No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 129 



an act which would pass the Legislature and become operative without incur- 

 ring so much opposition as to kill it or make impossible its enforcement. Cer- 

 tain provisions which at first would be out of the question or at least unadvisa- 

 ble may ultimately be incorporated in the law. 



"A mailing list has been compiled from the membership roll of the Pennsyl- 

 vania Livestock Breeders' Association and from addresses derived from other 

 sources. Circular letters were addressed to each person whose name was thus 

 secured, enclosing a blank form with a request that there be reported thereon 

 the names and addresses of all stallion owners in the State known to the person 

 addressed, and to each person so reported were sent a circular letter advising 

 him of the existence and requirements of the law, a copy of the law itself, a cir- 

 cular of information pertaining thereto and blank forms for application, for a 

 veterinarian's certificate of soundness and for owner's affidavit. 



"Following are some of the results which it is hoped the successful adminis- 

 tration of this act will accomplish: 



"1. The prevention of misrepresentation regarding the breeding or registra- 

 tion of any stallion standing for public service. 



"2. The elimination, from the breeding ranks, of all horses, the get of which 

 are especially liable to be rendered unfit for useful service on account of here- 

 ditary unsoundness or disease. 



"3. The means of determining those individuals from which, on account of 

 their superior breeding, type or conformation, may be expected most uniformly 

 satisfactory results. 



"4. The proper registration in an official stud-book of many individuals whose 

 eligibility may be satisfactorily proven, although at the present time either 

 nonregistered on account of lack of appreciation of such procedure on the part 

 of the owner or, through ignorance, are recorded in an unauthorized stud- 

 book. 



"5. A general stimulation of interest in market horses and their production 

 and a wider dissemination of reliable information concerning the horse breeding 

 industry." 



The circular that was prepared to introduce the horse breeding law to the 

 breeders of the State is as follows: 



"Pennsylvania is the second largest consumer of horses of any state in the 

 Union. This fact is suggestive of great possibilities for the horse breeding in- 

 dustry in our State. When we note, however, that of tlie great number of 

 horses which find a market here, only a small percentage are home bred, we 

 are led to believe that these possibilities are not realized in full. It is true that 

 in some districts a number of horses are being fed and finished for local and 

 even foreign trade, but these are mostly of one type and they too for the most 

 part are bred outside of the State. It is claimed that the horses produced in 

 Pennsylvania to-day are fewer in number and inferior in type and conforma- 

 tion, to those of a decade or more ago. In fact, the most significant feature 

 of the horse industry in Pennsylvania, as seen at the present time, is the ex- 

 cellent market it provides for the products of other states. 



"Unless it can be demonstrated that there are good and sufficient reasons for 

 the existence of such conditions, we must conclude that the farmers in Pennsyl- 

 vania are not availing themselves of the opportunities that this state affords 

 them. 



"Three things essential to success in horse breeding are good blood, ample feed 

 and such prevailing conditions as will insure economic production. The breed- 

 ers in Pennsylvania can fulfill all these requirements. In regard to the first, 

 they are perhaps the most deficient, but that condition is the one most easily 

 rectified. A census of the horses in the State would undoubtedly show that, 

 while there are many stallions of the highest class, the blood available to the 

 breeder is inferior, in general, to that found in any other states. This is reason 

 enough why it should be improved. Furthermore, good natural pastures, sec- 

 ond in importance only to the blood with which they are stocked, constitute 

 one of the greatest resources of the Pennsylvania breeder. The small grains 

 are produced in abundance and corn is a leading crop in some sections so that 

 altogether, in the great diversity of farm crops which can be grown in different 

 parts of the State, means of meeting almost every requirement of the breeder 

 and feeder may be found. With the best markets for all types close at hand, an 

 abundance of reasonably cheap land well adapted to the growth of pasture and 

 forage crops, together with certain especially favored counties producing all 

 the grain that is required in fitting for market, we need only to improve the 

 breeding stock in order that there may be bred, grown, finished and marketed, 

 all within this State, horses which will sell with a good margin of profit. 



"The market for high class horses has seldom been stronger or steadier than it 

 is to-day, but buyers are discriminating and horses must classify according to 

 certain type standards and be the best representatives of their respective 

 classes in order to command the top prices. Such a demand is to be met only 

 by an intelligent effort on the part of the breeder. 



"No one of the great natural laws manifests itself with more regularity and 

 certainty than the law that "Like begets like." Full knowledge of this fact must 

 be had if one is to breed "market toppers," or even good, useful horses. Indi- 

 viduals which are unsound, off-type, or of mixed or inferior breeding will be 



9—6—1907. 



