524 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



From the densely populated rural districts in the states to the 

 north, northwest and northeast of us is coming in a steady 

 migration of intelligent, progressive and up-to-date farniers, 

 realizing that this is their last and only opportunity to secure 

 homes at a price within their means. When they once get 

 possession of a farm it will never be for sale again, for they 

 have come to stay. We extend to thefti the glad hand of wel- 

 come, for they are the best class of farmers and citizens you 

 ever saw. Each newcomer brings with him one or two good pairs 

 of high grade draft mares, probably in foal, and with them 

 comes an ever-increasing demand for better sires. The younger 

 generation of Missouri farmers, too, are not content to live and 

 farm as their fathers used to. In nearly every farm home in 

 the Ozarks nowadays at least one farm paper makes its weekly 

 visit. It is, indeed, refreshing to see frequent articles in our 

 stock journals setting forth the merits of the draft horse and 

 his value to the southwestern farmer. Publishers should 

 whenever possible illustrate these articles with good half tones, 

 for pictures will do much toward helping the reader to form an 

 idea of what a good horse should look like, and few hate the 

 privilege of seeing the real article at the ringside. 



When I introduced the first pure-bred, heavy, draft stallion 

 into Laclede county I half expected that I would have to raise 

 a pair of geldings and ship them to market before my neighbors 

 would see that there is money in draft horses. At first I met 

 with opposition strong enough to have discouraged anyone not 

 supported by a faith born of the knowledge that his undertaking 

 could and, therefore, must succeed. The leaders in the outcry 

 were, of course, the other stallion owners who declared the 

 horses were too big and unwieldy, couldn't stand the climate, 

 couldn't climb the hills, would stick fast in the mud, would 

 tear a turning plow "all to the devil," and all that sort of talk 

 which was heard in your neighborhood years ago. Today my 

 breeding business is still only in its beginning and yet I can 

 already tell you that "I came, I saw, I conquered." The 

 people down there are quick to grasp new ideas. They see me 

 successful with my horses and they follow my example. They 

 do not always understand the science of it all, but they do as 

 I do and get the same results. 



Gentlemen, the time is surely very near when the draft 

 horse will come into his own in the Ozarks. I am not a prophet, 

 neither am I one of the sons of the prophets, but I honestly 



