578 Report upon the Exhibition of Horses at Kilburn. 
task of developing and maturing it. Lord Dunmore notices the 
tradition that about the year 1650 the then existing Duke of 
Hamilton introduced six fine black stallions from Flanders into 
the valley of the Clyde, and crossed them with native Scotch 
mares ; but he proceeds, upon the authority of Alton of Strath- 
aven, who wrote about the year 1810, to throw doubt upon the 
authenticity of a report which must be regarded with suspicion. 
It is far more probable that Clydesdales are a composite or 
made breed, arising from the union of Scotch mares, nimble of leg 
as quadrupeds always are in a hilly country, with selected speci- 
mens of the English cart-horse. The Upper Ward of Lanark- 
shire is probably the cradle of the race ; and Lanark fair, held 
annually on the Wednesday before August 12, was the principal 
market to which the colts were brought to be disposed of. In 
former days, according to the Rev. David Ure, these yearlings 
were generally purchased, at prices varying between 5Z. and 20/., 
by farmers from Renfrewshire and Ayrshire ; and having been 
thoroughly trained for draught purposes, they were resold, when 
five years old, at Rutherglen fair, fetching from 25/. to 40/. 
a-piece. It would indeed astonish the originators of this 
remarkable breed could they be awakened to a consciousness 
that within the last few years prize-winning yearling fillies have 
been purchased eagerly at 150/. to 200/. a-piece ; that a first- 
class brood-mare is occasionally marketable at 500/. or more ; 
and that stallions have been known to fetch 1500/. The sur- 
prising rise in price is probably due in great measure to the 
eagerness with which a demand for Clydesdales has sprung up 
in Australia and New Zealand, as is evidenced by the heavy pur- 
chases made recently, at Lord Dunmore's sale and elsewhere, by 
Mr. Russell ; while simultaneously the United States and Canada 
have sent many emissaries to England, with a view to possessing 
themselves of the breed. It is said that the appreciation ot 
Clydesdales in the United States was greatly enhanced by the 
strain thrown on American railroads during the stupendous Civil 
War which raged between 1861 and 1865, and necessitated the 
movement of enormous masses of war material. It was found, 
in practice, that no other horses were so handy for tugging 
railway cars about the vast stations or depots of New York, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington ; and since the war 
there has been no decline in the demand, or in the price paid, 
for shapely well-bred animals from the Clyde valley. As a 
rule, the shoulder of the Clydesdale is more slanting than that of 
the English cart-horse, and, moreover, the generous courage and 
high spirit with which the Scotch quadrupedal drudge sets his 
shoulders to work when called upon to drag a load of three tons 
up the " Glasgow slips," secures for him the distinction that no 
