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DEFINITE PLAN IN NEW YORK BREEDING. Avon, X. Y., July 13. Xo section of the United States has produced better horses, cattle, sheep and swine than the Genesee Valley, whose fertile pastures, with their abundant shade, make the rearing of livestock a profitable adjunct to farming. This region, however, is expected to take on an added glory because of the activities of Mrs. Herbert Watlsworth, of the Ashantee Stud and the Genesee Valley Farmers and Horse Breeders Association, for which she is the sponsor. It is a country of superlative beauty, and when nature laid down her task as finished, man in the lierson of the original Wadsworths, James and William, appeared upon the scene in 1700 and lanned the development of the territory in a fashion that has kept sixty thousand acres, much of it rirgin sod dotted with oak, black walnut and other trees of splendid size, in the hands of his descendants. Thousands of cattle fatten upon its rich liasturcs, and everywhere are the tidy homes of the tenant farmers, the best of their kind to be found in America. But it is the production of the high-L-lass type of hunter that has made Avon, Mt. Morris and Geneseo household words wherever sportsmen congregate. In the production of this horse the Watlsworth family has long been prominent, and it was in the Ccnesee Valley that the Breeding Bureau of the Jockey Club has had its greatest success, chiefly through the instrumentality of the mistress of Ashantee, who has been an inspiration to the fanners anil horse breeders of Livingston county. She lias ever been ready to stimulate interest in the industry, not only by purchasing desirable animals, hut through the offerings of special awards for half-breds suitable to become hunters, at the Livingston County Fair, of which she is the president. These prizes range in value from 0 to 00 for foals, yearlings, two-year-olds and three-year-olds, tie get of the Breeding Bureau stallions at Ashantee. There are premiums for broodmares and awartls for sires of other types than thoroughbred, and no detail that goes to iiiukc for agrarian progress in the valley has escaped her attention. The latest plan for the development of the region came recently in the organization of the Horse Breeders Association, in which she has the active assistance of X. C. Shiverick, formerly of the United States cavalry service. When seen a few days ago, she was enthusiastic over the success of the plan which calls for the distribution of mares of a type capable of producing hunters or animals fitted for cavalry or light artillery service. In this she sought the aid of the Jockey Club, and they have already sent her a score of good matrons. These, together with seven donated by herself and three by friends in various sections, form the nucleus of the enterprise. This number will be increased until every member has one or more of them in his charge. It is estimated that the maximum will be at least 250. Each member engaged to mate these mares with the Breeding Bureau stallions in the valley, and to give the dam and her progeny proper care. When the animal is of marketable age the association cooperates in the securing of a purchaser either by private contract or at autction at stated periods. With such horses as Wonder Boy by imported Watercress, Merry Task by Octagon, Otis by Sain, Shotgun by Artillery and Arabo by Nomad, at the tlisposal of the farmers, the three first named at Ashantee, the plan should be a conspicuous success. Mrs. Watlsworth. who is president of the association, inspects the mares regularly and sees that none art; worked in a manner that would tend to impair their usefulness as mothers. "We think the project a gootl tine," said she during tme of these tours with the writer, "because it gives the farmer a chance to produce horses of quality. The breeding tif heavyweight hunters is our objective point, but as nature gives only an average of success to any breeding venture, those animals which are too light to measure up to this type must pass tin as saddle or combination horses, or better still, be turned over to the Cavalry Remount branch of the army service. Nearly every hunt club in the country has some of our horses in their stables, and in order to encourage the production tif the best, we at Ashantee have engaged tti pay from 00 up for a three-year-old of top quality in the rough. If the government increases its maximum from 75 for the cavalry remount, the farmer taking things by and large will find the enterprise profitable. It is our aim to give the Genesee country nation-wide distinction in our specialty, and we hayo found the farmers tif this community anxious ;to learn something of the science of horse breeding. "The special prizes for half-breds at the local fair, and the big award by the Jockey Club at the State Fair at Syracuse for winners at these exhibitions each year, has engendered the strongest sort of rivalry," continued Mrs. Watlsworth, "and there are more promising yearlings and weanlings in the valley this spring than ever before. Some of the young things give promise of developing into the type we are aiming to produce, and we live in the hops that some day the valley will be as famous as Ireland for the quality of its heavyweight hunters. If we can put speed and a flexible quality into the heavy horse our battle is won. Sliced, size and quality shall be our watch-words, and we now have a number of horses tif almost pure blood more than sixteeii-tme hands high, and weighing as much as 1,200 pounds. "We want to make the Genesee Valley the mecca for all lovers of good horses the country over." said Mrs. Watlsworth in conclusion, "anil we shall welcome all who conic in search tif them. If the work which is being done here should spread to other communities, tins time may come when every state in the union will feel the appeal. As an element of preparedness the horse is second to nothing else we possess and I am glad to say that we have our own troop M here in the valley, and it is also a matter of pritle that last year at Fishkill Plains it was pronounced the best horsed of the entire camp. We are grateful to the members of the Jockey Club for their generous assistance, and believe that they are sowing the seed which will return them a harvest a thousand hold."
