Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-06-29
MORGAN HORSES VALUE
Why Our Government Is Try
ing to Restore the Breed.
VERY USEFUL TO SMALL FARMERS

/ No other American stced Said to
| Have shown Same Recuperative Vi
| tally and Ability to Travel Spirit
eddy After Hard Spell of Work.
I Highly Priced Road Horse-Un-
exceIIed For Family Use.
| Lovers of horses the country over,
but particularly the farmers and light
| harness drivers of New England, will
follow with interest the results of the
effort of the agricultural department
| to restore the Morgan horse TO its for
! lner position of dominance, says the
/ Providence Journal. AS result of the
: craze--it was little short of that-for
animals of heavier type, which west
ern horses were brought in to meet,
! the serviceable Morgan has been al
lowed to run out until it has become
increasingly difficult to secure for gen
eral use good specimens of the type
that was the prevailing one in New
England towns scarcely more than a
generation ago. Now, however. the UNI
fortunate results of this change of
taste are being realized. 1t has been
ence that weight and strength are not
the equivalents of the hardness and
all round adaptiveness which are the
| distinguishing characteristics of the
smaller Morgan.
These qualities, with Intelligence and
dociity. made it pre-eminently the
breed for the small farmer, who keeps
only one animal for both farm and
road work. No other American horse
has shown the same recuperative vital
ity, the ability to travel spiritedly to
church on Sunday morning after an
arduous week of haying. No other, in
short. has so thoroughly demonstrated
its fitness for the responsible position
of the only horse in the family. The
westerner which Supplanted it was fit
ted To draw heavier loads on the level,
but that was almost its only advan-
tage, and strength did not mean endur-
! ance.
Comparatively small powers of adap
tation to varied conditions and demands
prevented its perfect assimilation as
general utility horse such as the small
farmer needs. The New England hills,
moreover. and the short. sharp slope
not tit the imported animals tempera-
ment. a creature built for routine. it
contrasted poorly with the nmbler,
more versatile Morgan, whose brisk
walk. even under load. gave evidence
of its ZeSt in work.
Nor was it merely rs farm horse
that the Morgan was esteemed. As
road horse for the business and profeS-
sonal man, not seeking speed pri-
/ marily. but always willing to move
along brisllly and always ready for
brush on the highway. it was highly
priced, and as n family horse it was
uneXcelled. its docility being an impor-
tant factor. Descending from the
famous Justin Morgan, foaled in 1893,
it was no unimportant factor i'll devel-
oping the farm horse in the east from
the ungainly heavy footed animal with
which the coast farmers of fifty years
ago were apparently content. Hardly
is the development of any other means
of locomotiOn, the trolley or the auto
mobile more striking than the progress
that has been made in improving the
character of the ordinary farm horse
But in New England progress began to
move in the wrong direction when the
sturdy Morgan was replaced by the
heavy but strength wasting westerner
And it is now the aim of the govern
ment to correct the error that was
made and TO restore the type that was
in danger of vanishing because of a too
belated recognition of its merits
At the interstate horse and automO-
bile show held in Rutland. Vt. recent
" there has been brought together one
of the most complete collections of
standard bred Morgans that New Eng
land has seen for many years. Special
efforts We're made to have this breed
we'll represented because of the most
perfect types for breeding purposes at
its experiment station in Burlington,
for which the sum of $4,000 was re
Gently appropriated. This reinstate-
ment of the Morgan will rank as one
of the conspicuous services of the de
partment of agriculture.