15G TllK IIOJJSE iNBUSTJtY IN N E\V YoiIK StATE 



So, if the horse can be produced at home at first cost, and per- 

 fectly acclimated both to the farm and state, a large part of this 

 outlay can be stopped. 



We hear much about bringing the producer and consumer 

 together. Here is a most practical way to do this, and a way 

 within the power of most to accomplish. Eather than take the 

 net dollar from a crop that went to a long-distance customer, 

 to buy a horse raised a thousand miles away on land selling from 

 $150 to $200 an acre, let us raise our own horses. 



Admitting for the sake of argument that the cost of raising 

 a horse will be as great as his purchase price — which is not true 

 — the colt is a kind of savings bank where small annual de- 

 posits can be made (some of which would not otherwise be made 

 at all ) for four years, at the end of which time instead of having 

 to draw a couple of hundred dollars from our funds to buy a horse 

 we have the horse on hand. And occasionally we have one to 

 sell. J\[y experience since 1 have raised my own horses has 

 been that there is no material reduction in crop receipts, and I 

 no longer have to draw from them to buy horses. 



On most farms pasture, fodders, and some farm grains find a 

 market through the growing colt, where otherwise there is none; 

 or a better one than if the produce has to be hauled to a more or 

 less distant market. The manure made from products so fed 

 on the farm is also a factor worth considering. 



SPEIA'G COLTS MOST POPULAR 



With the above facts digested and assimilated, we should now 

 be ready to raise a colt. Without doubt the majority of them 

 will be born in the spring. It is more natural for a mare to 

 conceive at that time. The rule seemed to be that colts born 

 at a season when the weather was mild and food abundant, sur- 

 vived ; while those born at a time when climatic conditions were 

 unfavorable and food scanty, perished. Hence there has been 

 established through long generations mares whose habit it is to 

 breed in spring time. Certain it is that it is much more difRcult 

 to get a mare to breed at any o^ther season. 



It has been the established custom to raise only spring colts, 

 and it is hard for many to break awav from the customs of their 



