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Vol XLII. No 173G. 
NEW YORK, MAT 5, 1883. 
PRICE FITE CENTS 
$2.00 PER YEAR. 
Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 18S3, by the Rural New-Yorker, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
close-ribbed, with a small, well-shaped head, 
often slightly dish-faced, like an Arab; ears 
small, well placed and erect; eyes large, 
bright and intelligent; neck short and thick, 
graced with a long, though coarse maue; 
shoulders slanting, muscular and full of liberty, 
with little elevation at the withers! loins 
broad, but well formed; quarters well made, 
but not large in proportion to the rest of the 
body; back gently curving with never a ten¬ 
dency to “sway-back’’; legs and feet well 
formed and of such splendid texture that a Shet¬ 
land never goes lame except as the result of a 
severe accident; tail, like the mane, long and 
abundant; color chiefly bay, brown or rusty 
black, chestnuts and grays being very rare. 
The endurance of the shelties is very great 
and their strength vastly disproportioned to 
qualities, combined with their diminutive size, 
adapt them admirably to the use of children; 
and for tjiese large numbers are exported 
every year to Scotland, England, the British 
Colonies, the Continent of Europe, and lately 
considerable importations have been made to 
the United States, Of the latter we, this week, 
present to om* readers the likeness of a couple 
of excellent specimens imported last Septem¬ 
ber by Mr. Francis H. Relph, of this city. 
Clipping and good grooming, to say nothing 
of better feed, have altered their appearance 
considerably from what it was when they ran 
wild and uncared-for in their far Northern 
craggy homes: but the real pony is all there 
—it's only the coat that is altered. 
Standing proudly in front, as consequential 
as a little man of the same inches, is Highland 
conscious of the beauty of the pair as they 
pose before our artist, is his mate Flora, four 
years old, 40 inches high, “ brown as a berry,” 
with flowing mane and tail sweeping the 
ground. 
raemmt 
OUR ANIMAL PORTRAITS, 
FARM HORSES, 
SHETLAND PONIES HIGHLAND 
;OY AND FLORA. 
HON. GEO. B. LORINO, U. S. COM. OF AGRICUL¬ 
TURE. 
The breeding of farm horses, or “horses-of- 
all-work,” as they have for a long time been 
called in this country, constituted a large part 
of the business of those w ho in the earlier 
years of agricultural operations, devoted 
themseves to the rearing and development of 
this animal. In the Colonial days many 
well-bred and valuable horses were imported 
both from England 
i which, while vary- 
IfllfpSIgg., v. d ingin size, according 
to the locality in 
which they bred 
~ know as the ‘' Ameri- 
strains of blood of 
the heavier horses 
of Scotland and 
forage and grain are 
abundant, but the 
coasts are general! 
varying in bight fro: 
the sea. The in¬ 
terior is very little 
more elevated than 
the coast, but the 
surface is generally 
rugged or covered 
with moss, the only 
tolerably fertile soil 
being in a few val¬ 
leys in the neigh¬ 
borhood of some of 
the bays. Very lit¬ 
tle ot the land is 
arable; oats, barley, 
potatoes and tur nips 
are the principal 
crops next to that 
afforded by the wi/le, 
wild sea, which is 
harvested by about 
4,000 small, active 
and hardy fisher¬ 
men—most of the 
adult male popula¬ 
tion. The climate is 
not remarkably 
cold, but there is a 
great deal of wet, 
tempestuous weath¬ 
er, and fogs are fre¬ 
quent. 
All the live stock 
on the group are 
very diminutive. Of 
them the ponies, or 
* ‘ shelties,” are much 
the most important. 
These are bred in 
great numbers on 
the heaths and pas¬ 
tures, their rough, 
shaggy coats and 
hardy constitutions 
enabling them to 
withstand all the in¬ 
clemencies of the 
long, dark, dreary 
Winters, on the 
scantiest fare. When 
the depth of the 
snow on the with¬ 
ered pastures pre¬ 
vents them from 
picking up a meagre 
subsistence on the 
uplands, they hie 
to the sea-shore and 
live upon the kelp 
and sea-weed cast 
up by the turbulent 
Ocean. When cap¬ 
tured and reduced 
to subjection, they 
still require little 
food or care. The 
SHETLAND PONIES HIGHLAND BOY AND FLORA— From a Photograph—Fig. L8' 
shuttles are the smallest variety of the 
British horse, varying from 84 to 44 inches 
high, though few real shelties reach the 
latter size. In form they are round, 
their size. They are easily trained, affection¬ 
ate and generally so good-tempered that they 
may be pulled about with os much impuuity 
as a Newfoundland dog. These amiable 
Boy, five years old, buck-skin in color, 42 
inches in bight, and possessed of all the char¬ 
acteristic points of the best of his race. Af¬ 
fectionately leaning over him, and modestly 
characteristics are 
not changed. And, while we have poured into 
this channel the warm, courageous, enduring 
blood of the Thoroughbred and the coolness 
nd patience of the Norman, and the solid reso- 
