532 



EXPEEIUEXTAL FARMS 



4 GEORGE V. r A. 1914 



EXPERIMENTAL STATION, CAP ROUGE, QUE. 



REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT— GTJS. A. LANGELIER. 



HORSES. 



There are now at the Station eight pure-bred French Canadian mares, also a 

 two-year-old and a weanling filly of the same breed, besides two grade teams of from 

 2,600 to 2,900 pounds weight per team, and a driver of about 1,000 pounds. Four of 

 the pure-bred mares are in foal to a stallion of the same breed. 



The following table gives some idea of the total number of horses necessary 

 for this farm and the number required for farm labour : — 



It may seem exaggerated to put down 8 in-foal mares, 1 three-year-old stallion 

 or filly, and an aged stallion, as only doing the work of four horses, but when 12 

 horses, or teams, are required to do the work, it is meant that G heavy teams are 

 needed. Though the French Canadian horse is a splendid animal, full of grit and 

 endurance, the weight is not there, and grit cannot supplement weight for a very long 

 time on heavy machines, which are required to work steadily 10 hours per day at 

 their full capacity. By full capacity is meant that the lever on a disc harrow is to be 

 at the last notch, the manure spreader filled, loads of hay, grain, silage, roots are 

 not to be half loads; also that land requiring to be ploughed six inches is not ploughed 

 four, that the team is not to stop and rest every half hour on the grain or corn 

 binder. In fact, work and not half work is wanted, and to do good, steady, heavy 

 work, ten hours every day (and sometimes 12 and 13 in the rush of the season), 

 in-foal mares, colts and stallions, of a light breed, on an average, will not do more 

 than is credited them in the above list. 



Moreover, it should be understood that to do work with light horses throughout, 

 and with in-foal mare3, colts and stallions in particular, causes a waste of manual 

 labour and is a costly proposition. An in-foal mare, for instance, that works ten 

 hours a day ploughing four inches deep in light land, cannot stand more than five 



