THE CLYDESDALE. 175 



It was in 1856 that the first Clydesdale stal- 

 lion was imported into the United States and 

 that one came from 'Canada. We have no evi- 

 dence of any direct importation by 'ship pre- 

 vious to that date. Since that time the breed 

 has numbered among its supporters some of 

 the most intelligent men ever connected with 

 the horse business in any capacity, but a num- 

 ber of these supports have been lost through 

 death or retirement in recent years. Along in 

 the late eighties, at the Columbian and even 

 still later the showing of the Scottish draft 

 horse was second to none. Success crowned 

 the efforts of the breeders to produce the type 

 desired by the Scotchmen and they even beat 

 the Scotch at their own game. Col. Eobert Hol- 

 loway, Alexis, 111., bred several that were ex- 

 ported to Scotland and won name and fame in 

 that country. It is also freely conceded that 

 the American breeders of Clydesdales have 

 succeeded in producing a greater number of 

 champions and prize-winning young things in 

 the free-for-all competitions at our great shows 

 than have the breeders of any other sort. So 

 much so was this at one time that classes had 

 to be made for imported mares alone, for the 

 reason that they had no chance to defeat the 

 home-bred females. American breeders still 

 send into our leading show-yards beautiful ar- 

 rays of young things, true to type and excel- 

 lently furnished, but in the market-place the 



