77o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
NOV. i5 
ness often leads to abuse and injury, perhaps not neces¬ 
sarily; but through the ignorance or thoughtlessness of 
the driver. While growing, exercise should be of a char¬ 
acter to develop rather than overtax the energies of the 
youngster. The successful roadster breeder must himself 
have been bred to the business. If he is not an appreciative, 
intelligent lover of the animal he proposes to handle, he 
can hardly hope for a full measure of success in his enter¬ 
prise ; but with this added to patient, careful study, and 
enthusiastic, systematic push, he cannot fail to aid In pro¬ 
ducing that noblest represen¬ 
tative of the equine family 
—the American roadster. 
JOHN M. TRUE. 
Sauk County, Mich. 
The Son of a Well-bred 
Trotter. 
A first-class roadster is the 
product of a thoroughbred 
trotter of good size, and an 
active, compact, stylish and 
spirited mare weighing 1,000 
to 1,100 pounds. The sire must 
be in the flush of his power, not 
under three or over ten years 
of age, and to obtain the best 
results he must be limited to 
40 mares each season. All 
necessary precautions must 
be taken to keep him in the 
very best condition for service 
in order that his leading char¬ 
acteristics may be transmit¬ 
ted fn full to his offspring. 
Over-service or neglect will 
result in the rapid diminu¬ 
tion of his potency, and his 
get will partake chiefly of the 
characteristics of the dam and 
come far short of the required 
standard. 
The mares are driven or 
kept at light work up to about 
three months of foaling, when 
they are given the run of a 
large yard or small pasture in 
fine weather, and stabled at 
night and when the weather 
is bad. They are fed only 
enough to keep them in good, 
lively condition and are 
groomed regularly. After 
foaling they are allowed to 
run on pasture until the foals 
are about three months old, when they are taken up and 
put to light work, the foals being halter broken and tied 
or shut in box-stalls four to six hours a day, and fed a few 
oats. Water is kept before them, and they soon learn to 
drink and to nibble at the oats. At night both mares and 
foals are turned out to pasture. The foals are weaned 
when about six months of age, and as cold weather is then 
coming on, they are kept in a warm stable connected with 
a roomy yard and given all the oats and good, bright hay 
they will eat. Whenever the weather is 
rainy or very cold, the stable doors are 
closed. In fine weather they are kept open 
and the foals have the freedom of both 
stable and yard. The main object is to 
keep them in healthy, growing condition. 
If neglected or exposed to inclement 
weather at this time, they are sure to be 
stunted, and, instead of making roadsters 
worth $250 apiece, they become simply com 
mon plugs worth about $80. 
In spring they are turned out to pasture, 
and kept there until autumn. If, owing 
to drought the pasture gets short in the 
latter part of summer, they are fed a 
ration of oats twice a day. In the pasture 
is a good dry shed to shelter them from 
severe storms. In the fall they are taken 
up, stabled, groomed, handled and well 
fed by careful, experienced hands. In fine 
weather they run in a large yard, but are 
kept in the stable whenever it is rainy or 
very cold. As spriug approaches they are 
bitted and harnessed and taught to drive 
single and double, to draw a light wagou, 
walk and trot and carry their heads prop¬ 
erly. If two are well matched they are 
always educated together; each is taught 
his place, which is never changed, and they 
soon learn each other’s gait, and to start, 
travel in a straight line, turn, stop and 
back together. All others are taught to 
drive both single and double. 
If not sold they are kept on pasture the 
greater part of the season, and as autumn 
comes on they are taken up and driven 
whenever the roads will admit of it, and 
exhibited whenever they are likely to find 
a buyer. They are bred and trained for 
market, and are generally bought by regular buyers from 
the large cities. The demand is always good, and the 
prices quite remunerative. The education of roadsters 
cannot be begun too early. They are always spirited, and 
the chief object is to make them safe, reliable and stylish. 
They are especially taught not to be afraid of guns, trains, 
bands of music, running horses, etc. They are taught to 
pass other horses on the road and to be passed with¬ 
out breaking or shying. The first class roadster is a strong, 
stylish and reliable animal.] .In color he is bay or black— 
not that there are no No. 1 roadsters of other colors; but 
bay is invariably the first choice, followed closely by black. 
He is spirited, carries his head well up without effort, has 
strong, muscular legs, good knee action, a long stride, and 
can take a buggy containing two persons right along with¬ 
out any difficulty. He is not a racer, but he is able to take 
a light buggy or cutter fast enough to make the air smell 
fresh, and to create a market for his class by riling the 
man who drives a four-minute charger. 
Christian County, Ill. FRED, grundy. 
THROUGH THE GENESEE VALLEY WITH A 
CAMERA. 
SCENES AT BELWOOD. 
Several years ago Mr. S. S. Howland, of New York City, 
while in search of health and pleasure discovered a 40- 
acre grove of natural forest growth that had never felt the 
destroying effects of the woodman’s axe, perched on a hill¬ 
side 2X miles east of Mount Morris. A fond lover of 
Nature, he at once realized the possibilities of the place as 
a choice site for a summer home—in the heart of the coun¬ 
try, beautiful farms on either side, the broad valley with 
its glimmering river winding in and out in serpentine 
form, and beyond, the pretty village of Mount Morris 
nestling among its trees on the foot hills. In building 
the house several styles of architecture were thrown to¬ 
gether with such skill as to give a very pleasing effect, and 
at the same time room and the great desideratum of any 
country home—opportunities for solid comfort and rest 
unknown to the Fifth Avenue brown stone front. The 
broad piazza running the whole length of the house is a 
marvel of beauty. The choicest of choice flowers adorn it 
in such profusion as to make it a veritable fairy’s bower. 
The house is located in the midst of the grove, and the 
grounds round about are charming in the extreme. Well 
kept gravel drives curve gracefully through the wood 
along the undulating hill side from the highway to the 
house and thence to the barns and other out-buildings. 
Beds of rare flowers in fancy designs, rustic bridges across 
miniature streams, queerly constructed lawn houses, and 
dove-cotes, and a well-rounded 
terrace in front of the house, 
together with what Nature 
unaided has done in her noble 
forest trees, have produced a. 
park nearly perfect in detail, 
and extremely pleasing to 
the eye. 
Mr. and Mrs. Howland—the 
latter, by the way, a daughter 
of August Belmont—have be¬ 
come very popular among us 
since their advent in the 
Genesee Valley. Both in 
different ways have done 
much for our county. Mrs. 
Howland’s is a well-beloved 
name to numbers of poor 
people who never tire of tell¬ 
ing of her unostentatious 
charity ; while Mr. Howland, 
himself a thorough horse¬ 
man, has established a stud 
so that the neighboring farm¬ 
ers can breed their mares to 
good sires at a moderate ex¬ 
pense, aud thus gradually 
work into the profitable busi¬ 
ness of horse raising. 
There are at present four 
horses iu the stud, and all of 
them are worthy of a place in 
The Rural’s picture gallery, 
but as it is impossible for me to 
show them all, I have selected 
from among the stallions, 
Leopard—see Fig. 355,—the 
thoroughbred Arabian stal¬ 
lion presented by the Sultan 
of Turkey to General Grant, 
to represent the stud. Leop¬ 
ard is quickly described by 
my saying he is the “ biggest 
little horse” that I ever saw, 
but such a short description 
will not suffice. He is gray, nearly white, of fair size, 
weighing at present 980 pounds, and possessing all the 
traits characteristic of the Arabian blood—small, well set 
ears, wide, pink nostrils, large, soft eyes, waving mane 
and long tail and a skin of great delicacy. “ His gait ap¬ 
proaches perfection, be it either the rapid walk, the grace¬ 
ful trot, or the easy, tireless gallop.” Why should any one 
nreed to such a horse ? Well, because the Arabian is the 
oldest, purest, aud best blooded horse in the world. Long 
before Rome was founded, yes, and even 
back to the times when Egypt and Babylon 
were in their glory, the Arabian was not 
only distinct in his breeding, but the best 
horse known to those times. 
Leopard bred to half or quarter bred 
Clydesdales, French Coachers, Percherons, 
or any other mares lacking mettle, stamina 
or breeding, will produce in his get all of 
his own good qualities, along with increased 
size, which comes of course from the dam. 
An infusion of thoroughbred blood cannot 
but improve the common stock of the coun¬ 
try. Some I presume would hesitate about 
using him on account of his size, yet he has 
been mated with large mares and produced 
a number of horses standing 10 hands. 
The other horses in the stud are good. 
Perhaps the one that would please the ma¬ 
jority of the farmers best is the Russian 
trotter Orloff, imported by one of our min¬ 
isters to that country. He is a large, bay 
horse of fine style aud splendid action, hav¬ 
ing great endurance and speed, and is the 
only Orloff stallion now standing iu any 
stud iu America. Sharpcatcher, the thor¬ 
oughbred hunter, is a magnificent animal 
of his class, and has become famous as the 
sire of the high jumpers Ontario, Wood- 
stock and Guelph. At first thought it 
would seem as though a common farmer 
would have no use for jumping horses or 
hunters, aud he has not for himself; but 
there is no class of horses that sells better in 
the great horse markets of New T York than 
the thoroughbred hunters, aud several 
bright men in Mr. Howland’s vicinity are 
making money breeding aud theu traiuing 
hunters and saddle horses, for which there 
is always a ready sale at paying prices. 
Fig. 356 shows Ontario, until recently the champion high 
jumper, and his plucky groom, Jim Frey ling, w ho has 
ridden him when he has made all of his famous jumps. 
He is a big bay gelding, standing about 16 hands high, 
bred in the province of Ontario from Sharpcatcher and an 
unknown mare, and purchased by Mr. Howland in the 
autumn of 1888. During that season aud the following 
winter he hunted with the Genesee \ alley' hounds, aud the 
Dumblane hounds of Washington, without his owner even 
