Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-02-26

Horses in Vermont.

After alluding to the statistics of horses in
Vermont, which show a decrease of nearly so
per cent. since 1860. Mr.. Ezra Mech, of
Shelburn Vt, one of the most intelligent
farmers of the State, writes as follows in a
communication to the Country Gentleman.
Our horses have been decreasing in number
and | fear degenerating in those qualities that
make valuable horse. 1t is true, we have a
few fine specimens remaining, but when we
look back fifteen or twenty years, we had then
many more good stock horses than we now
have, and IL was no uncommon thing at that
time to find four or five pairs of nice matched
carriage horses in many of the towns in north
ern and western Vermont.
I am convinced that great improvement
may and ought to be made in the horses OF
Vermont, and much is yet to be learned in IN
opinion, in regard to the best manner of rails
ing them. j was in conversation few years
ago with the late Col. Orvis, a celebrated cat
tie raiser of St. Lawrence county, n. Y, who
said to me that he could give me the whole sc
cret in success in producing good cattle, in
very few words, which were as follows
- Get good breed and make them comforta-
ble'-neither let them want for food, nor
suffer with heat, cold or wet. But in my ex
perience in raising horses for the last twenty
five years, the same rule will not apply un-
less the horse is comfortable where the horned
animal would die. have no question but
that better horses can be produced by ex-
posture out of doors, away from sheds or barns,
during the whole time of their growth, get
ting their feet in the way nature desi gned
they should. than can be produced by the
way comonly practiced. The horse will gen
orally grow larger, be much better developed.
more hardy and healthy, and less liable 70
disease or accident, besides saving much ex
pense in the way of fodder. ! took from
nd rs no
day of January, that up to that time had had
nothing but grass, at which time L could not
see that any of them had lost flesh, unless
three OF four breeding mares whose colts are
still with them and had it not been fer these
mares, they might still be in the same pas
ture, but fearing that the colts might, Dy re-
naming longer on the mares, inlure the next
foal, / took them up to separate them. There
is no trouble or difficulty in pasturing cattle
and horses here In Vermont from nine to ten
months of the year in all seasons, and most
years longer. For the last twenty years |
have had from ten to twenty work horses and
colts that have run out, and they have not
consumed an average of 500 pounds of fodder
to the animal.
i would like to be one of eight ten to in
vest $50, 600 in a farm near the lake, and de
vote it exclusively to producing something
better in the way of horses, than we now
have
REsARKs.-Some of the biologists have sup
posed that in :" old times . New England
was an island. the valleys of Lake Champlain,
The St. Lawrence and Hudson rivers, being
occupied by an arm of the sea. Be this as it
may, it is we'll known that the heavy, clay
soil of the valley of Lake Champlain is re-
markably productive of grass and all forage
crops. The amount Of snow, also, which
falls in Shclburne is from One-fourth to one
half as large as that which falls in towns on
the easterly slope of the Green Mountains
These facts should be taken into consideration
BY farmers in other sections who propose to
adopt the plan of winter pasturage recommen-
ded by Mr. Mech. We hope, however that
his gu ggcstions and liberal propositions will
lead to something practical in the improve
ment of horse breeding in Vermont.