The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1876-05-04


Thursday, May 4, 1870.
TIE HoIsE.BREEDlNG PROBLEM.
Tho Influence Of nns blood in Producing
Eros<srs and aorses for General f"1~
poses.
Editor St. Cloud Journal.
The recent introduction Of q. few
fnely-bred stations intoSt Cloud, has
Get our stock raisers to discussing
their respective merits for breeding
purposes, and having the best inter-
ests Of the home producers at heart,
ws will endeavor to help solve the
problem.
Without protesting great knowl'
edge of the subject, it has always
seemed to US that too little attention
has been given to the subject Of breed
ing horses IN this part Of the State,
and that consequently with but few
exceptions) our road and farm hors.
- arc quite ordinary. To produce
speed necessarily requires good blood.
But" says the farmer, I'VE do not
want fast horses. Give US something
that can pull the plow." This is just the
point We wish to meet. Infuse more
Of the life current and energy of the
wsll.bred horse into the get Of your
sluggish dead.mettled mares, and
you will not only have better road.
sters, but better pillow horses also.
Nor is this all +; for while at present
$50 is considered a good price for =
horse, by the method here suggested
much better figures can be. realized.
This is the experience Of stock rails
ers throughout Ill the older States.
What else has induced such saga
cious men As DeGraff, King, Barden,
Morrill, and others in our own State
to invest the large sums Of money
they have in stock farms, and to
place thereon no horses, bulls,
COWS or other domestic animals for
breeding purposes, whose pedigrees
are not known to be of the choicest
strains for their respective uses2 1t
takes no more time or sustenance to
bring 4 valuable animal to
the age Of maturity and use
falness than it does a comparatively
worthless one. And it is safe to as
sert that, if an accurate account were
to be kept of the amount of hay and
grain dealt out to one of the latter
class during the first four years of his
life, and charged up to horse account
at what it would have sold for in mar.
ket, with the going rates of interestadd-
ed, it would amount to a sum far ex-
ceeding that required to purchase a
horse Of equal value, to say nothing
Of the labor expended and liability
to loss by death or accident during all
this time. The only difference, then,
that we can discover between the
cost Of raising good or a poor horse
is the difference to be paid for the
service of a stallion. Take for in
stance two common mares of equal
merit. Stint one to q well-bred
horse Tor fee of twenty-five dollars,
and the other to q horse no richer in
blood than the mare herself without
charge, and the offspring OF one has
cost twenty-five dollars more than
that of the other when old enough to
be put to work. Let the owner him.
self be the judge Of their respective
values for general work when he
bitches them together at this interest
ing period Of their horsehoods but
let the speculator in search Of good
investments be his judge of the same
subject, - he scans them narrowly
with his experienced eye. Number
One win slip from your grasp at a re-
;munerative price, while Number
Two will continue to plod along At a
snail's pace with the old pillow, yainly
striving to make good the outlay Of
time and money he has cost you.
Our advice then, is to breed the
common mares to the fnestblooded
horse obtainable, with q view not on
y to producing better roadsters, but
horses for general purposes. And
here We would add word of warn.
ing. Let the owners Of brood mares
become fully satis6ed of the genuine.
ness Of pedigrees claimed for stations
before patroniziDg them. A genuine
pedigree il always directly traceable
to tho stud books, for no man who
has incurred the expense Of rearing
Or purchasing a horse Of frst-class
breeding, but sees the importance Of
knowing that bis pedigree is clear
and duly recorded ; for, without this
being done, no one who invests "big
money" in horses would touch him
for anything more than a nominal
sum, even though he had the speed Of
the wind or the strength of the whirl.
wind.
We shall further consider this sub
ject Of breeding stock in future issues
Of The JOURNAL, and shall bring to
our aid extracts from the pens Of
some Of the ablest writers of the
country. x.
FLAxsEED LEMONADE (eood for
colds).-P0ur one quart boiling water