AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
105 
horse at a time, announced his number, and he 
was then made to pass and repass in view of the 
judges and the spectators on the seats opposite, 
then returned to his place, and the other horses 
followed the same course. When all of a class 
had thus been viewed in motion, they were 
marched off to the judges’ private ground fora 
strict individual examination. While this was 
going on, another class was marched in front of 
the stand to be viewed by other judges. This 
course kept the seated multitude constantly 
interested. 
There were 57 Breeding mares exhibited, 9 
of them with their foals at their sides. The day 
closed with trials of speed by a variety of horses. 
Thursday , 20th. —The ground was occupied 
at an early hour by trials of speed between 
various horses. The regular exercises opened 
at 9 o’clock with the exhibition of Matched 
horses, 33 pairs entered for competition. Among 
these were Morgans, Black Hawks, Messengers, 
Shermans, Natives, Eclipses, Bluchers, Hamble- 
tonians, and English bred. 
While these were being exhibited, a meeting 
called by the President was held, to decide what 
should constitute a Poney, so that the judges 
might act upon some recognized basis of opinion. 
Quite an interesting discussion took place, which 
ended in the appointment of a committee to take 
the subject into consideration and report. Sub¬ 
sequently this committee presented the following 
report which was accepted : 
What constitutes a Pony. 
The Committee finally determine, and recom¬ 
mend to the National Agricultural Society as 
their opinion, that no animal of the horse family 
should be termed a pony which does not bear 
the distinctive marks of that breed—that is, a 
heavy body, short head and legs, stout neck, 
with heavy mane and tail, and not over 14 hands 
high; and that in all offers of premiums for this 
breed of horses, pure pony blood should be 
taken into account, more than size and height, 
and such crosses of that breed with those of 
large growth as come the nearest to the original 
idea of a pony, for which the Shetland should 
be kept in view as the type of the race. Those 
not possessed of the distinctive pony marks, 
whatever their size, should be ranked as small 
horses, and not as ponies. 
At 11 o’clock the bell rung for colts. The 
following 35 entries were made :—17 stallions 3 
years old; 2 Filleys 3 years old; 8 stallions 2 
years old; 1 Filley 2 years old; 7 stallions 1 
year old. 
At 12 o’clock Fancy matched horses, sixteen 
pairs. At 2 o’clock Stallions from 4 to 7 years 
old, 33 entries. These presented a beautiful 
appearance, especially when driven around the 
circle in a furious and exciting tournament. 
At 3 P.M., the largest class on the.ground, 
Geldings, were brought out for examination. 
There were 109 entries, and many fine horses 
were exhibited. These were chiefly from New- 
England, New-York and Canada. ' A number 
were put upon the course, and showed good 
speed. 
After 4 o’clock the course was opened to all 
horses on the ground, and the various trials of 
skill and speed enchained the large audience till 
nearly dusk. 
In the evening, Mr. Atwater, the originator 
of this show, gave a brillant party at his resi¬ 
dence, made up by a large number of visitors 
from abroad and citizens of Springfield. 
The amount of money taken at the gate dur¬ 
ing the day was $3,200, which, with the sums 
before received for visitors and entries of horses, 
amounted to over $6,500. 
The total number of entries thus far was 375, 
a large number of which included two horses ; 
making the round number of horses, entered for 
exhibition, about 500. It will be remembered 
that each horse entered for* exhibition was 
charged $3, and those for competition $5; this 
of course sifted out all but the better or best 
specimens; and those who have seen at a County 
or State show a group of a dozen good horses, 
can well appreciate the interest excited among 
the admirers of this noble and serviceable ani¬ 
mal, when looking at 500 of the best to be col¬ 
lected from almost one half of the Union. 
Friday , 21s#.—The opening of the exhibition 
was announced at 8 o’clock this morning, by a 
national salute, fired with four large,and beautiful 
brass cannons furnished from the U. S. Armory. 
A dozen or more national flags were gaily float¬ 
ing in different parts of the ground during the 
whole exhibition. 
This morning, by very general desire, the 
tournament of Wednesday morning was repeated, 
and 500 or more horses were again brought 
upon the ground together. This was succeeded 
by the exhibition of Ponies, 23 of which entered 
and went through various exercises. They were 
succeeded by 7 thoroughbreds, and the examin¬ 
ations closed with a brilliant display of 56 stal¬ 
lions, 7 years old and upward. These made a 
fine climax. Fifty-six full grown stallions, the 
best of the Northern and Middle States, and the 
Canadas, formed an array of beauty and life, of 
a kind never before equalled. Among these 
were “ Cassius M. Clay,” of New-York, “Morell 
Horse,” of Vermont, “Bush Messenger,” of Au¬ 
gusta, Me., “Black Morgan,” of Petersham, Mass., 
and “Lone Star,” of New-York. We were most 
interested in the less showy, but more substan¬ 
tial, heavy stallions that produce the best horse 
of all work upon the farm. Among these we 
may mention the Cumberland Draught-horse 
“ Clyde Briton,” bred b}'- Mr. Ward, near To¬ 
ronto, Canada; his weight is 1,670 pounds, and 
height 17 hands, and is well built. There were 
some others of a similar character, though these 
attracted less attention from the masses present 
than the more fanciful, lighter breeds. 
The Grand Agricultural Banquet .—This 
took place at 2 o’clock in the large tent. About 
1700 persons sat down to well-filled tables. 
Good speeches followed from Marshall P. 
Wilder,- Hon. Abbott Lawrence, Hon. John 
M. Botts, and Ex-Governor Floyd, of Virginia, 
Francis C. Holcomb, of Delaware, Ex-Governor 
Colby, of New Hampshire, Mr. Bigelow, of the 
New-York Evening Post, and Dr. E. Holmes, of 
Maine. We made full notes of these speeches, 
but must defer them till another number. The 
remarks of Mr. Holcomb, of Delaware, upon 
breeding of horses, were especially interesting 
and instructive ; as .were also some of the re¬ 
ports of the judges. Some of these and of the 
speeches we will give hereafter. 
The day closed up with the declaration of 
premiums, which with the discretionary pre¬ 
miums and gratuities amounted to near $3000. 
A number of diplomas were also awarded. 
The receipts during the exhibition amounted 
to over $10,000. Every thing moved with 
clock-work precision throughout. Saturday 
was devoted to the sale of horses at auction. 
We should, have been pleased had all the 
horses of each breed been brought together by 
themselves. We were at considerable pains to 
make out lists of these ; but in many cases the 
owners themselves could not give the breed or 
pedigree of their horses, or they presented such 
mixtures as not to belong to any distinct breed. 
From the interest awakened in this matter we 
think a horse pedigree book will soon be made 
out by some one. We gave our own views and 
suggestions on this subject several weeks since. 
Of the horses whose pedigree we could 
obtain, there were of Stallions of all ages, 50 
Morgans, and 22 Black Hawks; of Breeding 
mares, 22 Morgans, 8 Black Hawks, and 3 Mes¬ 
sengers; of Geldings, 31 Morgans, 11 Black 
Hawks, 9 Messengers, 3 English, and 3 French. 
It will thus be seen that the Morgan horses 
largely predominated. This might have been 
expected, as this breed originated in Springfield 
we believe, and is still very popular in that 
vicinity. 
A daily paper of this city insinuates that this 
was a local instead of a national affair, and was 
got up as a private speculation. This we think 
entirely unjust. The best possible facilities 
were provided to give it a national character, 
and the large number of horses from other 
States than Massachusetts, is sufficient to rebut 
any such feeling. A large portion of the pre¬ 
miums were awarded to other States. The 
guarantee stock subscriptions were made with 
the full expectation that a loss would be ex¬ 
perienced, and that this was not the case is 
owing to the admirable management, the in¬ 
terest generally felt in the exhibition, and to the 
unusually popitious weather before and during 
the show. "We give below the awards of pre¬ 
miums. 
Premiums awarded at the First National 
Exhibition of Horses, at Springfield, Mass., 
October, 1853. 
Stallions of Seven Years and Older. 
1st Premium of $200 to “ Cassius M. Clay,” 
Andrew Jackson breed, owned by J. H. Good¬ 
win of New-York. 
2d Premium of $100 to Morrell horse, Mor¬ 
gan breed, owned by F. Morrell of Danville, Vt. 
3d Preminm of $50 to “Bush Messenger,” 
owned by Hiram Reed of Augusta, Me. 
4th Premium of $25 to “Black Morgan,” 
owned by Francis Twitched, Jr., of Petersham, 
Massachusetts. 
Gratuities of $10 each were awarded as fol¬ 
lows : 
To “Ashuelot Morgan,” owned by Taft & 
Bowen of Richmond, N. II.; “ Rattler,” Ilam- 
bletonian breed, owned by James Brigart of 
Kingsbury, N. Y.; “John Anderson,” Hamble- 
tonian breed, owned by C. P. Currie of New- 
York; “Oscar,” owned by Willim M. Olcott of 
Michigan; “Deerfield Morgan,” owned by F. 
A. Wier of Walpole, N. H.; “ Lone Star,” 
Black Hawk Breed, owned by II. Ball of New- 
York ; “ Chesterfield Morgan,” owned by E. B. 
Cavender of Keene, N. H.; “Bay Kentucky 
Hunter,” owned by H. A. Longley of Belcher- 
town; “Bay State Morgan,” owned by John 
Chapin of Greenfield ; “ Flying Morgan,” owned 
by R. M. Adams of Burlington, Vt. 
. Stallions of 4 to 7 Years. 
1st Premium of $100 to “ Paul Clifford,” 
Black Hawk Breed, owned by Hudson & Wilcox, 
Vermont. 
2d Premium of $50 to “ Flying Morgan,” 
owned by John Chamberlain and Hiram Gibbs, 
of Massachusetts. 
3d Premium of $25 to “ Young Black Hawk,” 
owned by S. Hooper of Massachusetts. 
A gratuity of $15 to “ Flying Cloud,” Black 
Hawk breed, owned by Timothy T. Jackson of 
Flushing, L. I. 
A gratuity of $10 to “ Canadian Leopard,” 
English breed, owned by Ira Griffin of Massa¬ 
chusetts. 
A gratuity of $10 to “Raven,” Black Hawk 
breed, owned by Robbins Battell of Norwalk, 
Connecticut. 
Diplomas to “North Star,” “Flying Cloud,” 
“Raven,” “Cub,” “Black Hawk,” “Young 
Eclipse,” and “Black Hawk.” 
Fancy Matched Horses. 
1st Premium of $100 to D. Sanderson, Somer¬ 
ville, N. J., 
2d Premium of $50 to Doly and Hubbard, 
Montpelier, Vt., Morgan breed. 
3d Premium of $25 to Francis T. Cordis of 
Longmeadow, Mass., Morgan breed. 
4th Premium of $25 to James Reed of Palmer, 
Mass., one Morgan and one Messenger. 
5th Premium of $20 to Josiah Crosby of 
North Andover, Mass., Black Hawk breed. 
Diploma to J. Wilcox 2d of Meriden, Ct., 
Morgan breed. 
Matched Horses. 
1st Premium of $100 to Lewis Gale of Barre, 
Vt., Morgan breed. 
2d Premium of $50 to L. B. Chapman of 
Windsor Locks, Ct., Native breed. 
3d Premium of $25 to M. II. Griffin of Mid¬ 
dletown, Ct., for his New-Jersey bred horses. 
4th Premium of $20 to S. C. Hall of Man¬ 
chester, N. II., one Black Hawk and one Mor¬ 
gan. 
5th (extra) Premium of $20 to T. J. Shep¬ 
herd of Springfield Mass., for his Genesee 
County horses. 
Diplomas to L. A. Phillips of Providence, R. 
I. ; Nathan Bassett of Columbia Co., N. Y.; J. 
II. Tuttle of Conn., Lathrop & Shepard of 
Mass. ; David P. Foot of Conn.; Genery Twitch- 
ell of Boston. 
Farm or Draught Horses 
Pairs of Horses .—1st Premium of $50 to 0. 
