FARM HORSES 149 



England, but very few have been exported. They are 

 all of one color, being invariably chestnut, ranging 

 from dark to light. They average about sixteen hands 

 in height, and are not so heavy as the Shires and 

 Clydesdales. They are round-built, stocky, short- 

 legged horses, with good heads, necks inclined to arch, 

 and strong backs. They have less hair on their legs, 

 and, in general, show more quality than English draft 

 horses of other breeds. They are very good-tempered 

 animals, thrifty and tough. The chief fault found 

 with them is lightness of bone, especially in the fore- 

 legs. There are very few Suffolk horses in this coun- 

 try, and those that I have seen — not good specimens 

 perhaps — were inclined to be coarse and phlegmatic.^ 



Setting aside the Suffolk Horse, there can be no 

 question, I think, that the best farm draft horse is the 

 Percheron or grade Percheron.^ They are quicker- 

 moving and lighter on their feet than any other draft 

 horse, with the possible exception of the Clydesdale, 

 and they are, as a rule, more easily kept than the 

 Clydesdale, sweeter in disposition, and certainly more 

 beautiful. 



This last consideration is not to be despised. We 

 hear much of late years about retaining the boys and 

 girls on the farm. The best way to do that is to have 

 every animal on the farm an object of pride and pleas- 

 ure for the whole family. Let your horses and cattle 

 be beautiful as well as useful, and then the business of 

 farming will be lifted from the muck heap and the 

 ditch into the region of the ideal and eternal. 



1 See page 209. ^ See page 205. 



