Report of Missouri Farmers' Week. 453 



believe Missouri wants to raise good horses. Our experience with 

 the Missouri buyer is that he wants something cheap. When he 

 comes to buy a stallion we find that he regards his pocketbook too 

 highly and does not give enough attention to quality, size, weight 

 and bone. They want to buy stallions of us cheaper than we can 

 buy and import them. They are not willing to give up the price 

 for a good one." 



I have been convinced that there must be some truth in their 

 statements, because it is not only one of them, but all of the im- 

 porters and dealers in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. The 

 story is similar all along the line. It seems that our reputation 

 for buying good seed in this State is in bad repute. Are their 

 statements correct? Are there any fruit by which we may be 

 judged? 



How many $10,000 stallions has Missouri purchased? Illinois 

 has one, and last year New Hampshire raised it to $10,500. 



How many champion draft horses did Missouri produce at the 

 leading live stock shows of last season, outside the Missouri State 

 Fair and the American Royal? None. 



What is our record at these two shows? At Sedalia, we al- 

 lowed Illinois to carry away the championships in Percheron stal- 

 lion and mare. In Shire and Clydesdales, we managed to retain 

 these championships within the State, but it is questionable if we 

 would have done so had there been any outside State competition. 

 At our American Royal show the record is not as good as the 

 State Fair record. 



How many big 1,750-pound to ton geldings does Missouri fur- 

 nish the commercial world in a year? And that reminds me of 

 an order placed in Chicago last winter for two carloads of sound 

 1,750 to 1,800-pounders and after three months but ten head were 

 secured that would fill the bill. 



I believe the draft horse breeder should be guided by what the 

 demand is calling for. If it is true — and the market reports con- 

 firm it — that the best and remunerative demand for commercial 

 horses, centers on the geldings with greatest weight, strongest 

 bone and most muscular development, then why not produce them? 

 If we have not the seed at hand that will produce that sort, then 

 are not we going amiss to try to coerce the commercial world to 

 take something it does not want, simply because we produced it 

 from unpopular seed at hand ? 



While Missouri has made great progress in the breeding of 

 draft horses over a few years ago, there is one thing we must i;ot 



