74 HOESEPORTEAITUEE. 



would have a weird-like appearance. The groves would 

 seem no longer dark-green masses of foliage, but floating 

 in the distance, as if the topaz-colored clouds had 

 descended from heaven and were resting on a sea of 

 amber, into which emptied rivers of molton gold. 



I will not tire you with my dreamings on the prairie, 

 but give you some solid reasons for preferring the rich 

 soil of Iowa to that of any other Northern State, as a 

 place to breed fine trotting horses. 



The surface of Iowa is generally rolling, in some places 

 it might be termed hilly, which not only insures proper 

 drainage, but the difference of level permitting the sub- 

 terraneous reservoirs to break out in springs, the most 

 convenient way of obtaining a supply of pure water. A 

 rolling surface is also better for the production of the 

 finer varieties of grasses, which hardly ever grow on 

 an extended level. These are not the only advantages. 

 Horses bred on the fens of Lincolnshire, and other coun- 

 tries similar to them, have large flat feet with thin horn, 

 their bones are porous, and the carcass too heavy for 

 the legs. The dry soil gives the reverse well-shaped 

 feet, with the horn smooth, tough and elastic, the bones 

 dense as ivory, and the muscles, all being called in ser- 

 vice running up and down the hills, well developed. 



Though nearly all the very fast horses eventually find 

 their way to New York, there are other markets where 

 remunerative prices are given for those of every grade. 



Chicago is conveniently reached, that wonderful place 

 that has grown upon the marshy shore of the lake so 

 rapidly, that men now living, of middle age, have hunted 

 wolves and shot ducks where now stately edifices reach 

 for miles. The marble walls of the magnificent Opera- 

 house enclose ground where, forty years ago, the fringed 

 alder sheltered the nest of the aquatic fowl. Chicago, 

 however, will merit more attention than can be given 



