Practical Ayricultare . 
f)81 = 3i5 
or heavy draught purposes in towns. They are said to be more 
)redisposed than some other breeds to weak feet and side-bones, 
ind they are not so thrifty of food as the Suffolks. 
No grander draught-animals exist than are bred in the Great 
^evel of the Fens, and in some of the bordering and midland 
■ounties ; the largest and most massive horses in the world 
)eing supplied by them to the London market and to other 
rreat cities of the kingdom. Of late years they have been more 
irefully bred with reference to pedigree and the avoidance 
if hereditary disease; and it has just been determined by the 
)reeders to establish a Stud Book, an association for the pur- 
)ose having been formed, with the Earl of Ellesmere as President. 
As these agricultural horses are by no means confined to Breedt;is. 
astern and central England, it is not possible to enumerate 
he breeders who have attained to celebrity in the prize-rings of 
he great Societies ; but I may name a few — as the Earl of 
Ellesmere, Earl Spencer, the Earl of Macclesfield ; Mr. F. Street, 
f Somersham, Huntingdonshire ; Mr. Nix, of the same place ; 
iessrs. Vawser, of March, Cambridgeshire ; Mr. William 
V'elcher, of Thetford, Norfolk ; Mr. George Street, of Maulden, 
Bedfordshire ; Mr. J. E. Parsons, of Charwellton, Northamp- 
)nshire ; Mr. Henry Smith, of Cropwell Butler, Nottingham- 
hire ; Mr. Thomas Statter, of Stand Hall, Manchester ; Mr. 
homas Rigby, of Carleton Grange, Blackpool, Lancashire ; 
Ir. Stokes, of Caldecot, Northamptonshire ; Mr. C. Beart, of 
tow, Norfolk ; Mr. E. Lister, of Coleby, Lincolnshire. 
Among the principal fairs for Shire-horses are Horncastle, 
joston, Northampton, Peterborough, Leicester, Rugby, Ayles- 
ury. 
At the Earl of Ellesmere's sale at W'orsley, near Manchester, in 
ebruary 1878, twenty-nine mares and fillies averaged 101/. 3s. 
ach ; sixteen stallions averaged 203/. 35. 6f/. each ; and the 
ighest price for a stallion was 388/. But 100/. to 200/. are not 
ncommon prices for sires or dams. 
Suffolks, Clydesdales, and Shire-breds embrace the few dis- 
inctive strains of cart-horses in England ; but the majority of 
le farm-horses in the kingdom are crosses or improvements 
t old local varieties, ranging in character from the heavy horse 
f the midlands to the active Welsh, and the descendants of the 
ack-horse of Devonshire and the south-west. 
