738 
NOV 40 
Bttiriwlriol Copies. 
FIRST EXHIBITION OF THE NATIONAL 
HORSE SHOW ASSOCIATION. 
The first exhibition of the National Horse 
Show Association of America opened at Mad¬ 
ison Square Garden in this city on Monday, 
October 32d, and closed on Friday, October 
2fith. The “Garden” is a large one-story 
building, covering about four acres, situated 
nearly in the center of the population of the 
city, and in one of the most aristocratic parts 
of it. It. was formerly the depot of the Har¬ 
lem Railroad, is owned by W. H. Vanderbilt, 
and is a favorite place for public exhibitions 
which are likely to attract large crowds. In 
addition to the permanent galleries, tiers of 
temporary seats wore erected for use during 
the show, affording a total seating capacity 
of about 15 , 000 , The building was also hand¬ 
somely decorated, and lighted at night by 
electricity. The cost of the fixtures alone is 
reported to have been over 330,000, The total 
expenses, it is said, amounted to about 350,000, 
and the receipts were nearly as much. The 
eutrauce fee was one dollar, and the attend¬ 
ance ranged from 10,000 to 25,000 a day, a 
large proportion of whom were children. 
The entries numbered over 400, comprising 
Thoroughbreds, trotters, roadsters, horses of 
all work, heavy draft horses not pure Clydes¬ 
dales or Porcherons, Pereherons, saddle horses, 
ponies, hunters, mules and donkey's. In each 
of these sections there were numerous classes 
for the best and second best in which prizes 
varying from 320 to 3260 were offered by the 
Association, the aggregate of all the Associa¬ 
tion’s preuii urns amounting to 311,000. Special 
premiums aggregating over $2,000 were also 
given by prominent lovers of horse flesh. 
.Although there is a slight deficit to be made 
good by the wealthy managers, still the show 
is thought to have been a brilliant success, 
and confident prophecies are made of still 
greater triumphs in future exhibitions. The 
whole thing in its management, the apportion¬ 
ment of premiums, the entrance and other 
charges, the attendance aud all details was 
quite an aristocratic affair. Every evening 
the boxes were occupied by society leaders, the 
ladies and gentlemen who lend brilliancy to 
the theater and opera. On Monday and other 
fine nights elaborate costumes aud full dress 
suits were the rule with ladies and their 
escorts, The attendance was much larger and 
the scene far more bright aud lively by night 
than by day. 
A number of hurdles and artificial hedges, 
etc*., placed, when needed, on the track, af¬ 
forded excellent opportunities for testing the 
jumping capabilities of hiuiters and other sad¬ 
dle horses. These were used every afternoon 
aud night, and the excellent riding added 
greatly to the attractions of the scene. The 
highest jump made during the exhibition w as 
on Friday afternoon, when E. I). Morgan’s 
Marksman cleared a fence six feet high, beat¬ 
ing Frederick Gebhard’s Leo, which cleared 
one five feet eleven inches. Several ladies 
exhibited their skill on horseback, and three 
English professional lady riders were import¬ 
ed for the express purpose of enhancing the 
excitement of the show. At uight the scene 
forcibly reminded one of a circus, stripped of 
its tinsel and tumblers. The tan-bai*k ellipse 
in the center was crowded with horses being 
trotted, jumped, driven in harness or led by 
grooms. The gayly-colored festoons of bunt¬ 
ing, the banners and coats pf arms of all na¬ 
tions, the bursts of brilliant colored lights 
and the “music by the band,” all helped to 
support the illusion of the circus days. 
In the class for Heavy Draft Horses, sec¬ 
tion G aud classes 48 to 57 were appropriated 
to Clydesdales, but of this breed there was 
not a single representative, w'hile of Perche- 
rons there were 18 entries, 10 of which were 
in the class for stallions four years old and 
over. Here Raspail, dapple gray, eight years 
old, owned by Howard G. White, of Syracuse, 
N. Y., won the first premium, 3100, the 
second prize, $50, going to Bayard, gray, 
eight years old, belonging to Houghton Farm. 
Of other heavy draft horses there were only 
five entries, four of which were made by the 
same person, I. H. Dahlman, who also made 
two of the three entries in the section for 
Horses of ail Work. Of all the other kinds of 
horses there were some excellent specimens, 
most of which belonged to gentlemen living 
or doing business in this city. Kentucky, 
however, contributed some remarkably fine 
animals, among which Lady de Jar nett, the 
best aud handsomest roadster, attracted a 
vast amount of attention and bore away sev¬ 
eral prizes. During the last two years she 
has won just $5,000 in px’izes, yet uftcr the 
show she was sold for $4,000, although the 
price put upon her during the exhibition was 
$10,000. Perhaps no class of exhibits afford¬ 
ed so much unmixed delight as the ponies, of „ : 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
which there were 50, ranging from the tiny 
Shetland up to the firmly-knit, mustang-like, 
polo ponies. These were daily led or driven 
by their owners or grooms, or exhibited in 
village carts aud other light vehicles to the 
unbounded delight of the children. 
Another exhioition, which afforded much 
pleasure, was the lire-men’s display. The 
Association offered a prize of $250, in books 
or plate, for the best aud beefc-traiued fire- 
engine horses. Special care is taken to select 
for the fire department strong, active, intelli¬ 
gent. finely-developed animals, and these are 
put through a long course of training, so that 
on the first, alarm of fire, they' step quickly to 
their places, are hitched up rapidly, and 
away iu a moment. Exhibitions of hitching 
were given throe times a day by five fire- 
engine trains, The fastest record made was 
1% second, counting from the sounding of the 
alarm to the time when the driver was seated, 
the horses harnessed, and ready to start on a 
journey'. The prize, however, was awarded 
to a team whose !>est record in hitching was 
three seconds, as in other points they were 
considered superior to their competitors. 
Among the general public, a good deal of 
objection was made to an attempt to intro¬ 
duce the Anglo-mania which animates certain 
circles here among horse owners aud breed¬ 
ers. Fortunately', the effort was not ouly a 
failure, but it created so much dissatisfaction 
that it is haerily likely to be repeated in 
future. The American lover of horse-flesh 
who is used to the free, open, and handsome 
gait of the great American trotter, cannot 
be induced by a few imitators of English 
styles to favor the mincing, high-stepping ac¬ 
tion of the English gig aud carriage horses 
favored by these “ dudish” nincompoops. One 
or two awards of premiums made in accord¬ 
ance with their notions caused much general 
discontent. 
Our esteemed contemporary. Harper’s Week¬ 
ly, of October 27, gave, in a supplement, a 
likeness of s >me very' light-bodied Clydesdules, 
supposed to have been sketched at the Show ; 
but as thero was not a Clydesdale there, Hie 
artist must have trusted to his memory aud 
imagination rather thau to his eyes, Our own 
artist, however, gives on the first page a few 
of the sights he really saw. On the left hand 
upper comer is seen Marksman making his 
famous high jump. At the opposite corner is 
Lindentree, an Arabian presented to General 
Grant by the Sultan, Under the Arabian is a 
contrast—a PereberoJi aud a Sheltie, At the 
lower right-hand corner is the monarch of the 
ring—the Pereheron Raspail Opposite him 
is a specimen of the glory of American equines 
—the trotter. The “ country cousins,” over 
the trotter are readily recognizable. In the 
center is a specimen of the saddle horses, in 
which the Show was especially' strong. 
THE EARLIEST TROTTING. 
Under the head of Trotting at Agricultural 
Fairs, at page 517, the Rural says that “ The 
first public trotting of which there is any ac¬ 
count iu the United States was iu 1818, when 
the gelding Boston Bine was matched to trot 
a mile in three minutes.” But Prof. Brewer, 
of Yale College, in his elaborate essay, “The 
American Trotting Horse,’’cites the follow ing 
from the Connecticut Journal, New Haveu, 
June 111, 1800: 
“ Fast Trotting. —Yesterday afternoon 
the Harlem Race Course (in New- York. I 
presume), of one mile distance, was trotted 
around in two minutes aud 50 seconds by a 
horse called Yankee, from New Haven—a rate/ 
of speed, it is believed, never before excelled 
in the country.” 
This is 12 years earlier than the date (1818 
given by Frank Forrester as “ the beginning of 
the trotting for money;” and this is what 1 pre¬ 
sume the Rural meant in ealliug it " the first 
public trotting.” Still, may we not consider 
that on the Harlem race course quite as 
“public,” as well as another which Prof. 
Brewer cites of “a chestnut horse from Bos¬ 
ton, m August, 1810, trotting one mile in two 
minutes 48)£ seconds for $000.” Here surely 
was money bet in the race, inaugre Frank 
Forrester to the contrary. 
Prof. Brewer further says: “Trotting as a 
sjiort may be said to have fairly begun be¬ 
tween 18.80 and 1850?” He speaks also of 27 
horses advertised in the Connecticut Journal 
as trotters in the years from 1788 to 1701. I 
suppose this refers merely to the gait of these 
horses, aud not that they' were public trotters. 
A. B. ALLEN. 
THE INTELLIGENCE OF HORSES. 
MARY WAGER-FISKER. 
The “Educated Pig” and the “Educated 
Fleas” have given way]to “ Educated Horses,” 
that in their really remarkable performances 
confirm the stray stories that are occasionally 
in print concerning the intelligence of the 
equine beast. I remember that a friend of 
mine who was employed in a Virginia house¬ 
hold as teacher, once wrote me very par¬ 
ticularly about a horse belonging to the 
family, that was iu the habit of picking its 
master out of the mud when lie fell off its 
back in a drunken state—a condition which 
often characterized him. The intelligent 
animal would take the clothing of the drunk¬ 
en beast iu its teeth, and in lifting him up 
would endeavor to make him remount, and 
would sometimes succeed. “ Professor Bar¬ 
tholomew’s” uineteen educated horses sug¬ 
gest in their performances the possibility of 
mental evolution in the horse, and prove 
beyond all question the reasoning powers of 
animals, although that has been demon¬ 
strated again aud again not only in horses, 
but iu other animals. Why' certain persons 
should dispute with even anger the posses¬ 
sion of reasoning powers by' animals, I could 
never well understand, unless they feared the 
admission would imply’ a too close alliance 
betweent.be races, orute and human. Neither 
have 1 ever been able to see any objection to 
applying the doctrine of immortality to such 
worthy, noble and devoted animals as every 
person has at some time known and loved. 
For my part, I would make the gate of 
Heaven wide enough to take in the fine, deli¬ 
cate, high spirit of my pouy, and the affec¬ 
tionate. devoted, social, watchful soul of the 
dear old doggy, whose earthly life is nearing 
its close. They both deserve the best 1 could 
wish for them for their yeare of faithful ser¬ 
vice, for ouly lodging aud “ board” iu return. 
The Bartholomew horses, while they do 
many very surprising things, obeying the 
“ Professor” at word of command, like so 
many' children, teach the great lesson of the 
power of kindness. They are treated with 
uniform gentleness, and iu their relations 
with each other, the horses evince no disposi¬ 
tion whatever to bite or kick, or to behave 
in any but the most “gentlemanly” manner. 
They have never been shod or harnessed, 
and their master avers that they do not know 
how to kick. They are of all colors and 
sizes, and have been selected solely because of 
their intelligence, and he claims for them 
that they will do everything but talk! One 
brings him a chair, another takes his hat, an¬ 
other brings his letters to him, or goes to his 
desk and, lifting the lid, will bring whatever 
may be there. The horses dance, walk, pace, 
march, trot, run, kneel, lie down, get up, 
play leap-frog, see-saw, distinguish colors,per¬ 
form different figures on the floor as directed, 
know left from right aud right from left, 
bow their thauks, know their names aud their 
number, their proper places, aud sometimes 
when one horse is slow in doing as he is bid, 
his neighbor nudges him to the proper per 
formauce of it. Indeed, the by-play of the 
horses on the stage—they performed on the 
stage of a theater such as human actors ap¬ 
pear upon—is quite as interesting as anything 
on the programme. In one scene the horses 
all stood in a row with head and necx in a 
certain position, forming a beautiful tableau, 
and as the master scanned the fine, his eye 
passing from one end to the other, there were 
certain horses that would take their heads 
out of position the moment his eye was off 
them, and quickly resume it when the funster’s 
eye again wandered iu their direction, pre¬ 
cisely as school children demean themselves 
properly when the teacher is “ looking.” 
After the performance was over, the audience 
had the privilege of goiug iijsjij the stage; and 
seeing the horses near at hand, patting their 
noses if they liked, and I was surprised to see 
upon what a small stage the animals had ap¬ 
peared, with what deftness they had kept out 
of each other’s way, having made the most 
of their room. One of the horses named 
“Pope” does a very neat thing, in turning 
completely around on the “teeter” plank 
which is but twenty inches wide, and another, 
“Beauty,” will stand with all her four feet 
on a block but twelves inches square. 
The moral of such an exhibition may mean 
various things, but it certainly does mean 
that horses are a great deal more than mere 
machines of labor; they think, and feel, and 
love—to what extent we cannot know, not. 
beiug horses ourselves—and are susceptible of 
a certain amount of education—aud bow 
much of that we do not know. But I could 
not help thinking as I watched the strong 
and graceful creatures, that it was quire as 
profitable to educate horses as to educate 
idiots If horses had bauds, they certainly 
could be taught to use them to good advan¬ 
tage. If the boys who teach the cat and dog 
to do certain things creditably, would apply 
their training power to the barn-yard animals, 
they might find a new field of interest and of 
pleasure. 
Of course Professor Bartholomew begins to 
train each horse at an early age, and exercises 
toward it the same patience that a parent 
does in training a child. As the horses jour¬ 
ney about the country, they are stabled like 
other horses, and when they are taken from 
their stalls, they march through the streets 
five or six abreast, and walk up the stairs of 
the hall or theatre where they are to appear, 
with the facility and readiness of human 
beiugs. In our daily association with animals 
we forget or ignore the fact, if cognizant of 
it, that they can lie taught many things be¬ 
yond the “ gee, haw, whoa, and buck,” that 
comprise a large part of our remarks to them. 
The horse destined for a saddle-horse, can be 
trained to kneel for its rider to mount, and 1 
have somewhere read of a cow that was 
" educated” to let down the bars at the proper 
horn-, and come directly to the milking stall. 
The feats of dogs are numberless, but one of 
the best evidences of a dog’s reasoning in¬ 
telligence was displayed by a dog of whom 
my father related this anecdote: A man 
pushed the dog into a stream of water, and 
when he was about to cross ou a board, the 
dog leaped quickly to the other side, and, 
seizing the board in his teeth, drew it from 
him across the water in revenge. 
<ll)c IHimjrtri). 
SOMETHING ABOUT GRAPES. 
C. M. HOVEY. 
I suppose New York is as ubnudantly sup¬ 
plied with tine grapes as our own city; for the 
best of them come from Western New York. 
They lie in huge heaps in every fruiterer’s win¬ 
dow; piles of baskets clog up the doorways of 
the wholesale dealers, and wagon loads stand 
at the street cornet’s, lighted up at night with 
blazing torches, while the peddlers cry, “ Ripe 
Concords, five cents a pound !” They are not 
quite as plentiful as were peaches a few weeks 
ago, but next to that fruit they are the staple 
article of the trade. 
How is this I Oidy half a century ago we 
had but the Isabella aud Catawba Grapes, the 
former of which never ripened only in the 
most favorable localities in the most favorable 
seasons, and the latter, rarely, if ever, in any 
position in Massachusetts. The only eatable 
grapes were Black Hamburgs and Malagas. 
Besides the very scanty supply of them at 
75 cents to 81 per pound, the market furnished 
only wild grapes. Such was our stock of this 
fruit at that time; and so it continued up to 
1844 or ’45, w hen 1 had the gratification of in¬ 
troducing the Diana, presenting to the late A. 
J. Downing the only vine I had except two or 
three reserved for my own planting, and from 
which the whole stock of Western New York 
originated But the Diana, good as it was, 
ouly proved to be an amateur’s grape, and 
until very recently was never to be found in 
the market. 
So grape culture made but little progress for 
eight or ten years, when the Delaware arrested 
some attention and caused considerable dis¬ 
cussion, Mr. Longworth and Mr. Downing in¬ 
sisting that it was a foreign grape, probably 
the Red Tnimiuor or Riesling of Germany. 
We have seen what their opinions were worth. 
Even in 1854 wild grapes continued to be the 
main stock in our markets. 
How is it to-day i Splendid large, showy 
and boautiful Concord Grapes sell at five cents 
for a single pound, $1 for 25 pouuds, and $40 
a ton. Whut a boon to the whole country 1 
What a luxury to the poor ! What a saving 
of life! The poor city child, who longs for the 
fruits of the season, and who has hitherto 
been fed on green apples, hard pears, sour 
plums, punky muskmolons and immature 
peaches, swelling the mortality list of all 
cities, need no longer fear any ill results, but 
may indulge, even to excess, iu grapes, which 
are well known to be a cure, rather thau a 
cause, of the compluiuts which prove so fataj 
in Bummer and Autumn. 
It is just, thirty years (the fid duy of Sep¬ 
tember, 1853), since Mr. Bull first exhibited his 
grape before the Massachusetts Horticultural 
Society', all fully ripe. At the invitation of Mr. 
Bull I visited his grounds at that date and saw 
his vine full of beautiful fruit. 1 was perfect¬ 
ly astounded! 1 could hardly believe it possi¬ 
ble to jump from the Isabella, which never 
fully ripened in the most favorable season, 
except ou a wall, house, or fence, to a perfect¬ 
ly ripe grape growing ou an exposed trellis, ou 
September 8. This alone would be a great 
thing; but when such a grape was about us 
large and handsome in bunch and berry as the 
Hamburg, and nearly, or quite, as good in 
quality , it was u stride 1 thought, impossible. 
Much, however, was the fact. 1 saw the 
vine. 1 ate the grapes. 1 was sure of the day 
and the month as well us the year; though I 
got out the almanac to make it positive. My 
object wus, at Mr. Bull’s request, to introduce 
the grajie to the public, aud to describe it as I 
then saw it aud tasted it. I immediately ad¬ 
vised Mr. Bull to have a photograph taken of 
