732 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



Among the best-informed horsemen there is a diversity of opinion with respect to the 

 limits of trotting speed, but none fix it slower than 2m. 10s., while some are confident that 

 a mile will yet be made by a trotter in two minutes. The pacing gait differs from trotting 

 by having the front and hind legs on the same side move in the same direction simultaneously, 

 while in trotting, the near fore-leg and off hind-leg move together. The pacing gait is more 

 rapid than trotting, but the latter is greatly preferre&quot;d. 



Flora Temple was foaled in 1845, and bred by Samuel Welch, Esq., of Oneida 

 county, N. Y. She was sired by Hunter, who was by Kentucky Hunter, her dam being 

 Madam Temple, who was sired by a spotted Arabian horse owned by Mr. Horace Terry of 

 Dutchess county, N. Y. She was purchased of a drover by Mr. Jonathan Vielee for $175. 

 At this time she was a little rough-coated animal, not over fourteen hands and two inches 

 high, and was tied behind the drover s wagon by a rope. All that the drover would tell Mr. 

 Vielee about the little bay mare with a docked tail was, that he had purchased her in Utica 

 of a young man who had been trying in vain to dispose of her in connection with another 

 little mare, but that the intractable disposition of this one had invariably prevented a sale, so 

 that finally each animal was sold separately, and Flora, at five years of age, was bought by 

 the drover for $80. 



It appears, also, that her former owner kept her until she was four years old, and, find 

 ing her willful and unserviceable, sold her for the sum of $13. Mr. Congdon, her new 

 owner, sold her soon after for $68, subsequent to which she changed owners two or three 

 times before coming to Mr. Vielee, who, fortunately, was a man who appreciated, to a certain 

 extent, her good points. Being a practical business man, and sufficiently sagacious to see 

 that New York was a place to find a market for such an animal, Mr. Vielee took her there 

 and sold her to Mr. Geo. E. Perrin of that city for $350. In his hands she was instructed 

 in trotting and fitted for the track. Her first public appearance upon the turf was at Long 

 Island in 1850, when, to the astonishment of all, she defeated four horses, winning the purse 

 of $50, and the race in 2:52, 2:55, 2:52, 2:49. 



The next year she was not in training, owing to an accident. The following year she 

 trotted twice, winning both times. In 1853, being then eight years old, she started a 

 wonderful trotting career, which ended only with the advent of the civil war. 



In her first race at the old Hunting Park Course, Philadelphia, she was beaten by Black 

 Douglass, a local celebrity, but soon made him lower his colors by defeating him twice with 

 out difficulty. She also beat Highland Maid twice, Green Mountain Maid three times, 

 Tacctny seven times, Rhode Island three times, and Lady Brooks and Lady Vernon each 

 once. She was beaten twice by Tacony, and once each by Black Douglass and Green Moun 

 tain Maid. In her first season upon the turf it will thus be seen that she won nineteen races 

 and lost but four. In her next season she lost in her first race with the gray mare, Sontag, 

 and won in every race besides during the whole season. 



In the next two years, she carried off the lion s share of the honors, and reduced her 

 record to 2:24. In 1858 she was sold to Wm. McDonald, Esq., a wealthy gentleman of 

 Baltimore, for $8,000, and during the year won thirteen victories, without a single defeat. 

 The next year (1859) was a remarkable year with her, not only for winning in her races 

 with Ethan Allen, beating him twice, and also in other races, but especially for her splendid 

 record of 2:19|, at Kalamazoo, Michigan, October 15th. 



In the many races trotted by little Flora Temple during the rest of her trotting career, 

 her most formidable antagonists were George M. Patchen and Ethan Allen; the former 

 defeating her in one two-mile heat contest, and Flora defeating him twice, and Ethan Allen 

 once. She also went hippodroming with George M. Patchen. Her owner sympathizing with 

 the rebellion, she was confiscated by the governor in 1861, and never trotted again. 



In 1864, Flora Temple was purchased by Mr. Welch of Chestnut Hill, Pa., for the sum 



