No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURPJ. 215 



PAPERS SELECTED FROM THOSE READ BEFORE THE STATE BOARD OF 

 AGRICULTURE AT THE JANUARY m JUiNE MEETINGS, 1900. 



LIVE STOCK IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 



By J. S. BURNS, Clinton, Pa. 



During recent years the live stock industry in this section of our 

 State has undergone a very great change. Electricity has sup- 

 planted the use of a great number of horses about our large cities, 

 and that, too, a class of horses that were of little use in other lines 

 of city industries. We refer to the "chunks" that were used by 

 street cart lines. This left in the hands of the producers a vast 

 number of this class of horses, and they in turn had their effect 

 upon other grades of horses, and the result was a glutted market. 

 Producers, as a class, quit breeding horses, and to-day young horses 

 of good quality are exceedingly scarce and command remunerative 

 prices. Of course, that class that was so rapidly worn out by street 

 car lines does not meet with much inquiry, except for farm purposes, 

 and that largely because of their low price. But the massive draft 

 horse of symmetrical form, for city teams, and the high stepper, 

 with arched neck and good spirit, for the man of wealth or pleasure, 

 are in good demand, and command paying prices; but they are 

 not here, and few in sight. 



A few years ago a great many of our farmers would, once or twice 

 a year, drive a number of fat cattle to the Pittsburg market and sell 

 them direct to the butcher, receiving the full return for their product. 

 But later a change was wrought, and if the farmer sold his cattle 

 on the market at all, it must be done through the agency of a com- 

 mission man. And the farmxer who thought to dispose of them other- 

 wise would soon realize that a combination of forces was operating 

 against him, and sooner or later he would find himself "froze out" 

 and completely at their mercy. Next came the birth of the dressed 

 beef combine, and the farmers, feeling themselves handicapped on 

 every hand, became discouraged. And this, with the opening up 

 of many railroads, caused many of them to turn their attention to 

 dairying. And the great numbers who embarked in this business 



