The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1915-01-08
NEW FUTURE FOR THE HORSE


The *"knot-head" horse, with three
line crosses of **starvation and one
OF real pedigree in his blood, is be-
ing finecombed from the country for
cannon fodder" for Europe, leaving
in his stead the greatest opportunity
for saner breeding the Nation has
ever had, authorities say.
trip to the buyers barns will bear
out that statement and perhaps shat
ter and idol. The vision of whole
columns of sleek. prancing, arch
necked and clean-limbed cavalry
horses that form part of the public's
dream picture of war are not visible
in great numbers in the buyers pens
Instead are many "clods;" horses
plenty good for killing but far from
the Arabian type in form and mettle
They are really, many of them, the
country's cheap horses; horses that
are too heavy for light rig and too light
for a heavy load. That is the type that
is being accepted for cavalary horses;
horses that weigh thousand pounds
or better and are from 15.1 to 1873
hands in height.
The cannon draggers" are more
sizable-horses that weigh from 1900
to 1,500 pounds. What the British gov
ernment is paying for these horses it
would take an inquisition to find out,
but the farmers are getting from SIS
to SITS.
When the war first started the
prices on horses went off badly. The
| South, the main outlet for the sur
plus in the country, could not sell its
| cotton, and hence would not buy Then
the war demands and the short life
Of the horse in the battle zone started
the price up again. Sixty days ago the
British began taking mules for the
heavy hauling purposes, and the price
of mules has rallied since the slump
when the South quit buying.
Since the first of August 39,675
| horses and mules have been received
in the markets of this city. That is
nearly half as much as for the whole
year and about $500 more than for
the same period last year when there
were good prices and brisk market
and the South was buying heavily.
Most of these animals went to war, it
| is said, and of the million dollars
representing their value, more than 5
millions of it was paid by the British
| government, it is estimated.
| The same thing in lesser way Is
| going on all over the country. The
French are buying in the South, as
are the British, and the British are al
so buying all along the Canadian bor-
der and in the West and East.
What does it mean?
The buyers have been singularly
loath to talk, and if they do it is to
claim the war has little influence.
but producers and the small buyers
have a different story to tell. In
many sections the country has been
literally curried for horses and the
farmers are holding for better prices
and expecting to get them.
DR.. Henry ]. Waters, president of
the Kansas State Agricultural College,
declared recently:
"The war is the best thing that
ever happened to the farmers as re-
CARDS their horses. We are getting rid
of a lot of little stuff, and the farmers
are going to handle mares large
enough to raise valuable mules and
draft teams big enough to do a real
days work on the farm. We have had
too many of the buggy size horses for
farm work"
A member of one of the firms of
horse buyers supplying the war needs
said today:
"The motor car has killed light
horses on the farm. The heavy mares
that raise market topping mules and
draft teams will make the farmers the
most money"
when the war is over" suggested
a prominent horse breeder, Europe
will have to stock up on horses, and
the 'knot-heads' will not do. They
are only fit to kill"
"And they are doing a fairly rapid
and thorough job of it," added the
dealer.
"A "knot-head'' horse is slang for
poor general purpose animal, too
small for hard work and often too
large or too clumsy or without spirit
enough for good light driver.
**Line crosses of starvation in the
pedigree of horse refer to the scrub
breeding, typified by the lifeless plug
that has the fire starved out Of him.
line cross, Of Starvation" cannot be.
fed out or bred out Tor several gen