OTHER PROMINENT FIGURES OF THE PERIOD 277 



consider it as rather too small and too lacking in 

 real draft character to have exerted any material 

 influence on the breed. Mr. Akin is to be considered 

 as a responsible breeder who did much to popularize 

 Percherons in New York in an early day by distribut- 

 ing horses that worked some improvement on the 

 light native stock of the state. So far as influence on 

 Percheron breeding in America is concerned, the 

 operations in this stud are practically valueless. A 

 few animals were bred during the '90 's, but the 

 beginning and end of this farm's inflnence has 

 already been considered, and the stud will not come 

 up for further discussion. 



Minneeota Breeders. — Illinois contributed 8 of the 

 20 leading breeders of this epoch, but Minnesota 

 stands second with 3 among the first 20. It is safe 

 to say that there were more high-class Percheron 

 breeding establishments in Minnesota in the '80 's 

 than in any other state except Illinois. The breeders 

 who brought the state to the front were Leonard 

 Johnson, The Minnesota Percheron Horse Company, 

 and George E. Case. They stood eleventh, fifteenth, , 

 and nineteenth respectively in number of Percherons 

 bred in America during the period under discussion 

 and the dispersion of their studs in the '90 's was 

 deeply regretted. 



Leonard Johnson. — ^No finer-tempered or more 

 honorable breeder of Percheron horses than Leonard 

 Johnson ever lived, and there have been few who 

 were his equals in judgment. He began about 1877 

 or 1878 as a buyer for Mark W. Dunham in France. 



