The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-03-30
THE FARMERS INSTITUTE.
AuspiciOus Opening of Mankato Institute
Thursday President NOrthrup Leo
lures in the Evening,
DR.. Curryer on the Horse and Supt.
Gregg on the Cow.

| O'Clock Thursday afternoon by Supt. "
C. Gregg. AS the afternoon progressed
however, group after group of farmers
and citizens sauntered into the Opera
House and, once in, never moved again.
so great was the interest in the exer!
cises.
Supt. Gregg occupied few moments
explaining the work to be done at the
Institute.
DIR. Currver, of Lake Crystal, was in
troduced and spoke on the horse, deal
ing mainly on the points that should
govern the selection of good horse and
branching out in other directions occa-
sionally. He began by portraying the
intelligence of the animal and then, by
the aid of large illustrations, showed, and
explained the utility of the distin-
gushing points of the different styles of
horses: such as trotters, gentlemens'
travellers, coach and draft horses, run
ming horses, etc, and showed That each
kind was built for it's particular purpose.
He spoke Of America as having a horse
of which the whole world is envious-
the trotter. In buying horse it was a
great mistake to get fat horse on ac-
count of his weight, as too many were
apt to do. Fat covers up a multitude of
sins and is often hindranCe To repro
duction as well as to work.
In buying horse some look only at
the strong points when they should look
at the weak points mainly, on the prin-
ciple that the weakest link is the test of
the chain. Though it was usual to be-
gin at the head in looking over horses,
the speaker was Of the opinion that the
foot was the place to begin. The foot
should have a smooth, strong wall, the
sole should be we'll divided. the frog
strong and the heel well spread. All of
the four feet should be of the same size
The pastern should not be too long and
too slantlng or too straight. The frog
should be we'll placed, MS it was intend
ed TO act as cushion and spread out the
foot. The bones of the leg should be
SACah anu oiohS. 1hO hhSS anu HUN
should be strong and clean cut. No
matter for what they are used, all horses
should have good feet and legs.
In examining the head, the eyes
should be first observed. If scarrY, the
horse may be too nervous; if ugly, he
probably bites; if ears and eyos are
thrown back, he is likely to kick. The
eyes should be full and set well in front,
with kind, mild expression. Hazel
colored eyes are preferable. Bright
black, small round, and sunken eyes are
all bad indications. The speaker con-
sidered the Arab type of head the best
wide between the eyes and jaws, with
thin, wide jaws.
Before buying horse he should be
examined as Systematically and as thor
oughly as title to piece of land. He
should stand perfectly easy and COM
Portable. His front toes should point
straight ahead and his feet should not be
too wide apart. If the front toes turn
out, the feet may brush or cut the pas
tern; if the horse is trotter look out
for the knees. If the feet are wide
apart, ''scalping'' will occur and the
hind feet will interfere with the front
feet unless the horse has long body.
If the hind toes turn in, he will go onto
his quarters and the shoes will click.
The hind toes of a trotter should turn
out little in order that he may clear
himself. The front and hind legs should
not be too close or too wide apart; if too
close he will go onto his front feet.
The speaker urged the necessity of
blacksmiths being very careful in shoe
ing horses. If, when pulled off, bright
or groved mark appears on the shoe, or
if it is rusty, the shoeing was not prop
erly done. Poor shoeing and hard
driving is the most frequent cause of
knee-springing. A sore occurs on the
heel and the horse stands on his toes
and the muscles contract and never get
back The natural condition of a hoofis
to have a large, elastic frog, bars well
defined and the hoofas broad or broader
than it is long.
DR.. Curryer closed by stating that
what he had said was what experience
had taught him and WAS his opinion
only, and that it seemed reasonable that
| everything connected with IA horse
should comply a. nearly as possible with
nature. He used illustrations through
| out
Supt. Gregg closed the afternoons
exercises with a half hours dis
course upon the COW. He thought that
there was a weak link in the cattle bust
ness of Minnesota, adopting DIR. Cur
| ryer's simile, and that was the wretched
class of cattle in the state. The links Of
/ that chain were several-the man, the
farm, the farm house and barn, the cat
tie, etc. The speaker took up each
point, or link, and discussed it exhaust
lively. The farmers were divided into
two classes, one of which has cattle good
enough for them. They are scrub meI
and have scrub cattle. They don't take
L care Oh ID6lT bIOChs 1hO OIhOl SAooS
cares for its cattle. Generally speaking
Minnesota farmers were industrious
frugal, public spirited, and were the
pride and bulwark of the state. A dan
gerous class was rapidly growing up il
our cities whose only check is the farm
ers. Every large city was fostering
sore; not that they did not contain many
good men, though. Speaking of thu
farms, Mr.. Gregg said that Minnesota
had high average fertility for her soil
The farm houses were comfortable ant
we'll supplied with reading matter. TIL,
barns were capacious. The farmers com
pared very favorably with city people il
intelligence and knowledge of curren
events. The city man was toomuch oc
cupied with his business and social call
ings to give much time to the newspap
ers and literature. The farmers wer
beginning to have diversified crops, bu
should 90 into cattle raising more exten
siyely. To have improved cattle b
; must surround them with improves
conditions, in order to be successful