276 Missouri Agriciiltuyal Report. 



that of the average busmess, accruing from the horse industry. 

 But the question naturally presents itself, "Where are the horses to 

 be raised, and where used?" The United States Census Report of 

 1900 states that 86.2 per cent of all the horses in the United States 

 are owned on the farms, and that 13.8 per cent are owned in cities 

 and other places. The same report gives the number of mules owned 

 on the farm as 95 per cent, the remaining 5 per cent owned in cities 

 and various other places. From these figures, and from what we all 

 know to be the congested condition of affairs in cities and towns, we 

 are forced to turn to the farm for the production of horses in 

 America. 



If we were to divide the people interested in horse business they 

 would fall into three classes. First, those who rear no horses but 

 use them to a greater or less degree. This class includes grain farm- 

 ers, lumbermen, miners, city haulers, liverymen and people living 

 in cities who drive for business or for pleasure. Second, those who 

 make the breeding and rearing of horses the first object of their 

 business. This class includes the breeders of pure bred horses al- 

 most entirely, and their product nearly all goes to supply the breed- 

 ers' market. Third, the class of men who breed and rear a few 

 horses in excess of their own demand. 



From this it is evident, since the first class mentioned rear 

 practically no horses and those bred and reared by the second class 

 of men furnish the supply for the breeders' market only, that the 

 great mass of horses produced in this country must come from the 

 average or general farmer. 



With the average or general farmer to produce the horses for 

 our country the question arises "What kind of horses shall he 

 breed?" He must have a two-fold object in view, that of supply- 

 ing his own demand as well as the demand of the market. These 

 reasons will vary in importance according to the extent that he has 

 taken up the business. In supplying his own demand he will 

 choose the class of horses which he naturally prefers and which 

 best suit his environments, but to meet the market demand he must 

 breed horses which will come within the bounds of the regularly de- 

 fined market classes. 



Although there are many classes recognized on the market, 

 there are a few which are of far more importance than the rest. 

 The horses which fill the less important classes are the results of 

 attempts to produce horses of better kind, or else they are an out- 

 growth of the mating of animals with no object in view other than 

 that of raising a foal, whether it be good or bad. The greater nunv 



