The purpose of this department is to give advice to those who have country or suburban places as to the pur¬ 
chase, keep and treatment of horses, cows, dogs, poultry, etc. Careful attention will be given each inquiry, the 
letter and answer being ' published in due time for the benefit of other readers. Where an early reply is desired 
if a self-addressed, stamped envelope is enclosed the answer will be sent. No charge is made for advice given. 
The Government Morgans 
By spencer BORDEN 
I T is fortunate for any country when there are a 
few sane men who will sound the warning 
cry to save valuable interests from destruc¬ 
tion by waves of ignorance and prejudice. This 
thought is certain to come into the mind of the 
thoughtful horseman as he contemplates the narrow 
escape we have had from extermination of the old 
Morgan breed of horses. 
Years ago Linsley wrote as full a history of the 
Morgans as he could before the days of telegraph, 
telephone, and rapid transit. A quarter century 
later, “Adirondack” Murray sounded the praises 
of the breed in his “Perfect Horse.” In our day the 
high priest of the cult is Joseph Battell, who has 
spent years of time and thousands of money in com¬ 
piling the “Morgan Register.” It has been truly 
said of him—“If the old Morgan breed is ever 
re-established, credit will be due to one man above 
all others for rehabilitating the breed. The prophet 
of the Morgans is Joseph Battell.” 
The writer is careful to open the present screed 
with this well-deserved tribute, since, in its further 
development, he may find occasion to differ with Mr. 
Battell in respect to some of his methods, and would 
not appear ungracious, or unappreciative of his great 
work. 
The “Morgan Register” is truly a monument of 
personal devotion to a cause. Yet, its door has been 
swung too widely open. There are too many goats 
among the sheep. 
Why should it mention Hambletonian or Mam- 
brino, or any other of the horde of mongrel horses 
that have so nearly swamped the old Morgans with 
their cold blood .? Why should it contain any refer¬ 
ence to that most unscientific and harmful system of 
registering horses, by the test of speed for a mile, 
which has gathered into the “Standard Bred Trot¬ 
ting Horse Register” every sort of mixed blood from 
a broncho to a thoroughbred runner, from a pacer to 
a hackney, until no one can even venture a guess as 
to what he will get for a foal if he breeds within the 
lines of the so-called “Standard ? ” 
The time has come when the lover of the Morgan 
horse should have what is recognized inside the herd 
books of some of the most discriminating cattle clubs, 
an advanced register. If it cannot be done in Mr. 
Battell’s day and with his co-operation, it surely 
will come later. 
The “Morgan Register” should be gone over 
carefully and a black mark put against every animal 
that does not represent the old Morgan type. 
Not only should every drop of pacing blood, 
Hambletonian blood, Clay, Mambrino, hackney, 
Percheron and other foreign strains be tabooed, there 
should be very few Lamberts left in, none unless they 
conform to the old type. Why .? Because, if “Daniel 
Lambert” was from a mare by “Abdallah,” that 
should condemn him. If not, his breeding is unknown, 
and should only be countenanced among the Mor¬ 
gans where shown to conform to and reproduce the 
WPe- . . . . , 
Type, type, type, this is what should be insisted 
upon. And the Morgan is the only horse we ever 
had in this country,—^whose superior never existed 
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