Missouri Draft Horse Breeders' Association. 537 



your colts are ready to work a year younger than is customary 

 with the native horses, and that their broad, well-covered 

 shoulders do not wear sore under the collar or their muscles 

 shrivel from sweeny so readily as was often the case with the 

 green horse of lighter build. They take home these points. 

 And when you have geldings to sell, make them right and sell 

 them where the price they bring will be good for a week's general 

 discussion and a fair-sized item in the county paper. Write 

 the item yourself, for that is the only way to be sure it is given 

 correctly. There are county paper editors a plenty who will 

 thank you for helping them out to that extent. Then when 

 the farmers' institute or extension department experts come 

 to your town get the college to send a good live stock man. 

 Get out as many good drafters, yours and your neighbors, as 

 you can. Secure a good lecture on the draft horse for farmers, 

 with some pointers on draft horse, care, size and conformation, 

 illustrated with the animals themselves. In this way you get 

 the right standards fixed in the minds of your neighbors and 

 quietly catch onto a few points yourself, as you have the chance. 

 Every time something like this can be done the appreciation 

 for the best stuff is increased and the tolerance for inferior 

 animals is lessened. 



The county ofTicers, the city officers, the preacher, the 

 banker, the superintendent of schools, can and doubtless will 

 easily be interested in furthering a business that means so much 

 to the welfare of their locality. We have a long way yet to go 

 before we dignify this business as it deserves and as it is dig- 

 nified in the old countries of Scotland, England, France and 

 Belgium. We received at our office the other day a photo- 

 graph from a small breeder in the northwest part of the State 

 showing a postgraduate class of high school girls who came to 

 see his Percherons, as a part of the preparation they were mak- 

 ing for county teachers' examination. And what better could 

 they be learning for their work in country schools? We make 

 the children learn the parts of speech, the capital of Persia and 

 the products of Paraguay. Why should they not learn, among 

 the early things at school, the names and characteristics of the 

 leading breeds of farm animals? It is good advertising to help 

 them — at least so far as the class of stock in which you are 

 interested. 



Business arguments are always in order. There is many 

 an opportunity to get the actual figures on a dollar's and cent's 



