MAEKET CLASSES OF HOUSES. 127 



of breeding horses. Thousands of these mares 

 were exported and many more thousands were 

 put to work in the cities. In this way when 

 times began to get better and the demand for 

 horses to revive most farmers found themselves, 

 a decade ago, without big mares from which to 

 breed. Therefore when we started in again to 

 raise drafters we had a mighty poor foundation 

 on which to build. Build, however, in some 

 shape we had to, and the man who had stuck 

 to his draft-bred stock found his wealth greatly 

 increased. As it was only in 1899 and 1900 that 

 breeding was seriously entered upon again the 

 supply of big drafters must of necessity be and 

 remain short for many years to come. There 

 is no more profitable line of live stock raising 

 in which the farmer may engage. That we have 

 done as well as we have is very greatly to our 

 credit, but there is yet room for great improve- 

 ment. 



From all of the old world breeds of draft 

 horses now known here the high-priced ones 

 may be bred. The point is, paying due atten- 

 tion to quality which has heretofore been dis- 

 cussed, to breed the largest stallions to the 

 largest mares and then feed the resulting foals 

 from birth to selling age. Weight without 

 quality will always sell, but weight with quality 

 is the combination that brings the big money. 

 The conformation clesired has already been 

 described in Chapter II. Generally speaking 



