LECTURES AND ESSAYS. 477 



It costs us no more to raise a colt, from the time it is ten days old until 

 four years of age, than it does to raise a steer. I feed no more grain to a 

 colt than to a steer (I prefer to use equal parts in bulk of shelled corn, oats 

 and bran). 



I would say to those who work their brood mares, that if they would con- 

 fine the colts to the barn they would save themselves much trouble and 

 inconvenience, as well as benefiting the colt thereby. We do notallow our 

 colts to follow whether we are going to the fields or to town. We have a 

 strong gate hung on the stall and when the dam leaves the barn the colt is 

 shut in. It soon learns to lie down and be quiet, if well bedded, until the 

 mare is again brought in. It seems to me that this plan is better for all 

 parties concerned. 



Mr. Jno. Flint: The paper compares the prices of high priced horses to 

 those of ordinary cattle. Cattle are often sold as high as $2,500 per head. 



Mr. : The horse industry of Michigan is the greatest industry of the 



State ; the value of the horses exceeding that of any other animals. Fine 

 horses bring better prices than fine cattle, and scrub horses better prices than 

 scrub cattle. The prospects of cattle-raising are looking down, while the 

 prospects of horse-raising are looking up. 



Dr. : It seems to me, Mr. Blackmar is running horse breeding too 



much in one direction. Trotters are good, but are not the only horse needed, 

 and we should develop animals that can walk, or trot, or run, a horse that 

 can haul our loads and fill the bill for a carriage horse. But one trotter in 

 a hundred is good for anything as such. There is unlimited demand for fine 

 carriage horses. 



Pres. Willits: Few persons can, with success, breed trotters, but many of 

 our farmers could breed and train draft or carriage horses successfully. I 

 remember hearing it said that the Percheron stallion imported by Senator 

 Chandler had increased the wealth of Ingham and Clinton counties $100,000. 



Mr. : Jackson county does breed all kinds of horses, from mustangs 



to the best of draft animals, and yet the most sought for are 1,100 to 1,200 

 pounds, 16-hand high horses, from trotting stock, that any farmer can raise, 

 and that will bring the most money and be the most generally useful both 

 for farm and road use. We need action and we appreciate style. 



Mr. Blackmar : I did not intend to state in my paper that I raised trotters. 



Mr. : It seems necessary for us to raise general-purpose horses, though 



I think that if we could establish our market the draft horses would be most 

 profitable for us. 



Dr. Grange : My father imported several thoroughbreds from across the 

 Atlantic, and found them admirable general-purpose horses. A few years 

 later a neighbor imported some heavier horses, the Suffolk Punch, which 

 had their day and were succeeded by the Clydesdales, which have been popu- 

 lar ever since, as the farmers find them less liable to injury and more profit- 

 able. 



BREEDING. 



BY DR. MANLY MILES, OF LANSING. 



Report of an Address before the Farmers' Institute at Flint, January 30. 1889. 



Competition in every line of human activity and the almost universal 

 employment of machinery have so narrowed the margin of profit as to 



