156 A HISTORY OF THE PERCHEEON HOESE 



the work of amelioration so grievous a setback that 

 before the machinery of improvement had again been 

 set in motion the tide of agricultural advancement 

 and settlement was flowing westward in such over- 

 mastering volume and strength that the ground lost 

 could never be quite regained. Nevertheless Penn- 

 sylvania remained for years one of the dominant 

 factors in the American heavy horse breeding in- 

 dustry. 



To a lesser extent the same is true of Ohio. In 

 the Buckeye state perhaps the farmers' yards were 

 not raked quite so clean as in Pennsylvania, and 

 though the prices offered by the agents of the War 

 Department tempted many breeders to sell their 

 grade mares for army uses a larger percentage re- 

 mained after the close of hostilities with which to 

 begin anew the making of the native-bred drafter. 

 Old Doll 540, imported in 1857 by the Darby Plains 

 Co., proved a tower of strength to the budding pure- 

 bred industry, not only in her own career but also 

 in the prolificacy of her several daughters. They 

 gave the Ohio fanciers a start in the breeding of 

 purebred stock and the constant supply of unrelated 

 imported stallions from 1851 onward gave them the 

 opportunity to put successive crosses upon the native 

 foundation until registration under the top-cross rule 

 of 1878 had been achieved. We find no evidence 

 that this new rule was taken advantage of in that 

 day by the breeders in Maryland or Virginia. 



Just how Indiana escaped from being infected with 

 the desire to improve its work horses by the use of 



