108 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



said: "I cannot tell you. It is partly a matter of educa- 

 tion. Urging a colt beyond his natural powers will invite 

 this and other evils, but bad or improper shoeing will do 

 more. Sure we are that the intelligent smith can in the 

 great majority of cases correct the evil by a proper fitting 

 of the shoes." 



Mr. P. A. Russell. Is stiffness of the dock an indica- 

 tion of power? 



Dr. TwiTCHELL. That idea prevails. I have never been 

 able to bring myself to feel that it indicates as much as some 

 buyers believe. It is to a certain extent an indicator, just 

 as every other part is an indicator. 



Being asked how many points a horse should score in 

 order to be awarded a first premium, the Doctor said : "I 

 would make 75 the limit for a first premium. I would not 

 award a first premium to an animal that did not score 75 in 

 structural parts, and for this reason, that if you put the seal 

 of your approval as an agricultural society upon an animal 

 scoring 50 or 60 points, you send the owner home with the 

 idea that he has something nearly perfect and surely worthy 

 of patronage. Wherever I go to award prizes I ask instruc- 

 tions from the oflScers before going into the field. If I were 

 president of a society I would adopt the limit of 75. I would 

 say that anything falling below that should receive a second 

 premium, and if not coming up to a certain range, only a 

 third ; not to give the seal of the society's approval, a blue 

 ribbon, unless there is merit sufficient to warrant it." 



Mr. E. Hersey (of Hingham). Mr. Chairman, I wish to. 

 ask one question which seems to be directly in line with the 

 matter which we have before us. If we are to judge by 

 points, I would like to have the speaker explain to us how 

 we are to know when we get a good judge of horses. 



Dr. TwiTCHELL. Take men in your own society who are 

 not exhibitors, who are not interested in the competition, 

 but who have an intuitive love for the horse. Here is one 

 of the best lines of work upon which your agricultural soci- 

 eties can enter this winter, and that is, at your regular 

 meetings, once a fortnight or once a month, bring in your 

 poultry, bring in specimens of your dairy cows, and let 

 some one ijentleman score those animals as I have tried to 



