284 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



HAMPDEN. 



From the Report of the Committee on Farm Horses. 



The question arises, " AVhat qualities should farm horses 

 possess ? " 



1. They should be well matched ; sometimes they are 

 matched simply in color, no matter what their dispositions may 

 be. A span of horses well matched should have the same 

 temperament ; that is, one should not be quick and nervous, 

 always ready to start at the first signal, and the other slow and 

 phlegmatic, never ready to move until started by the whip ; and 

 a span of horses perfectly matched in size and color, but of 

 different actions, are ill matched. Therefore, to be a good span 

 of well matched horses, they should have the same spirit and 

 disposition, as well as color and size. 



2. What should be the weight of a span of farm horses ? 

 On this point there will be a difference of opinion, according 

 to the different kinds of farm work. One farmer lives near a 

 good steady market, consequently he sells a large portion of 

 the produce of his farm, and hazes his manure, which makes a 

 large amount of carting, consequently he wants a heavy pair of 

 horses. Another farmer feeds on his farm the greater part that 

 he raises, hazing little or no manure, thereby saving much 

 carting. On such a farm a lighter pair of horses will answer. 

 The span to which we awarded the first premium weighed 

 about 2,200 pounds, which in the opinion of your committee, is 

 plenty large enough, and perhaps a span of 1,000 pounds horses 

 in common ordinary farm work, will be as economical for the 

 farmer as a heavier span. 



3. They should be good walkers, as that is their usual gait. 

 In ploughing, for instance, there would be the difference of 

 some days' work in ploughing thirty or forty acres of land, as 

 to whether they walked at the rate of four or four and a half 

 miles an hour, or three miles an hour ; and it makes some dif- 

 ference whether a horse can plough out corn as fast as three 

 men can hoe, or no faster than two can hoe. Therefore we say 

 that farm horses should be fast walkers, born such, and not 

 made such by the use of the whip. And if all the noise and 

 pains and money that is made and paid for these fast thorough- 



