THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
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SHIRE HORSES. 
The Shire and Suffolk Punch are the 
only breeds of agricultural or heavy 
draft horses that attract attention now¬ 
adays in England. The latter has long been 
quite popular in the county from which it 
takes its name, and in the adjacent districts as 
well as in Loudon; but of late the Shire, larg¬ 
er, slower and somewhat more unwieldy, is 
advancing faster in public favor. It is a com¬ 
posite breed, made up in recent years of selec¬ 
tions from choioe specimens of the old En¬ 
glish Black Cart-horse and the Lincolnshire 
Dray-horse, and it contains a great deal of the 
blood of the heavy draft horses of Normandy 
and the still heavier horses of Flanders, which 
were imported into England for centuries to 
improve the native agricultural stock. It was 
not until 1879 that the Shire Horse Society 
was formed in England, and the first 
volume of the Stud-Book of the breed was not 
issued until February, 1880—a trifle over 
seven years ago. Indeed, it may be said that 
the Shire Horae breed is still to some extent 
in a formati ve stage. Although the eighth 
volume of the Stud-Book has lately been is¬ 
sued, few of the entries m any of the books 
can trace their genealogy back for more than 
half a dozen generations. Some of the most 
prominent horse breeders in the country, how¬ 
ever,among them several of the nobility, have 
lately taken a decided interest in the race, and 
are rapidly improving it. 
The Shire is certainly the largest horse in 
the world. At the age of two and a 
half years the colts are often 17 hands 
high, and full-grown horses frequent¬ 
ly reach the elephantine bight of over 
18 hands. In London, Liverpool and 
other large cities these horses are em¬ 
ployed chiefly by brewers, coal deal 
era and others engaged in heavy 
traffic, and strung out, tandem fash¬ 
ion, they present a splendid appear¬ 
ance as they move slowly and majes- 
tieally along, They are usually of a 
sooty black color with frequently a 
white lozenge-shaped mark on the 
forehead or a ** blaze ” on the face. 
They generally have one or more 
feet aud part of the legs, and not 
mi fr equently the muzzle, white. Their 
bodies are massive, compact and 
round; their limbs stout; chests ex¬ 
tremely broad, and necks ami backs 
short. The mane is thick aud gen¬ 
erally somewhat frizzled; and the 
legs below the kuee aud hock are 
hairy down to the heels. The main 
defects of a Shire horse are his enor¬ 
mous bulk, his slowness, and want of 
action and mettle. The owners of 
these horses take special pride in their 
size; hence breeders employ large 
stallions and use every other means 
to favor the development of great 
size. They are most extensively bred 
iu Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Lanca¬ 
shire, Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, Staf¬ 
fordshire aud the other central couu 
ties iu Englaud. 
Within the last half dozen years consider¬ 
able importations of Shire horses have been 
made to this country, chiefly to the Missis¬ 
sippi Valley, where they are growing steadily 
iu popular favor for use both between the 
shafts and before the plow. Steps have 
already been taken to secure the early publi¬ 
cation of a Stud-book for the breed in this 
country, and a society has been organized for 
this purpose, with Charles Burgess, Wenona, 
111., as Secretary. The largest and most un¬ 
wieldy kinds are not the favorites here, how¬ 
ever. Americans seldom want horses over 
lfl.2 hands high, aud those that cun trot with 
their wagons are preferred. We also as a 
rule prefer clean-logged, elean-jointed ani¬ 
mals; with a good deal of spirit. 
At Fig. 159 is a likeness of the Shire stal¬ 
lion Harold, the winner of the Champion 
prize, valued at 100 guiueas, for the best aui- 
mal in the show, at the late Shire Horae Ex¬ 
hibition at London, Kugluml. He also won 
the prize of 20 guiueas for the best stallion iu 
the first thro*' classes, and the 50 guinea 
prize for the best stallion. He is six years old, 
and is acknowledged by all to be the Quest 
specimen of the breed now in existence. At 
the show there was a brisk trade iu Shire 
horses, several of the prize-winners being sold 
at prices ranging up to 600 guineas—$8,005. 
Large prices are also paid for the services of 
choice stallions for stud purposes. The second 
prize-winner at the late London Shire llorso 
Show was hired for the season for 800 guiueas 
(#1,532), with a proviso that 80 mares were to 
be served. Considerable exportations of 
Shire stallions huvo been recently made to 
Germany, for crossing ou her smaller agricul¬ 
tural horses, and, like the English Thorough 
bred, the English Shire Horse .is winniug.a 
high reputation on the continent, j _ 
“The giant swindle of the age,” is what the 
Rev. W. P. Eaton, of Portland, Me., one of 
the directors of the Credit Foncier, got up to 
aid the “Topolobampo Colony,” of Sinaloa, 
Mexico, calls that “enterprise.” Owen, the 
concoctor of the scheme, is reported to have 
cleared #600,000 out of it. He represented to 
the would-be “colonists” that he had secured 
from Mexico a large tract of splendid land, 
abutting on a fine harbor south of Cluaymas, 
and that all that was needed wus a lot of colo¬ 
nists to work on a peculiar co-operative plan of 
his invention. A short time back the papers 
were full of the praises of the schenu\the coun¬ 
try ,aud the man. Biographical sketches told his 
romantic career, and flowery descriptions of 
the. colony almost rivaled those of that other 
humbug, the “St. Andrew’s Bay” colony 
of Florida. A railroad, shipping orange 
groves, and a beautiful, picturesque town, 
with a tine ship-dotted harbor in front, and 
a rich, well cultivated, salubrious coun¬ 
try in rear, were as alluring attractions in the 
Topolobampo scheme as they are in the St. 
Andrew’s Bay humbug. Well, the former 
bubble has burst as the latter is sure to do. 
Nearly all the respectable colonists have left, 
and the others will follow them as soon as they 
can borrow or beg enough money to enable 
them to do so. Like the Maine parson,several 
of the dupes have thought they owed it to “a 
of this city, appears all right....Yes; 
Darnbaum Brothers. Baltimore, Md., are quite 
trustworthy.. We do not recommend Dr. Olvin, 
of Chicago. Wehave never tried his “Nervita;” 
but we are quite certain it is not a “sure cure’’ 
for nervous debility. Why don’t people afflict, 
edin this way cousult a good doctor near home. 
They would be helped by him much more, for 
much less money, than they would be by any 
advertising practitioner.. .That “free recipe,” 
of the “old missionary,” and old charlatan will 
cost those who try it a good round sum before 
they find out that, it is worthless. All these “free 
recipes” contain one or more ingredients bear¬ 
ing names which are unknown to any drug¬ 
gist. The patient must, therefore, send to the 
advertiser for it; and is sure to gqt some very 
common stuff for a very uncommon price. 
“A. J. Green.” of Tennessee, and his dropsical 
cure are humbugs. 
'Pmflus. 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS.— 
LXXVII. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
Desolation in Western Texas; San Antonio; 
features of the largest city in Texas; the 
military headquarters , 
The moon was full that early morning as 
we rolled eastward over the arid plains of 
Western Texas, and at 10 o’clock we had 
reached Merfa, 1,480 miles from San Francis¬ 
co. That was the most wearisome day of ail 
our travels, there being so little to divert the 
mind—now and then a station, a few rough 
wooden houses, saloons, plains barren save 
but the winter of 1885-6, as everywhere, was 
of exceptional severity. At the time of our 
visit (April 17-19) the pomegranates were in 
full bloom; large, shrubby trees bearing a red 
or yellow flower—very showy. Marshal Nie 
Roses were in great profusion; the Chinese 
Umbrella Tree at every turn was fragrant 
with bloom, and climbing roses draped 
porches, piazzas and pillars in Southern luxu¬ 
riance. Bedded gardens were dazzling with 
scarlet amarylis. The streets of the city are 
narrow, with narrow sidewalks—there are 
courts and alleys, and deep windows, recesses 
and piazzas, walls, vines and hedges that re¬ 
minded me constantly of Southern European 
towns. There are many very elegant 
business blocks of gray sandstone. 
The dwellings are flounced all the 
way up the front with piazzas. The San 
Pedro and the San Antonio Rivers gently me¬ 
ander through the town. The water is ex¬ 
cellent. Tramways are in abundance, each 
car being drawn by one mule and the fare was 
five cents. It is never higher than that west 
of the Mississippi River. A partof the Alamo 
in which Davy Crockett and so many Texans 
met with a fiendish death at the hands of 
Santa Anna, is still in good condition and 
faces a plaza bearing the name of Alamo. 
This massacre was one of the most shocking 
that ever occurred on this continent; but I do 
not think that Americans as a rule are famil¬ 
iar with its details. All these prominent fea¬ 
tures of the city we noted before starting for 
our afternoon drive, which had for its objec¬ 
tive point the ruins of the Old Mission churches 
planted at intervals along the San Antonio 
River. 
The entire drive was of the most 
picturesque description—the trees in 
the tender green of spring, the mea¬ 
dows and roadsides gay with wild 
flowers, large pink primroses, a large 
five-petaled white blossom called star 
flower, verbena-s, and many others 
new to us. It was warm—the mer¬ 
cury 84 degrees in the shade. At 
one point we had to ford the river, 
which with a strange horse we rather 
reluctantly ventured to do. But we 
kept our feet dry and reached the op¬ 
posite shore in safety. The old Jesuit 
Fathers—as well as the modern ones 
—had an eye for location, and I be¬ 
lieve I have never yet seen a Catho¬ 
lic church in any country set in other 
than a fine spot. Along the San 
Antonio River within a few miles 
the Fathers built four churches, and 
each building included, in addition to 
the church, a fort, stores for supplies 
for men aud beasts, dwellings, etc.. 
so that each structure formed a vast 
establishment, and the missions here 
were very substantially built of brick 
and stone. As ruins they are finer, 
nobler and simpler in architecture 
than anything modern in America. 
Not much comparatively is left stand¬ 
ing—the towers, turrets, facade, 
arches, some walls—aud to see these 
rising above the trees produced upon 
my mind a more impressive and pic¬ 
turesque impression than anything I 
saw in Europe. We visited two—the Concep¬ 
cion and the San Jose—the former the grander 
design, but the latter is more ornate, with ex¬ 
ceedingly fine carvings, and the statues in 
front still in place. A few Mexicans hover 
about these majestic ruins and live in portions 
of them. One came with a red bandana about 
her head, aud with much circumstance un- 
I locked the door of a small chapel, tawdry 
with cheap patch-work haugiugs; but the or¬ 
namentation in a poor church always leaves 
upon my mind a pathetic impression. The lad¬ 
die gave her a silver coin aud she departed in 
peaceful dignity. In one of the gardens at¬ 
tached to the missions I not iced a fig tree still in 
a flourishing condition. In visiting these 
ruins one cannot but muse upon the industry, 
taste, mechanical skill and rnouey that were 
required for their upbuilding. How much the 
Indians and Mexicans were civilized by such 
heroic efforts, one cannot say; neither do I 
know the history of their decay. Whenever 
any one of these old missions bas been “re¬ 
stored” its picturesque beauty has been de¬ 
stroyed- After our return to the City we drove 
out. to the Government buildings, situated on 
au emiuenee. It is the most beautiful mili¬ 
tary post l remember to have seen—grounds, 
buildings, quartermaster’s department, oftl 
cere’ dwellings, drives, trees, and all the feat¬ 
ures of a great military post and characterized 
by military order ami elegance All the build¬ 
ings are of stone, and the officers’ quarters 
alone form a large collection of beautiful vil¬ 
las. Evidently the soldier sent to San Antonio 
must consider himself iu great good luck. 
) Most of the farming we saw in our rural drive 
[ was ‘"slack,” but said to be “improving.” As 
all visitors are free to walk or drive freely 
about the Government buildings, Anaximan¬ 
der commented on the fact that such freedom 
was nowhere permissible, so far as he knew, 
outside of the domain of the Stare and Stripes. 
Wo drew t* back to the city by the full light of 
the moon, and thus ended an enchanting day. 
SHIRE STALLION HAROLD. Re-Engraved from the Loudon Live-Stock Journal. 
159. 
deceived public” to expose the swindle through 
the press. “The land is worthless;” “the har¬ 
bor isn’t deep enough for a sea-going vessel;” 
“the country is pestilential,” “there is no town; ’ 
“the railroad exists only on paper;” “nothing 
is being produced for the support of the eol- 
ony“in uot a single particular was the mat¬ 
ter represented correctly,” are some of the 
remarks they make which are equally applic¬ 
able to the Florida fraud. Do the suffering 
dupes deserve sympathy! The womeu aud 
children may, but most of the men certainly 
don’t. They embarked in the enterprise with¬ 
out due investigation. Many of theiu, blindly 
trusting to gross misrepresentations, exposed 
their families to untold hardships. All expostu¬ 
lations and exposures beforehand, they treated 
with contempt or attributed to discreditable 
motives. Many of them persuaded their 
friends and neighbors to invest iu the swiudle. 
If they had to tramp home, they would uot be 
punished more than they deserve. Do these 
remarks apply to Florida or Mexico? Just as 
you please. 
Inquiry was made as to the “Flower City 
Seed Co.,” of Rochester, N. Y. As we could 
uot find this name iu leadiug agency reports, 
ami their method of selling seeds according 
to their advertisements seemed peculiar, the 
reply was made that we “could not recom¬ 
mend” the Company. It now appears that a 
Mr. W. H. Reid is the proprietor aud his com¬ 
mercial standing is without auy blemish that 
wo know of. 
To Several Inquirers.— We do uot re¬ 
commend Dr. Churchill's “Restorative Reme¬ 
dies,” sold by J. H. Reeves, of this city, uor 
the “Oxie Nerve Food” advertised by a “com¬ 
pany” at Augusta, Mo,..S. H. Moore, 
for sage-brush, yucca aud bunches of cured 
grass, au occasional prairie dog or pair of 
deer, herds of cattle dyiug for lack of food 
aud water, the steuch of their carcasses at 
times penetrating the cars—one long stretch 
of desolation. Toward the close of the day, 
as we ueared the bend of the Rio Gramie, we 
were glad to see the tender green of the tues- 
quito, a Mexieun plant, aud later iu the even¬ 
ing we sat out ou the plat form of the car iu 
the full moonlight and greatly enjoyed the 
ride through the river canon, where the sccu- 
ery is very wild aud the caves and crags have 
been so colored by the action of the elements 
as to be called the Painted Caves. Blessed Is 
the land that the rain rains on! I kept saying 
to myself, aud I thought the commeut of an 
old Oregonian ou the train altogether reason- 
ble. He said, “I wouldn't give one aereof my 
farm in Oregon for two-thirds of all I saw in 
California, all of Arizona, New Mexico and 
Western Texas.” 
Next morning when we awoke it was to 
opeu our eyes on gi'eeu fields and goodly trees, 
and It was with a profouud feeling of relief 
and thanksgiving. It was half past seven 
when we reached San Antonio, aud as it was 
Saturday morning, we decided to stop off, 
seek quiet lodgings aud enjoy a restful Suu- 
day. Wo had heard almost fairy talcs of the 
charms of Sau Antonio, and in the two days 
we spent there, we fully realized them. Sau 
Antonio is the largest city iu Toxas, t he popu¬ 
lation being 40,000—Mexicans, Indiaus, 
negroes and whites. The mildness and healih- 
fulness of the winter climate attract many 
invalids, while the peculiar features of the 
city are of great interest to visitors. As a 
general,, rule, one can pick figs all winter, 
