New York, and in New Jersey until his death, 
near Oyster Bay, Long Island, in 1808. As to what degree of trot- 
ting action Messenger possessed we have no evidence; but this much 
is certain, that he left progeny noted for their speed and endurance 
on the road, and when in these descendants this road gait was de- 
veloped and intensified by use, and they were mated with a view to 
producing progeny superior in this special qualification to themselves, 
each generation naturally reached a higher plane of excellence than 
its predecessors. ‘‘It was,” says Mr. Wallace, ‘“‘the crowning glory 
of his twenty years’ service in this country that he left a race of 
driving horses of unapproachable excellence, and as he inherited 
this quality from his sire, so he imparted it to his sons and they in 
turn to theirs until we have to-day from this stock the fleetest and 
stoutest trotters in the world.” And herein lies the importance of 
Messenger, and to this extent only: He furnished sterling ‘‘ raw ma- 
terial” from which to mold a trotting breed; and the breeder of the 
high-class American horse of to-day can regard Messenger blood 
much as the jeweler who works a triumph in gold may be supposed 
to regard the rough nugget. 
Though in the second and third generations we find many descendants 
of Messenger noted as trotters in their time and figuring frequently 
in the trotting genealogies of our day, it is incompatible with the 
purposes and extent of this article to consider any but the chief lines, 
those upon which the place in history of Messenger’s blood as a 
source of the greatest trotting families chiefly depend. These three 
sons—chief sources—we will consider in the inverse order of their im- 
portance: Winthrop Messenger, Bishop’s Hambletonian, Mambrino. 
Winthrop Messenger was taken to Maine in 1816, and was the 
founder of that sterling race frequently spoken of as Maine Mes- 
sengers. He was a large, coarse horse, and was, I judge, very little 
appreciated in his time. Among his best descendants was his son 
Witherell Messenger, sire of Belle of Portland, 2:26. A daughter of 
Witherell Messenger, mated with a son of his, produced the famous 
Belle Strickland, 2:26. Six other daughters figure in the records as 
the dams of trotters with records faster than 2:30. Fanny Pullen, 
