The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., 1910-06-04

is bestowed with suitable ceremony and lends a
new sense of dignity to the work in which such
men engaged.
And since this issue of The Progressive Farmer
and Gazette is a Horse Special" let me say that
another example of the Western notion that the
state should be interested in the financial welfare
of its citizens and should help them to do better
work along all lines. is found in the Wisconsin
law requiring every stallion in the State to be reg
istered. Nor does registration there mean mere
~ paying certain fee and getting number.
Every stallion is examined for soundness. and
every stallion-owner must give satisfactory evil
dence as to the breeding of his horse. Then the
stallion is enrolled as, "Pure-Bred'-when regis
tered in any recognized stud book; as Gross
Bred"-when both dam and sire are pure-bred
but of different breeds; "Non-Standard Bred"
when SO recorded in the American Trotting
Register: "Grade''-when either sire or dam
is proven to be pure-bred. and as s'Mongrel" or
"Scrub"-when neither parent is of pure breed
ing.
Then when stallion is advertised either on a
poster or in newspaper. his number and his
breeding must be given. If he is a scrub the
advertisement must say so, plainly and without
equivocation.
The effect Of this law has been to decrease the
number of scrub stations kept-that is, in cem-
parison with the pure-bred, and to much larger
extent to turn the patronage from them to the
pure-breds. At any rate, the average value per
head of all the horses in the State has increased
$15.35 in the last few years. and much Of this
increase is attributed to this law requiring the
registration of stations and their advertisement
for what they are
The average value of Wisconsin horses is now
$107 per head, and State Veterinarian Alexander
Gays this is entirely too low. So he has outlined
the following campaign for better horse breeding
Grading up with sound muscular sires;
Of
chosen breed; of sound stations and
mares only; proper feeding and care of the
mare and foal; working of stations regular
ly; home production of pure-bred stations to
replace grades mongrels and scrubs used at
present. use of grade horses to replace scrub
horses in farm teams; organization of COM
munity associations for promoting horse
breedng and the encouragement of the In
dustry by prizes at county fairs for pure
bred stations and mares and the progeny Of
these animals"
The average value of horses in Southern States
last year was, according to the Report of the
United States Department of Agriculture: Vir-
ginia, 800; North Carolina, $110; South Caro-
lima, 1921; Georgia, $116; Florida, $104: Ala
bama, $SS; Mississippi, $78; Louisiana, $65;
Texas, ST.; Arkansas, $72; Tennessee, $103. In
only three States is the average value equal to
that which Wisconsin considers so low as to merit
the attention Of the State and it is safe to say
that horse of equal quality will bring at least IS
per cent more in these States than in Wisconsin
Is there any reason why this plan of stallion
registration should not be adopted with US? Six
teen States have already followed the example
set by Wisconsin, and can not afford to lag
behind. This much is certain: We can not Inn
prove the quality of our stock while we continue
to breed to scrub sires, and with stations the only
way for the farmer to know the ancestry of the
animal to which he wishes to breed his mare is
by some system Of State registration which will
not allow grade scrub animal to be adver-
tsed pure-bred