The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-09-11
THE COLT SHOW.
Fine Exhibit in Madison-A Large Crowd
in Attendance.

That is the lesson of the Morgan colt show.
1t is lesson which the farmers of this county
have learned, and they are getting rich by
putting 1t into practice.
Greene and Putnam have caught the happy
injection, and stock raising promises to become
epidemic wherever bermuda grows.
1t grows all over middle Georgia. wherever
there is red land, and DR.. Hopkins says it is
the grass OF all others upon which Georgia
can rely.
Mr.. j. B. Wade, who went to see the colt
show, is enthusiastic about stock raising. He
says that middle Georgia is the finest stock
raising country he knows.
The hour fixed for the show was IL o'clock,
and long before that time people began to
come in from the country Before the hour
had arrived the street about Bishops stable
was encountered with vehicles of every sort,
and the square was full of people, white and
black.
I met one negro man driving to town with
an old pillow mare and two colts, one of this
year and one two years old. The
colts were sired by a Hambletonian
NAL that would lsell for something like two
hundred dollars.
These two:colts had been born within three
years, and their dam had ploughed three crops
during that time.
Mr. Walkers forty-dollar mare bred with
the Hamhletonian, brought in four years three
colts, which, Mr.. Bishop says, are worth thir-
teen hundred dollars, and in those years made
four crops.
Mr.. A. NJ. Partee, an old stock raiser, makes
the point that Morgan county colt is ready
for work at two years and half, and that he
is worth more at that age than western mule.
This is particularly true" said he, where
you have crossed Percheron with the COM
mon stock. l have seen that thoroughly tested,
as L have dealt in both mules and horses and
| have raised colts for years.
consider the Percheron stock
the finest, for general purposes, that has ever
been in the south"
When the Percheron stallion "Romulus."
that graceful behemoth who took the first prize
at the Paris exposition, was led before the
amphiteater. there was such o ponderous
majesty in his movements that he took the
people by storm, and the police could not keep
back the crowds.
Hardly less majestic were the movements of
the stallion "Victor," son of "Romulus." He
pranced along in front of the courthouse,
moving his ponderous limbs lightly and carry
ing his head proudly as if conscious that he
was the son of an illustrious sire whose
pedigree could be traced to the establishment
of q government stud in France
With all his pride, this horse is as gentle az
any in Morgan county, and one of tile country
byStandeTs remarked that he was the poitest
stallion he ever saw.
He is the sire of most of this years Morgan
county colts, and he pranced about with head
above them like the proud patriarch of sturdy
| family.
1HeEe arc Sixty COILS tniS year IN Morgan
! county, and nearly half of them were on
exhibition. Only this years colts were
| allowed to compete for the prizes, and seven
were entered by Mr.. Jonas Holland, Mr.. Peter
Walton, Colonel w. A. Broughton. Mr.. Lee
| Sims. Mr. P G.. Walker, Mr. j. w. Stoyall
and Mr.. John Beasley.
The colts were led on the court house green,
where sward of bermuda carpeted the
ground.
First came risky, neighing sorrel and
arlr holf 81,
contentedly over the yard, nipping the grass
here and there.
Then came a chestnut sorrel, eleven and
half hands high, young and fiery, but unusu
ally large for five months colt. The crowd
took to him at once, and gathered thiGkly
about All at once no lifted his clean limbs
from the rear and reached for the crowd. He
hurt nobody and no one was offended, for it
was not vicious, malicious kick it was the
indignant protest of high-miuded colt
against the familiarity of the populace. a.sgs
From that moment he commanded the re-
spect of the crowd, especially from'the crowd
in his rear. They surveyed him with adnira-
ton, for there was strength and prosperity in
his slender limbs and a competency in the
wisp of bermuda that he impatiently
snatohed; there was revenue in his ons and
prophecy in his eye, and in his neigh there
were tidings of comfort and joy.
1t took the judges but a short time to give
him the first prize, and Mr.. Lee Sims was
happy as the blue ribbon was tied on.
The pretty sorrel got the second prize, and
Mr.. Jonas Holland who acted as IN aster of
ceremonies, got up on the gate post aud
nounced the names of the winners ard stated
that the two colts would be sold at auction to
the highest bidder.
There was a hustle, and the crowd gathered
around the auctioneer.
The first bid was S75.
zone hundred and fifty" said Mr.. Bishop
Indignantly.
Gone hundred and seventy-fve," said
Colonel Broughton.
'Two hundred" said Mr. Bishop.
"Two twenty five" said Colonel Brough-
ton.
1.-TWO fifty," said Mr.. Bishop
Then Colonel Broughton added al0 and Mr..
Bishop came back with 215 In ten minutes
the colt was sold for sos to Mr.. Bishop.
The second prize colt was brought up, and
in few minutes was sold for $40 to Mr..
Stoval.
Mr.. Bishop then announced a colt show for
the fall of 1889, for which he offered 500 in
prizes,
ever had" said Judge Jenkins, who had
adjourned the court from twelve TO two, in or
der to e I've everybody a chance TO see the
show. ut will increase the interest in stock
raising, and it is growing also in Putnam and
Greene. Captain Reed of Putnam,
as a colt for $500, and after three years sold
him for 5000. There are four or Ave mares
that have had colts by that horse, and the colts
Of one If them are worth 81 400 and the poor
est of the mares has colts worth 5000"
"How about cattle"
"A short time ago had occasion TO write an
article on that subject, and upon investigation
I found from the records of the railroad that
Morgan county shipped 500 pounds Of butter
asst year. Mr. Hunt alone shipped $500
pounds Of butter, besides selling a great deal
Of milk, and he gets forty cents pound for
every pound Of his butter"
Mr.. Legare Foster owns an almost perfect
horse. the colt Of the Putnam horse, Wilkes,
and Mr.. Walker owns another Of those colts,
Mr.. G. r. Bishop, who runs the livery stable,
has a stock farm, and uses the stable as an
outlet for his stock. Besides he owns the
PercherOn "Victor" and the Hambletonian
stallion.
II find 10 pays better to run a stock farm
han 20 raise cotton" said Mr.. Bishop. ~
make the horses earn their own living and the
product OF the farm goes to tie market in tho
shape Of colts The mares average a colt
year aud work right along. Meantime, / am
onriching my land with compost. Last year !
had a compost heap ninoty-eight feet long. If
teen feet wide and seven feet high al one end
and five az the other"
Colonel Broughton, Mr.. Walton and Mr..
Partel all told me that the fence Law brought
about the interest IN stock raising.