Nebraska advertiser., 1877-10-04
Farm and Draft Horses.

The impetus given to breeding
horses for draft purposes by the i'm
portation of PercherOn-Norman, and
Clydesdale horses into the country
during the past ten or fifteen years,
has carried the enterprise to an ex-
tent which, at glance, is now dis
cerned. But in travelling over the
country and observing the number Of
such horses and the offspring of vari-
Gus grades, showing unmistakable
marks of their origin, some idea OF
the progress made in disseminating
this class of stock. may. be obtained.
The superior quality of the draft hors-
es seen in our larger towns and cities
is another indication of the advance
made in this branch of stock raising.
1t has not been very long since
these horses were very unpopular.
Twenty years ago they were the sub
ject of much ridicule in every neigh
borhOod where the few that had been
nous old Louis Napoleon" was the
butt of the jokes and gibes of farmers
and hOrsemen at the time Charley"
Fullington brought him from France
and for some time thereafter. A !
though the price of insurance" was
but SO, his service the first year ex-
tended to but three cases outside of
the use made of him by his owners !;
indeed, it was not until his colts be-
gan to show for themselves. that the
value of this animal for breeding pur-
poses was at all appreciated. 1t was
not until then that the value of
this blood as cross with our Ameri-
can stock, began 70 be seen; that it
was just the thing to give our horses
greater size, as well as stamina, and
make them more serviceable for farm
and other heavy work. What rev.
olution has since taken place In the
views of farmers on this subject! The
popularity of this class of horses has
gone on increasing until the capital
invested in the business aggregates
millions of dollars. Importations OF
Percheron-Normans and Clydesdales
are constantly being made, and the
sales are annually increasing. A
single instance will give some idea of
the magnitude to which this interest
has grown. Mr.. M. w. Dunham OF
Du Page County, in this State, made
sales during eighteen months preced-
ing October 1875. reaching the enor-
! nous sum of Sl6O 600.
But notwithstanding that a great
advance has been made there are
thousands of small and inferior horses
for ordinary farm work, bred from
year to year, vast numbe of farm
ers not seeming to appreciate the ben
eft derived from raising better stock.
We have often pointed out the sacri-
fees that are thus made of time and
money In raising common nondescript
horses for farm purposes. We do not
intend to repeat them now, but mere
| ly desire to say that with the light
which the past throws upon this mat
ter it is passing strange that any farm
er can be found so blind to his pecuni-
ary interests as to persist in raising
inferior scrub stock. Besides being
better in every way for farm work
there is constant and growing de-
mand for this class of horses in the
cities for all heavy work. The ex-
press companies, mail service, large
mercantile and manufacturing estab-
| lishments that do their own hauling
require heavy horses. Light and
! leggy animals are not wanted, but the
improved class obtained by crossing
with the draft breeds command
good prices and ready market. tits
but little while ago that we heard
of the purchase at one time of thirty
of this kind for one of the large
wholesale firms of this city. Poor
horse stock is too improbable for
anybody to raise Western Rural.