FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART I. 5 



mares will have to be bred and raised to produce them. It will necessarily 

 be many years before the exigencies of the situation can be overcome and as 

 a consequence the price of draft horses is certain to continue for many years 

 at least and in all probability they will increase in price more rapidly than 

 they have in the past few years. 



Every farmer who has a good draft mare , or a pair of them , should breed 

 them to the best draft stallion within his reach, for good draft colts are 

 Certain to be as profitable as any stock he can raise on the farm. 



' ' While pure bred stallions have been selling in many cases at seemingly 

 high figures, pure bred draft mares can yet be obtained at a very reasona- 

 ble figure. The Iowa or Illinois farmer who owns one hundred or one hun- 

 dred and fifty dollar land can not make a better investment than to buy a 

 pair or two of pedigreed draft mares. At the price such mares are now 

 selling, if given proper care, they will bring in a larger return on the invest- 

 ment than any stock that can be placed on this high-priced land. In addi- 

 tion to producing colts that the draft horse breeders and dealers will gladly 

 buy at one hundred to three hundred dollars when a year old, they will do 

 the work required on the farm just as well, or better, than mares that pro- 

 duce colts that are only worth a hundred dollars when fully matured. In 

 fact, the draft mares of the country ought to be in the hands of the farmer 

 instead of the larger breeders who can not make use of them for work and 

 whose only profit is the value of the colts he raises. 



' 'The farmer who works his mares stands a better chance to raise a good 

 colt each .year than the man who breeds on a large scale and has no work for 

 his mares to do. The farm work is beneficial to the mare, and with proper 

 care is not hurtful to the foal. If the farmers of the Mississippi valley would 

 adopt the suggestions I have made so that our draft' mares would be dis- 

 tributed over the country, in many hands, earning their keep by daily 

 work, there would be a large increase in the foals produce which would add 

 greatly to the profit of the farmer and the country at large. 



' 'There is no reason why the rich grains and grasses of this section will 

 not produce a draft horse that in both bone and quality is equal to the best 

 that can be produced in either France or the British Isles. The time has 

 come when we ought to breed our own draft stallions instead of importing 

 them from France and other European countries at a very heavy cost. Our 

 high-priced land can not be put to any better use .than breeding and grow- 

 ing these stallions. Our grasses are just as rich and our grains are just as 

 good as can be grown in any country, and with the same care and attention 

 we can produce draft horses that will meet the requirement of any breeder 

 or any market. Ample foundation stock is now in this country to breed as 

 good as can be bred anywhere, if the farmers and small breeders of the 

 country can be induced to enter upon this branch of stock raising." 



If the Government at Washington would place restrictions upon the 

 importation of horses by importers who are in the business solely as a com- 

 mercial enterprise and who are in no sense of the word breeders at all, and 

 in this manner encourage and protect the American breeders, much good 

 would be accomplished in the way of stimulating draft horse breeding in this 

 country. We would soon produce many high class stallions that would find 

 a ready market at prices profitable to the breeder, and yet reasonable enough 

 so that every neighborhood could well afiford to. buy one. Such stallions, in 



