The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-07-26
MORGAN HORSES VALUE
Why Our Government Is Try
ing to Restore the Breed.
VERY USEFUL TO SMALL FARMERS

VERY USEFUL 10 SMALL fAhMEhS
No Other American steed Said 60
Have shown Same Recuperatfve vi.
edly After Hard Spell Of work.
Highly Priced ~ q Road Horse-Un-
exceIled 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
mer 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 1t 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
generation ago. Now, however, the I'M
fortunate results of this change of
taste are being realized. 1t has been
amply demonstrated by costly expert
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
docility, made it prominently 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 1T
ted to draw heavier loads on the level,
but that was almost it's 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
from the lower meadow to the barn did
not fit the imported animals tempera-
ment. A creature built for routine, it
contrasted poorly with the nimbler,
more versatile Morgan, whose brisk
walk, even under load, gave evidence
of its zest in work.
Nor was it merely as a farm horse
that the Morgan was esteemed. As a
road horse for the business and profess
sional man, not seeking speed pri-
marily, but always willing to move
along briskly and always ready for q
brush on the highway, 1t was highly
priced, and as 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 in 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 1t 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 too
belated recognition of its merits.
At the interstate horse and automo-
bile show held in Rutland; VT, recent
ly 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 were made to have this breed
well 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.