538 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



I think the very best way for the average farmer to keep pure-bred 

 draft mares is to begin with one mare and build up from this. It would 

 seem slow at first, but after a few years he would be greatly surprised at 

 his success. Commence with an extra good mare right on the start and 

 when she Is found to produce extra good colts, then never part with her at 

 any price unless you know where you can replace her with a better one. 



To be sure the first cost will be greater than it would be for a grade 

 draft mare that would be practically as good an individual but when 

 the first cost is met there will be no more expense than there would be 

 in raising colts from a grade draft mare. 



Coming back to the question again "Will it pay the average farmer 

 to keep pure-bred draft mare," my opinion is that it would not pay 

 every farmer to keep them as they are not all adapted for raising pure- 

 bred horses. But I do think that it would pay a few average farmers 

 in every community, who are good horsemen, to keep pure-bred draft 

 mares and raise pure-bred draft horses. 



SENSE WANTED IN BUYING SHORT-HORNS. 



Breeders'' Gazette. 



We referred recently to a mistake often made by those who are seek- 

 ing the popular Scotch blood in connection with Short-horn breeding. 

 That this blood should be in such demand is no mystery. It was resorted 

 to a quarter of a centurj^ ago as the only available means of checking the 

 apparently irresistable onslaught of the Herefords and Black Polls through- 

 out the cornbelt and on the range. The tenant farmers of Aberdeen- 

 shire, who had for so many years been pursuing the even tenor of their 

 way unmindful of the fads and fashions followed by their fellow breeders 

 in England and the States, succeeded in evolving a well established type 

 of Short-horns distinguished as a rule for early maturity, quick feeding 

 quality, depth of flesh, and, strange to say, in many cases retaining one 

 of the original excellencies of the breed, the milking habit. 



Since the early SO's these north country Short-horns have been carry- 

 ing practically all before them at the great American breeding shows. 

 Moreover, they have practically revolutionized the type of Short-horn 

 steers coming to market; the big, upstanding 2,000-pounders of the old 

 day have given place, largely through the use of this same Scotch blood, 

 to a type of animals approximating the best "baby beef" standards now 

 demanded by feeders and butchers alike. One need in fact but turn to 

 the record of the last International exposition to find ample justification 

 for the high regard in which this Scotch blood is still held; but too 

 much popularity often carries with itself the germs of its own downfall. 

 When any strain of blood becomes in such general demand that every 

 animal produced by it, good, bad or indifferent, is retained religiously 

 for reproductive purposes, trouble is surely brewing for somebody. The 

 Scotch Short-horns are being subjected to this ordeal at the present 

 time. 



As has often been said, the weeds produced by any crop should be 

 freely discarded. The trouble in this case arises from the fact that 



