VOL. XLVIII. NO. 2077. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 16 , i889. 
PRICE, FIVE CENTS. 
$ 2.00 PER YEAR. 
Entered According to Act of Congress in the Year 1889 , by the Rural New-Yorker, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. CJ 
!)0,mcwan. 
FANNY FERN. 
HATTIE B. COLBY. 
H AVING from a child loved horses, I 
have been much interested in the 
portraits of the horses in the R. N.-Y. since 
it has been received regularly in our home 
for several years. I have through circum¬ 
stances taken an interest in the farm, and 
since the feebleness of age made it neces¬ 
sary for father to give the care of it, in 
part, to me I have tried to understand the 
business, and to make it successful and to 
become a good farmer. 
The very handsomest farm animal to my 
mind, is the horse, and as I see the horses 
as they pass by at the fairs I quietly ob¬ 
serve them, and like to read of them, and 
it has struck me as a wrong move when, in 
rocky, hilly New Hampshire the heavy 
draft horses, and the delicate trotters were 
introduced. Either class as a true farm 
animal is entirely out of place here. The 
type of horses which is fast running out 
was by far superior for this place. At Fig. 
274 a fine specimen of the race—the old Mor¬ 
gan blood—is shown in “Fanny Fern.” 
She was foaled in June, 1854. The picture 
was taken in July, 1889. She was raised by 
Johnson Colby in Sutton, N. H. Her sire 
was Flying Morgan and his sire was the 
celebrated old horse Iustiu Morgan. Her 
dam was Kate of 
Crown Point, sired 
by old Engineer. Her 
dam was Black Bess, 
a French-Canadian 
mare. Engineer was 
a race-horse of consid¬ 
erable note in his day 
for long distances 
upon the ice of Lake 
Champlain. He was 
owned at Ticondero- 
ga, N. Y., and my 
uncle said, the white 
horse was ahead fully 
bis share while Bess 
trotted nearly as fast 
as he would run. So 
t h e combination of 
speed and endurance 
was hers upon her 
dam’s side, while the 
beauty and goodness 
of the Morgan family 
are well known. 
Fanny Fern is of 
a rich chestnut color 
with a small white 
star in the face, show¬ 
ing no black, but 
shades of chestnut, 
with heavy mane and 
tail in her young 
days; then her weight 
was 1,000 pounds; at 
present she is some¬ 
what lighter. She 
raised two colts, one 
sired by a Morgan 
horse (name forgot¬ 
ten). 
This colt was ;w 
chestnut, and a large, 
powerful horse. Her 
second colt was by 
Liglitfoot, which was 
sired by old Vermont 
Black Hawk. This 
colt,Kate, we now own 
and she is a prompt, nice horse at 22 years 
old, more slender in build than her dam, a 
trifle over 900 pounds in weight and a dark 
chestnut with black points. She never 
showed the dam’s speed and endurance, al¬ 
though a good horse. Horses that can take 
medium loads promptly over hilly roads and 
around sharp turns, and a buggy 10 miles 
an hour are far better than those that can 
make a mile in fast time, or than large 
horses that cannot be safely trotted over 
the rough roads; if they do draw heavier 
loads, they go slower. I wish the Morgan 
horses were improved and treasured, and 
the blood kept, instead of the other bloods 
being introduced. The Wilkses, Almonts, 
and Lyonses are too frail and slender for 
farm work, and the grade draft breeds are 
too heavy amid our rocky fields, and very 
unsatisfactory upon the road. Fanny Fern 
is at present at Newport, N. H. She is 
now very hearty' and vigorous, and still 
able to take her owner on our country 
roads at a 10-mile-an-hour gait without 
urging. She will not yet bear the whip. 
For endurance, for cheerfulness in the har¬ 
ness as a driver, and for kindness to proper 
handling and ease to keep, she is a grand 
specimen of the famous ^Morgan family. 
She was never tried upon the track. A few 
of her drives were 25 miles in two hours 
and 20 minutes from pasture, and without 
grain, with a common buggy and two per¬ 
sons, and she was not at all tired or lifeless. 
I could have come right home after it, but 
rested her.'for four hours, and then came 
home nearly as quickly, although up grade. 
She has traveled 80 miles in 14 hours, and 
done her next day’s drive as well as usual. 
In the snow with a good track and three 
inches of light snow with a sleigh and two 
persons (over 200 pounds each) she has gone 
12 miles in 55 minutes, and in one drive 
she made five miles in 20 minutes. This 
mil show what a good farm horse can do, 
and she would do the farm work in the 
same style. With 500 pounds of grain in 
the farm wagon she refused to walk but 
went at her usual gait. She is very know¬ 
ing and would resent an insult like being 
struck, just as most men would. We never 
strike her. but strangers often get struck 
back again. With abuse she would have 
been ugly—it was all there. Much of my 
love for horses is owing to dear old Fan. 
It was hard to tell which was the happier, 
when in our girlhood sister Jennie and I 
would take Fan and fly away over the 
stretches of hill and valley of my beautiful 
home land. We often took trips of 12 or 15 
miles for our after-tea ride, with the dear 
mother saying: “Be back before dark, 
girls;” while some said: “Those Colby 
girls will get killed yet with that ugly 
horse.” But old Fan always minded the 
rein if drawn, and a gentle call would stop 
her. The comparison of a French draft or 
Norman grade with the Morgans is not 
very flattering for a true farm horse. The 
latter is the true every-purpose horse of the 
New England farms. We must combine 
strength, endurance, speed and beauty to 
fill'this place, and also look to the expense 
of the animal’s keep. Two good grade 
M 0 rgans eau be[readily kept upon the feed 
for one large, heavy horse according to the 
experience of several who have tried it. 
Merrimack County, N. H. 
<il)c Uumjiu'i). 
THE COLORADO GRAPE. 
Editors B. N.-Y.: 
I have to-day shipped to you by express 
a sample of my seedling grape “ Colorado.” 
I would like your opinion of it. The vine 
is six years old from the seed. It is about 
two weeks later than the Brighton in ripen¬ 
ing. As to hardiness, I left a part of the 
vine on the trellis unprotected and I know 
it will stand zero without protection. Zero 
weather was the coldest we had last winter. 
I have a grape arbor 300 feet long by 10 
feet high planted to choice grapes. On one 
side I had a Brighton and on the other a 
Chasselas. These two vines interlocked 
their branches on top of the arbor and 
while they were in bloom the bees were 
very busy. Both vines set very fine clus¬ 
ters of fruit and I thought it would be a 
good chance to get a good seedling. I 
saved these clusters until they were dead- 
ripe, washed out each variety by itself and 
sowed them at once separately in boxes in 
my hot-house and raised about 2,000 seed¬ 
lings. I saved some 000 which appeared to 
give most promise. They have almost all 
fruited this year and this is the only one I 
think worthy of 
propagation. This 
vine last year bore 
about five pounds of 
fruit; this year it has 
borne 40 pounds. I 
only propagated 11 
vines from it last 
year; this year it has 
made but very little 
wood owing to its 
bearing so heavily. 
J. G. 
Canon City, Col. 
R. N.-Y.— The 
grapes were received 
October 21. The 
bunches are of medi¬ 
um size, rather long, 
averaging five inches, 
not shouldered. Ber¬ 
ries crowded, larger 
than Delaware, not 
quite so large as 
Catawba; color of 
Catawba. The quali¬ 
ty is sweet, there is 
not a tx-ace of acidity; 
pulp perfectly tender 
and melting, or dis¬ 
solving, the seeds, 
which are rather 
large, separating at 
once. Skin thin yet 
very firm. Should 
this variety be found 
hardy and vigorous 
it will prove a de¬ 
cided acquisition 
wherever it will suc¬ 
ceed. A portrait 
would have ac¬ 
companied this note 
had the bunches not 
been injured in 
transit. Grapes for 
distant shipment 
should be firmly and 
closely packed. 
MORGAN MARE FANNY FERN. From a Photograph. Fig. 274. 
