g2 ILLUSTRATED tSTOCK rxXJTOR. 



Just as we have seen grade bulls vie in excellency with the thoroughbred, sa 

 it was with the Clydesdale horse. Five years ago, through the efforts of 

 various parties, all lovers of the Clyde, a society was established for registering 

 pedigrees, and their operations have met with signal success. 



They have laid the foundation of a system by which breeders can attain grand 

 results from a careful and judicious selection of good blood. And so in America 

 they have a Stud Book, drawn up on the same basis as the Scotch publication, 

 and here breeding is being carried on, more especially by Western breeders, 

 with a zest second only to that of the farmers in Scotland. 



This American and Colonial demand for good horses with pedigrees, has 

 given a great impetus to breeding at home, and it is likely we shall see some 

 grand results from the efforts that are being made. Blessed with perseverance, 

 and holding their own judgment at a premium, no men are better suited for this 

 work than the small dairy farmers from the regions of Ayrshire, Galloway and 

 Lanarkshire. 



It is to them and some larger farmers and proprietors we need to look for the 

 grand colossal horses which have made, and are destined to make, the name of 

 the Clydesdale more famous than ever. 



The main feature of the Clydesdale is its size, combined with activity and 

 hardiness. Bred upon a bare, and not very prolific soil, they thrive well upon 

 being transplanted to a more generous and richer location. It is the universal 

 practice among the west of Scotland breeders to keep their young stock in a semi- 

 wild state, giving them only as much food as is necessary for health and develop- 

 ment until they are between two and three years old. Great capacity for 

 endurance is thus secured. 



A fat colt is never seen, scarce even among those reserved for the stud. 

 Treated thus when they are young, they grow up hardy, with clean bones and 

 well-developed muscles, and almost entirely free from hereditary disease. And^ 

 perchance, no horse of the present day, excepting those existing on the Arabian 

 deserts, can compare for genuine and valuable intelligence with those we are 

 now writing about. 



Treated for generations by their masters as companions, that is, after they 

 had received their primary education, a sense almost human in some cases is 

 found engraved in their nature. 



Just as the Scottish Collie and the noble Newfoundland have developed almost 

 supernatural instincts, so the Clydesdale horses, being the companions as well 

 as slaves of a class of men who took pride in their sagacity, have come to be 

 looked on as possessing a rarely and widely defined instinct. Thus they 

 combine strength, soundness and sense, the three attributes necessary to make 

 a horse successful in the wagon or plough. 



THE POINTS OF THE CLYDESDALE. 



The writer had much to do with the formation of the Clydesdale Stud Book, 



