The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-05-29
FARM AND GARDEN.
Norman Horses.

visited several lots that were in stables {
Havre for export, and found them TO be i
Inost instances the descendants OF the orig
nal Percheron, which Is horse Of great siz
and endurance, weighing anywhere from on
to three thousand pounds, with almost III
action of an Arabian thoroughbred la man
instances, and at the same time pOssessin
the comparative strength of an elephant.
Many of them are AT work in the drays an
truck wagons in the French and other cite
II Europe, where one of them Of good aver
age size and in good condition, will haul witt
apparent ease twenty-five bales of American
cotton, which is equal to two loads OF cottol
hauled in New York BY two horses, or, II
other words, is the work of four OF our Amer
lean truck horses.
The pure. blooded "Pcrcheron horse" is
cross between the thoroughbred Arabian ant
the original "Norman draft horse; me mrs
is possessed of great feetness and delicacy
of form. the latter of great size and strength
which constituted the stage stock" of France
before the introduction Of railroads.
can say, with positive certainty, having
had some experience as stOCk-raiser thai
these horses, now being largely imported in
our western states, if properly bred and the
crosses properly made, will do more in the
next ten years to give the United States q
high order of general purpose horses, OF
horses Of all work, than all the horse impOr
tations that have hitherto been made, as near
ly all of our impOrtatiOns hitherto have been
racingrunning horses, which are worthless
except for gambling purposes. We have
bred that class OF stock and other classes
much more useful, the lrotter, whose perfec.
lions as such have been linequaled by any
other part OF the world, until we have bred
our stock down SO small that we have but
few general purpose or business horses that arc
mt for the common work OF our country.
These Percheron stations, crossed with
our small trotting and running mares, must
produce very much the same kind OF stock
ia our country that the Norman draft horse
and the thoroughbred Arabian mare proruc-
ell in France many years, which constitutes
the present PercherOn stock that l have re.
ferred to, and Of which our farmers and
stock.raisers imported last year from llavre
alone more than one hundred. The prospect
up to this time this year is that our impOrta-
lions will double.
Our importers and dealers are now charg-
ing too much for them, but, as all new enter
prises of this kind arc experiments, the prices
obtained at first are much larger than when
the people have become familiar with the
article they deal in.
A good Percheron stallion can be deliver
ed in New York for from one thousand to
fifteen hundred dollars, and pay reasonable
profit to the importer, while tee same are now
selling in lllinoise from two to three thousand.
/ feel confident that there is no part of our
stock,rasing In America that has been so
neglected during the past twenty. years as the
pasl twenty years as the business horse or
horse OF all work. think, however, it would
Do ast1 g., i'm, rta
Percheron mares as well as stations, as upon
our cheap food we can breed and raise a four
year old stallion in any Of our middle or
western states at cost TO the farmer of not
more than two hundred dollars, whilst the
same animal, bred and raised on the other
side, would cost 81 900 to 81 800, as | have a.
ready mentioned TO import