The Yale expositor., 1901-06-21
Horses for Farm worr.

Some OF the articles we see in the
papers regarding this subject are truly
remarkable considering the experience
which this country has gone through
in the past twenty years in seeking to
improve its horse stock. The expert
ence has been sad one in many re-
spects in that in many districts it has
led to the creation OF a new breed OF
insists and mongrels having few if any
of the virtues of the original stock of
the country and as few of those of the
imported breeds used to effect change
In the blood. Despite the results OF
ill-advised crosses and mixtures of
blood in horse breeding alleged teach
ers are still busy spreading false doc
trine as to methods of obtaining suit
able stock. The latest congiomeration
of utter bosh which we have seen is
found in an essay on 1.-The ideal horse
for the western farmer" which has been
awarded the first prize by the lnul&n
Head Agricultural Society canadian
Northwest and asserts that the Cleve-
land Bay best fills the bill for the pur-
pose stated. This assertion we are not
going to criticize for the breed men
toned is good oLs, but what we OBJ
Ject to is the argument which is made
in connection with the matter of the
essay. The writer after describing the
breed and dilating upon its character
istics says under the lead of breeding:
"A Cleveland Bay mare may be to adj
vantage put to q three-fourth bred or
a Hackney stallion. 1t is most i'm
portant to remember that like pro-
duces like therefore this fact should
be taken into consideration with re-
gard to 5he selection Of the parents"
What rot this is to be sue! II Cleve-
land mares are selected as the best
molds from which to produce farm
horses like" will only produce like"
when the breed is kept pure. The law
OF heredity teaches that only the fix.G
characteristics of a given breed are
hereditary and transmitted to the
progeny. Why then cross the pure
bred mare with three-quarter ed
stallion or cross with a stallion of an
other pure breed? 1t was by making
mistakes of this sort that the country
became flooded with nondescript horses
which could not be used for breeding
purposes and were of little profit or
utility being without any special quail
itications for anything. Only wnere
one breed Of horses has been chos n
and stuck to has real progress been
made in filling district with uniform
stock Of good qualifications for the
special breed purpose of the breed
adopted or bred up to by continued
grading in the same direction by con-
tinuous use Of pure bred >sires of the
same blood. Nothing was ever accom-
plished by the use of a three-quarter
bred stallion, bull, or boar in breeding
towards a desired ideal or type and
nothing will ever be accomplished by
such foolishness in breeding. Little
has been accomplished by the crossing
of one pure breed of horse with an
other pure breed outside of the product
of the first cross and that cross can
not be successfully used for breeding
purposes. The three-Quarter bred
horse and the cross-bred horse possess
no fixed breed characteristics hence
they have no prepotence from heredity
to reproduce 1helr own good qua ties
upon their progeny. For this reason
the three-quarter bred stallion should
not be used for breeding purposes and
this is equally true of the cross bred
progeny of two pure breeds. The fe-
male progeny should be retained for
breeding puI poses but should always
be bred to the same breed of pure
blooded males which gave them origin.
Five top crosses of pure blood OF the
same sort upon females graded up in
this way from native or improved
stock will result in a practically pure
bred animal and even that animal
should no, be used as a SIRE the blood
should be further improved by con-
tinued use OF pure sires upon the fe-
male high grades. For farm use we
want a suitAble animal for the given
work to be done but no matter what
breed is considered best improvement
will never be attained by occasional
changes Of cd by crossing or admix-
ture with other breeds.