310 
Notes on Cart Horses. 
The Clydesdale and Shire Breeds. 
I have no desire to enter into controversial questions rcspectino^ 
the origin or the merits of the Shire and the Clyde breeds, but 
simply to refer to facts which have become historical. The 
Scottish farmers were not slow to perceive the necessity for 
increasing the size and power of their esteemed Clydesdales to 
meet the demand for stouter horses, and English breeders have 
learned by revelations which have recently reached them from 
Scotland, how for a long period many of the best of their Shire- 
bred mares were quietly carried over the Border for the purpose 
of improving the Clydesdale breed. Not a few of the most cele- 
brated pedigree Clyde stallions, it is found, are descended from 
English Shire mares ; indeed, it is now no longer a secret that 
even the renowned Clydesdale horse " Prince of Wales " (673) 
has Shire blood in his veins, derived through his ancestor 
" General," whose dam was a Shire mare which won a first- 
prize in the brood class of the Highland and Agricultural 
Society's Show at Glasgow — the very centre of the Clydes- 
dale-breeding-district. Again, " St. Lawrence,"' the Champion 
at Glasgow two years in succession, and first prize at the Royal 
Agricultural Show, York, has Shire blood in his veins from 
both sides. !Mr. Lawrence Drew, of JNIerryton,* one of the 
foremost of Scottish breeders, with a view to increased weight, 
bigger bones, and hardier constitution, has for some years past 
openly advocated the crossing of the Shire mare with the 
Clydesdale stallion, in which practice he has attained the greatest 
success. 
I have a distinct remembrance of what the Clydesdale horse 
was some thirty-five to forty years ago ; and those interested in 
the subject, who cannot go back in memory so far, have only 
to glance at the illustrations of famous Clydesdales which appear 
in Stephens' 'Book of the Farm,' to see what the breed was like 
at that period. 
Having said thus much upon the Clydesdales being improved 
by crossing with the Shire breed, it is but fair to acknowledge 
that the greater activity of the present race of Shire horses may 
possibly have been derived from the large number of quicker- 
stepping stallions which have been brought from beyond the 
Tweed ; and may not be altogether due to more careful selection 
of the original breed. For myself, I may say that the introduction 
of a Clydesdale stallion, which I purchased from the late Mr. 
George Hope, Fenton Barns, upwards of twenty years ago, was 
* This renowned breeder has passed away since this paper was sent to the 
printer. — J. H. 
