Missouri Draft Horse Breeders' Association. 513 



nothing like the conditions that we have for raising good draft 

 horses for profit. But I do not mean to criticise, for Missouri 

 is gaining each year in the production of draft horses, both in 

 numbers and quality. In the last four years that we have been 

 organized I have taken quite an interest in the progress of draft 

 horse breeding in this State, and I find new men entering the 

 field each year, many of them starting with only a few, but 

 most of them gradually growing into a business which is bound 

 to be appreciated by the community. It is a well-known fact 

 that a high-class stallion in a community leaves his impress for 

 future good in the improvement of the horses of such locality. 

 Such improvement being so clearly shown by one horse, a cor- 

 respondingly greater improvement might reasonably be ex- 

 pected by the establishment of pure-bred herds here and there, 

 and I wish that these might be distributed with a regularity all 

 over the State. 



To the Missouri farmer present who owns no pure breds I 

 would say that you certainly would do well to secure at least a 

 pair of pure-bred mares, breed them to the best stallion avail- 

 able and get in the procession, for the draft horse industry is not 

 going to be behind all others by any means. 



The time will come, and ere long perhaps, when the modern 

 Missouri agriculturists will all be using and raising pure-bred 

 draft horses and turning their surplus each year into a very 

 handsome profit by the production of the right kind. Then 

 you will be turning deeper and wider furrows, hauling heavier 

 loads and "cut a wider swath," whether hay or whatever it 

 may be. 



DEVELOPING DRAFT FOALS. 



(E. H. Hughes, College of Agriculture, Columbia, Mo.) 



Never in the history of the horse breeding industry has 

 there been a stronger demand for the heavy draft horse, nor has 

 he ever commanded a correspondingly higher price than at 

 present. To produce drafters of this class we must develop 

 the foal. 



The progress of the draft horse breeding industry, in part, 

 depends on this development, for during the first twelve months 

 the colt makes as much growth as it does in the following three 

 years. The increased demand for the heavy drafter comes from 

 several sources. Increased population without the correspond- 



A— 33 



