3GG STATE lUJARD OF AURICULTURE. 



enterprise jiiul luiblic s|)irit, wliieli ou^lit to be more <i;enerou8ly 

 rewarded. 



Miclii.HJin. from its ])(»sili()ii, soil and climate, should be (he liome of 

 the breeder of imjjroved stock. Its <::rain and fora*:fe crops should never 

 be fed to scrubs. Its docks and herds sliould be maintained at such a 

 hiiih standard as to Avin national recognition, and make it tlie reliance 

 of those who are seekinjj: after the best. In every way possible the 

 breeder should be encoura^'ed to continue his beneficent work. The 

 State and country fairs should recoj^jnize in a more jjenerous manner 

 the <;ood such men are doinjv for the community and the State^ and his 

 nei^ihbors accord him due credit for what he has accomi)lished. He 

 furnishes the best nuichine to turn the farmers' coarse j:;r'ains, forage 

 and by-products into a more marketable and valuable commodity, and 

 the farm that is j)roducinfjj meats, and wool, and dairy products, is each 

 year increasing in fertility and ability to grow crops. Good live stock 

 must always be the basis of successful farming in the Peninsular State. 



HORSES. 



Tlie breeding and raising of horses in Micliigan traces back to the 

 earliest period of settlement by civilized people, and has continued an 

 important factor in its agricultural development to the present time. 

 The early French settlers, coming from Lower Canada and direct from 

 France, brought with them horses representative of those countries, 

 so that the Canadian French pony and the horses used in the French 

 army were the foundation stock relied upon by the early French set- 

 tlers. These were mOre or less modified by intermixture with the Indian 

 pony, which was numerous throughout the country surrounding the 

 Great Lakes. The most important of these breeds w'ere the Canadian 

 French ponies, a hardy race resembling diminutive Percherons, from 

 which breed they were undoubtedly descended. Their characteristics 

 were heavy flowing manes and tails, small heads, bold prominent 

 eyes, short heavy necks, broad chested, deep bodied, compactly built, 

 with broad and frequently sloping rumps, and standing on short, well 

 formed legs, with splendid bone and excellent feet. They had a short 

 trappy gait at the trot, with rather exaggerated knee action, and were 

 very hardy and enduring. The French settlers were continually testing 

 their speed at the trot against each other. Eacing on the ice during 

 the season w^as one of the great diversions of the French settlers, and 

 the champion on the ice had as much honor paid him as the champion 

 of the modern track. With the advent of the British into the State 

 came the English Thoroughbred, and later came the American bred 

 horse of composite character. With the final ending of the wars be- 

 tween France, Great Britain and the United States, the emigration of 

 Americans from Kew- York and the New England States set in, and as 

 these immigrants came with the intention of building homes for them- 

 selves, and clearing up the wilderness and fitting it for cultivation, 

 they brought their cattle and horses with them. These of course repre- 

 sented the sections from which they had emigrated, and were generally 

 of Thoroughbred and Morgan blood. The latter came largely from the 

 New England States, w'hile horses with Messenger and other Thorough- 

 bred blood, came mostly from New York. There was also a good deal 

 of Bashaw blood, which traced back to imported Grand Bashaw, an 



