586 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc 



THE DRAFT nORSE. 



Br THOMAS F. HUNT, Professor of Agronomy, CorneU University, Ithaca. X. V. 



I have been asked to present a paper on the draft horse before 

 the Pennsylvania State Breeders' Association. It reminds me of 

 the man who was asl^ed to write an es.^ay upon tlie snake in Ireland. 

 This is what he wrote: "There are no snakes in Ireland." I am not 

 fully acquainted with the conditions in Pennsylvania, but in your 

 neighboring state on the north, where I have given the situation 

 some attention, the breeders of draft horses are not unlike the 

 snake in Ireland. 



Indeed, concerning not only draft horses, but horses in general, the 

 North Atlantic states are consumers rather than producers of 

 horses. The North Atlantic states contain more than one-fourth the 

 population of the United States and produces one-seventeenth of the 

 horses required to maintain the supply of horses needed; Pennsyl- 

 vania contains one-thirteenth of the population and raises one-fif- 

 tieth of the horses of the United States. 



This chart shows graphically the number of colts produced for 

 each lOU horses kept in the United States and the different division 

 thereof, as indicated according to census of 1900, by taking the num- 

 ber of yearling colts as a basis for such calculation. 



It will be noted that in the United States, for each 100 horses 

 there are raised annually eight colts. This is the number required 

 to maintain the supply wants of the country plus the exports. The 

 total number of fresh horses required annually is, therefore, about 

 a million and a half. The North Atlantic states produce but 3.5 

 colts for each 100 horses; Pennsylvania 5,1; South Atlantic states, 

 o.G; North Central states, 8.G; South Central, 7.5; the Western 

 states, 12.9 colts. The Western states include those states west 

 of Denver. It is here that the breeding of horses is most active in 

 proportion to horses kept. 



In the United States there is one colt raised annually for about 

 every four farms; in the North Atlantic states one colt for every 

 eight farms; in Pennsylvania one colt for six farms; in Iowa one colt 

 for every two farms. 



It is probable that the North Atlantic states consume annually 

 150,000 horses worth over |15,000,000 more than they produce. It 

 appears probable likewise that Pennsylvania consumes 40,000 more 

 horses than she produces, costing at least |4,000,000. 



Buffalo is said to have handled 400,000 horses in 1904. One firm 

 which handled 17,000 horses last year tells me that, approximately, 15 

 per cent, weighed more than 1,500 pounds, 15 per cent, weighed less 

 than 1,200 pounds, leaving 70 per cent, between 1,200 and 1,500 

 pounds. It is safe to say, therefore, that at least three-fourths of 

 these horses possessed more or less draft breeding, I am told the 

 horses received at Buffalo comr principally from the North Central 



