444 ANNUAL llEl'OUT OF THE Off. Doc 



available plant food and furnishing matter to the soil to grow the 

 crop next year. When we cut the hay and haul it off we should put 

 the manure back or apply commercial fertilizer and feed that meadow. 

 We ought not to expect it to do well unless we feed it regularly. I 

 have a neighbor that top dresses his pasture lands every third year 

 with acid phosphate, Iwo hundred and fifty pounds to the acre, and 

 he has some fine cattle and some fine pasture. 



THE PENNSYLVANIA STALLION LAW 



By DR. C. J. MARSHALL, State Veterinarian 



The stallion law has now been in operation for three years and 

 in that time has been able to demonstrate both its strong and weak 

 points. That much good work has been accomplished can readily be 

 shown, and that amending the law would still better the horse breed- 

 ing industry is a foregone conclusion. 



Primarily the law^ has been of great educational value. Hereto- 

 fore in many instances farmers bought stallions without considering 

 whether they were registered or not. As long as the seller made a 

 statement to the effect that a horse was pure bred and registered the 

 buyer was satisfied. Advertisements such as "An Imported English 

 Shire Stallion Registered in France and America" (this fact was 

 actually printed on a stallion poster) demonstrates that the owner 

 evidently did not know what pure bred and registry meant. Now, 

 however, they realize that in order to secure a pure bred license they 

 must have an authorized pedigree registry certificate, and they have 

 become far more careful. 



The requirement of the law which states that copies of the license 

 certificate shall be posted prominently on the inside and on the 

 door of the stable in which the horse is stood, and that a copy shall 

 be incorporated in all advertisements is a good means of preventing 

 misrepresentation by the stallion owners themselves; because the 

 license certificate differentiates distinctly, in large type, between 

 pure bred and grade. Thus, a prospective breeder immediately on 

 viewing the license certificate can see whether or not the stallion 

 is of pure breeding and registered, or whether he is a grade. 



I do not believe there is any business in which there is more 

 trickery than in horse dealing, and for that reason it is necessary 

 for breeders to use an extra amount of caution. Many men who are 

 otherwise honest do not hesitate to deceive even a friend when a horse 

 deal is being negotiated. Fraudulent ])edigrees and pedigrees from 

 unauthorized associations were a very common occurrence but now, 

 knowing that they will not be accepted as a means of securing a 

 pure bred license they are less frequently found. 



The Bulletins issued by the Department on horse breeding topics 

 have also been a great help to stallion owners, in fact horsemen in 

 general. However, they have no immediate bearing on the subject 

 of this paper. 



