The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1894-03-31
Good Draft Horses.

At a recent institute b. Throasel
said: Men who genera ly use good
Judgment in other things sometimes
exhibit the poorest in breeding. There
have been frst-class stations in this
country for a great many years, but
they have not done as much as the in
ferior ones for the last few years. The
only way to account for this is by the
difference in the price of their service
fee. Thus the good horses gradually
gave way to horses not so good, and Il
is dcplorable fact that in so many
cases the good have yielded their
places to the bad, because they would
not justify their owners in keeping
them. Men are often fooled by breed
ing to a good horse and a poor one
at the same time to experiment. They
| find when the colts come that the one
from the cheap stallion looks as we'll
as the one from the imported sire.
They instantly resolve that they will
no longer pay SIS for a colt, when, as
they say, they can get as good a one
for IS. They certainly have failed to
observe natures law with reference to
offspring. Had they done SO, they
would have noticed that the superb
ority in blood asserts itself more de-
cidedly as the animal nears ma
turity; that the full blooded Texas
calf is as fine at two months old
as that from the Durham, but no one
will admit that it natures into so fine
an animal when it is fully developed.
A plug looks better at very early age
than ever after, and this induces many
to breed back 10 the plug sire before
they have discovered their mistake.
1t is too bad that after twenty years
breeding we have made so little real
progress, but we can yet remedy the
evil 1t can only be done, however,
in one way. The first step in this di-
rection is to sort out the plugs. Give
them away if they will not sell. The
harder they are to dispose of, furnishes
us still further evidence of the fact
that they should be gotten rid Of Do
not allow mare on your farm that is
not good one. When you get her
keep her if she breeds right, if not,
sell her. See that she is bred to tn
best horse you can get each year, even
though it costs you little more to do
it than it would to breed her to the
scrub. There is only one straight and
narrow way to reach the desired point.
Pursue this course, and in few
years you will have the satisfac.
ton of owning nothing but good
horses. You will then be better
Christian and the world in general
will look brighter and more promising
to you. The next thing l want to con-
slider is, will it justify us to breed good
horses? 1t certainly will, and now is
the time to do it. 1t takes four years
to raise a horse, and who knows but
what the price of good horses will
then be very high? They always have
been, and it is reasonable to suppose
that they always will be, in demand.
They are as indispensable to this coun-
try as the farm wagon or the pillow.
We must have them, and the time has
come when those who use them appre-
ciate good horses. Electricity may
ruin the sale of the light horse, but the
large, heavy draft horse is partially Sc
cure from such competition. The price
of good horses has not tiuctuated as
much as one would think, and at least
has only followed the general decline
brought about by the existing condi-
TONS When say raise good horses, l
mean good ones. Not what we thought
were good ones ten years ago, but
ones that would be considered good at
llS piCoChb COplC hdNC iCdIhCu
something in the last few years They
have at least discovered that a low
down, heavy horse is the kind for
draft purposes. 1t is but a principle
of mechanics they should have learned
at school, but it seems we learn the
lessons of this life only by experience.
They now want the draft horse heavy,
because they want him strong and for
the purpose Of draft work only. They
want HIM low down because the day
light under him does not add anything
to his strength. They want him
blocky because he will keep fat on
half the feed that long rangy horse
will, and the farmer wants him the
same way because the eastern buyer
does, and for the further reason that
he has to feed him only three years to
mature him, instead of five, as he
used to the long, lank horses of the
Review.