144 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



IMarch 



THE CLYDESDALE HOBSE. 



The river Clj'de, on which the city of Glas 

 gow, in Scotland, is situated, has the honor of 

 floating the first steamboat ever built in Eng- 

 land, and of christening one of the best breeds 

 of draft horses in the world. The Clydesdale 

 horse owes its origin to a cross of a stallion 

 from Flanders with the best mares of the par- 

 ish of Lanark, one of the many beautiful towns 

 situated on the river Clyde. Mr. Youatt says 

 that the Clydesdale, although inferior in weight 

 and physical strength to the black horse, is 

 larger than the Suffolk, and has a better head, 

 a longer neck, a lighter carcass, and deeper 

 legs ; he is strong, hardy, pulling true, and 

 rarely restive. On the road these horses perform 

 tasks that can scarcely be surpassed, and in 

 the fields they are found steady, docile and 

 safe. ]\Ir. Low says that the Clydesdale horse 

 as now bred is usually sixteen hands high. The 

 prevailing color is black, but the brown or bay 

 is common, and is continually gaining upon the 

 other, and the gray is not unfi-equently pro- 

 duced. When in England, Mr. Sanford How- 

 ard, now of the Michigan Agricultural College, 

 saw many of this race in the principal breed- 

 ing districts, and at fairs, &c. He says their 

 ■weight ranges fi-om 1700 to upwards of 2000 



lbs. "Many of them are very symmetrical — 

 are higher in the withers, and particularly more 

 oblique in the shoulders than the English, and 

 walk with ease and rapidity, equalling in this 

 gait any horses I have ever seen. They have 

 good constitutions and are cheaply kept. They 

 are seldom driven out of a walk. The Scot- 

 tish fanners generally keep lighter kinds of 

 horses for the road. Li some of our cities the 

 supply of draft horses has been, of late, ob- 

 tained in part from Canada West, where a 

 cross of the Clydesdale prevails to some ex- 

 tent." 



The above cut is a tolerable representation 

 of this breed of draft hoi-scs. And we intro- 

 duce it for the purpose of suggesting to the 

 breeders of horses the expediency of giving 

 more attention to the rearing of heavier and 

 stronger horses than those which ha-\'e so gen- 

 erally been exhibited on the grounds of our 

 agricultural fairs. 



BdB^ The Vermonter who was imprisoned in 

 Ohio, on a charge of blackening sheep and sel- 

 ling them as merinoes, has turned the tables. 

 His sheep were genuine, and the prosecutor is 

 now in jail for false imprisonment. 



