120 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



bons there, beating all comers, and have been offered a very 

 large price for him. 



This all goes to show that the American trotter as a heavy 

 harness horse is a success ; but it has been generally neces- 

 sary to take stallions and geld them, to obtain the size, 

 substance and conformation desired. 



Hackneys. 



Prescott Lawrence's " Fashion," who was one of the first 

 hackneys im})orted, always had a warm spot in the heart of 

 every heavy harness horse admirer. 



The hackney had its origin in England, and came from 

 the efforts of a number of breeders who were interested in 

 the production of a certain type ; they found here and there 

 mares of this type, and from this a stud book was started, 

 these mares being marked as inspected mares, — that is, 

 they had been inspected, and were of the proper type. 



There is no doubt in the minds of many that to produce 

 the hackney the Suffolk punch and different cart breedings 

 were used ; but even with this the case, the hackney as he 

 stands to-day is in the opinion of many the beau ideal of 

 heavy harness horses. 



Their breeding was taken up by the leading horse fanciers 

 of England, Burdett-Coutts, with his immense wealth, being 

 one of the foremost breeders. 



There was something most attractive about them. The 

 picture of " Fashion " yet before you shows all the fire, vim 

 and dash ; and in the hackney there was a breed which, 

 while it produced in its stallions horses of a standard and 

 type, likewise produced the same in its mares, which can 

 hardly be said yet of the American heavy harness horse. 



The hackney fever soon came to America, and such breed- 

 ers as W. Seward Webb at his farm in Vermont, Twombly 

 in New Jersey, Prescott Lawrence in Newport, Henry Fairfax 

 in Virginia, Widener in Philadelphia, A. J. Cassatt of Penn- 

 sylvania, soon established large studs, importing thousands 

 and thousands of dollars worth of the best-bred hackneys 

 that could be purchased in England. 



In reading the history of the hackney, one is impressed 



