Shepherd F. Knupp The American Trotter and the best Roadster Stallion at the Beurley Meeting of the London tribbished by Rogerson & Tuaford 255 Strand 1600 Brittany Cows. From the stock of Bl? Faker, of Kings Road's Chelsea London Published by Rogerson & Fuxford 205 Strand 1869. PLATE V. SHEPHERD F. KNAPP: THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE. Shepherd F. Knapp, bred in America, in 1859, is by Scythian, dam by an Arabian. Knavesmire. Several thousand persons were present. The animal was brought from its temScythian, bred by the late General Anson in porary quarters at the Turf Tavern, Dringhouses, 1851, is by Orlando out of Scythia, by Hetman in a sulky, and several times trotted at high speed Platoff, her dam, The Princess, by Slane. Scy--the pace in fact being about nineteen miles an thian, in Mr. Padwick's colours, ran well up for hour-down the straight and back again opposite the St. Leger, add won the Chester Cup and other the Grand Stand, and elicited the wonder and adraces. He went to America at the close of his miration of every person who witnessed it. Not career on the turf, and his only winner in this the least feature of the animal is its docility. country is Annette, imported by Mr. Ten Broeck. From a walk, it gradually throws itself at the will of its driver into a trot and its full speed, and At the Islington Horse Show in 1866 Shepherd allows itself to be pulled up almost momentarily. F. Knapp, entered by Mr. Edwards of Ealing When finishing his trotting on Thursday this parPaddocks, took the first prize of 25 sovs. as the ticular quality was singularly exemplified. When best roadster trotter in single harness. At the same show in the year following he took the third going down the course for the last time at full speed, the driver hearing something crack (which prize of £5 for roadster stallions, being beaten for afterwards turned out to be the fracturing of the first and second by Mr. Grant with Quicksilver splinter-bar), he threw his body slightly aside in the Shields and Sportsman. Shepherd F. Knapp was sulky to ascertain the cause. The wheel of the subsequently purchased by Major Stapylton, of frail vehicle on the opposite side to that towards Myton Hall, and transplanted to Yorkshire. which the driver was leaning at the same moment Here, at the Beverley Show of the Yorkshire passing over a slight elevation of ground, the Society in the beginning of last month, he took sulky partially upset and the driver was thrown. the first prize of £20 as the best roadster stallion; a full report of which meeting will be found in Ordinarily such a circumstance would have been a source of fright to an animal, but Shepherd F. another part of the present number. Knapp, the sulky having instantly righted itself, merely trotted along at an ordinary pace and allowed itself to be easily captured. In appearance the animal wonderfully resembles Blair Athol, being of chesnut colour and having white face and legs. Its speed is remarkable, some of its performances being amongst the wonders of trotting, and this is equalled by the regularity and beauty of its action. Such a piece of animated mechanism may never have been previously witnessed. Major Stapylton, the owner of the animal, was present during the time it was shown, and afterwards when the animal allowed itself to be caught the assemblage evinced their applause at the exhibition and the driver being unhurt, at its fortunate termination." Shepherd F. Knapp stands fifteen hands one inch high. He is a rich chesnut in colour, getting much darker in the summer than during the winter months. He is a very powerful and showy nag, with a deal of blood or "quality," as the phrase is, in his appearance; while he has much thickened since this portrait was taken earlier in the year. He has been on service in the Boroughbridge district, where he promises to nick well with the roadster mares of the country. The following amusing account, taken from the York Herald, we give word for word, even to the "its" and the "animals": "By the desire of large number of the lovers of horse flesh, Major Stapylton, of Myton Hall, the owner of that celebrated American trotting animall Shepherd F. Knapp, again afforded an opportunity of witnessing its beautiful symmetry and powers of locomotion, on Shepherd F. Knapp was also on "exhibition" at the last Birmingham Show, where, however, there was no room for him to move. PLATE VI. BRITTANY COWS. THE PROPERTY OF MR. BAKER, OF KING'S ROAD, CHELSEA, The little "playthings" are not however merely | tions; numbers having been slaughtered, and the ornamental, but for their weight and inches capital breed is now comparatively scarce in this country. milkers. Messrs. Baker have long done a great The scene of our sketch is laid at one of the depôts, trade in them, but of late this business has been Brandenbourgh Grounds, near Hammersmith. much interfered with by the cattle-plague restric RIVER HARVESTS. BY CUTHBERT W, JOHNSON, F.R.S. salmon as we are doing now. As I once before remarked, the Scotch in early times had severe penalties for the unlawful killing of salmon. It was directed that from Saturday night to Sunday morning a free passage should be left for the fish: this styled the "Saterdaye's stoppe." Alexander I. of Scotland ordained "that the streame of the water sal in all parts be swa free that ane swine, of the age of three years, well fed, may turn himself within the streame round about, swa that his snowt nor taill sal not touch the bank of the water." The number of fatal contingencies to which the salmon is exposed, from the time the ova is deposited (one fish is calculated to produce from 17,000 to 20,000 of the spawn or eggs) to the time it becomes a full grown salmon, are indeed a legion; not only from man, but from fish, several of whom have found out the delicious nature of the young spawn and salmon fly. It has been successfully proved by some valuable experiments at Stormontfield, on the Tay, and other places, that a portion at least of the fry of the salmon acquire the migratory feeling, and descend to the sea shortly after the close of the first year of their existence; and what is far more important, in a practical point of view, it has also demonstrated the practicability of rearing salmon of marketable value within twenty months of the deposition of the ova. In France the restocking of their rivers and ponds with fish by artificial means has also been going on of late very successfully. Trout and salmon have been readily induced to breed in tanks; and there is every reason in fact to believe that fish may be domesticated as well as any other animals. One result of our modern efforts to improve the public | if not more, attention to the preservation of the breed of health has fortunately been the purification of our streams. And then the freeing of our rivers from sewage has caused a considerable increase in our supply of freshwater fish. Few persons indeed are now aware of the loss which has long been sustained by the owners of our rivers from the fouling of their waters. To give only a single instance-at the commencement of the present century the River Thames abounded with salmon, and those of the finest quality. "Thames salmon" then bore a higher price than that obtained from most other streams, and so copious was once the supply, that in the olden time it was usual to insert a clause in the indentures of London apprentices, that they should not be fed upon salmon more than a certain number of days in the month. Then came the time when the river water became impure. Not only was the population of the metropolis enormously increased, but it became well sewered, and its vast network of drains poured their contents (by the authority of an Act of Parliament) into the river. Then gas works were made, and their ammoniacal water still further poisoned the stream. Against these impurities the salmon could not contend; they gradually, and at length totally, disappeared from the waters of our queen of rivers. In other streams great damage has been caused to salmon and other fish, not only by the fouling of their waters, but by the interruption of the fish by dams, and the abolition of the ladders, or water courses, which formerly facilitated the course of the fish from the sea to their spawning grounds. Of late, however, considerable efforts have been made, and successfully too, to purify the waters and restock our rivers with salmon and other fish. Government Salmon Fishery Inspectors have been appointed, Acts of Parliament have been passed to protect the fish, and breeding ponds established. There is, indeed, great reason to believe that both our river and our sea fisheries may be rendered far more profitable and productive than at present, and that a much greater amount of fish may be produced, even in enclosed waters, than the reader would at present deem probable. It fortunately happens that the consumption of fish is now facilitated very considerably by the introduction of railways and steamboats, the fish markets of our inland towns being now supplied with their fish with a regularity and freshness of quality quite unknown in the first quarter of the present century. Then again, the use of fish by the labouring classes has long been steadily on the increase. The opinion once generally entertained, that fish is of inferior nutritious quality, has been pretty well Former generations of our Islanders paid fully as much, removed. It has indeed been shown that beef contains |