VI. 



Characteristics of the Stars. Of the Bashaws. The Clays. The Trus- 

 tees. Natural Trotters in England. Of Trotters that paced. To 

 make Pacers trot. 



fin HE produce of American Star are hardly as safe to 

 JL train early as those of Messenger through Abdallah, 

 Mamhrino Chief, &c., by reason of their being more fragile 

 about the legs. When, however, the two lines are combined, 

 this is rectified ; and the cross seems to make a very fine, 

 fast trotting-horse, as near perfection as may be. Such is 

 Mr. Bonner's gray mare Peerless, who was by Star out of 

 a gray mare full of the Messenger blood. She is the fastest 

 that I (or, indeed, anybody else) have ever driven to a wagon. 

 Dexter is another capital instance of the value of this cross. 

 Some of the Stars have given out in the legs j but their 

 pluck is so good that they stand up to the last, when little 

 better than mere cripples. It is no wonder that they have 

 great game and courage j for Star's grandsire was the thor- 

 ough-bred four-miler Henry, who ran for the South, on the 

 Island here, against Eclipse, in 1823. I went to see the 

 race, and got a licking for it when I came home. The Mes- 

 senger cross gives the Stars size, strength, and bone, and 

 counteracts their hereditary tendency to contraction of the 

 feet. It would not do to breed the Stars in-and-in, as has 

 answered so well with the descendants of Messenger. Wid- 

 ow Machree, a daughter of Star, was a very fast, game mare, 

 and an all-day trotter. The little horse Bolly Lewis was 

 another good one by him, and Goshen Maid still another. 

 She went the fourth heat to a wagon in 2.32 . 



75 



