notice in their new sphere and so reflect credit upon California. These are the first thoroughbreds to go to England

Photo by Tyler & Co.

A HALF-BRED HACKNEY COLT BY IMP: GREEN'S RUFUS.

from this State, and their progress is sure to be watched with much interest.

It will probably be some little time before the best stamp of horse for park and pleasure driving, namely, the hackney, is bred in California to any extent; for breeders are backward in following the good example set by Mr. John Parrott, who owns the imported four-year-old stallion, Green's Rufus. There seems every prospect of this horse doing well and thereby attracting attention to the breed, and if California does follow the fashion, it will be easier in a few years' time to get a desirable harness horse than it is at present, for it is only what might be called the chance shots among the trotting-bred horses that answer the requirements of carriage people, namely, stylish form and action, with substance

Tebbs.

HEAD OF IMP: ORMONDE.

to a proper extent. A success here and there in the prize ring with trotting-bred horses, where conformation and fine action, added to quality, have been the tests, has caused a good deal of discussion of late in the horse papers in the East, and an unreasonable degree of jealousy has been evidenced in the minds of those who have written as advocates of the trotting horse on every count. Few experienced

horsemen are not admirers of the American trotting horse in his best form, but where his kind can take a prize for those attributes which count in the show ring once, the hackney will land the ribbon fifty times. And yet all hackneys are not good, there are good and bad in that breed, just as there are in every other. We have to contend with a majority of bad ones, even amongst thoroughbreds, where

breeding for true perfection, as far as that is attainable in an imperfect world, has been carried to the highest pitch possible for an immense length of time. Again, in horse-breeding, as in most other things, it is not wise to neglect the imperative demands of fashion. This hard mistress has pronounced in favor of the hackney, and that fact, coupled with his own individual merits, makes him of importance. When the time comes for hackneys to be seen in quantity in the show ring here, then the lovers of a good horse with style and action will have real enjoyment.

The breeding of trotters has dwindled considerably, and the dispersion of the Palo Alto stock,- which is still going on -has a very depressing effect on the market. Most of the large breeders have been limiting their operations; new men rarely come into that branch of the business, and those who are in it generally

MAJOR J. L. RATHBONE,

express themselves as anxious to see their way out. There are too many blanks in proportion to prizes, and a restricted and declining market has made it next to impossible to work off those animals which fail to show speed when tried.

In the draft horse branch of breeding work there is less going on than has been the case for many years by all accounts. In fact, many men who are able to guage the position accurately state that in a very few years from now the farmers themselves, who have hitherto been raising horses to provide for their agricultural requirements, will be forced into the market as purchasers of animals to replace their worn-out wagon and plow

horses. City teamsters complain that they cannot get big enough horses for their loads, and while there is no doubt they are paying less for ordinary horses than they were a few years ago, they will pay full value for really good heavy horses that suit their work. The position seems to be much the same in other parts of the country, so that those breeders who have good stallions and mares and have had the good judgment not to let their stock of youngsters run down, may expect better things in the future. The Horse Show Association has so far done its best to encourage exhibits of heavy stock, but unless breeders generally patronize the undertaking better than they did at the