PERCHERON HORSES. 97 



farmers of this section. The price of slaughter-house fer- 

 tilizers in the Western States is cheaper than here, and the 

 price of phosphates at the South cheaper than with us ; and 

 therefore regulations of that land would not meet the require- 

 ments of different sections of the country. This point was 

 mentioned as an objection to that bill. Another point men- 

 tioned at that time was that it was not advisable to charge 

 the Commissioner with the control and management of the 

 different stations in the several States, but simply assign him 

 the duty of compiling the statistics of the different stations, 

 and then disti'ibuting such information as might be found of 

 interest to the country at large. 



The question w^as then put, and the resolutions offered by 

 Mr. Ware adopted. 



Question. What kind of horses should farmers in this 

 section raise? 



The Chairman. Will Mr. Bowditch answer that ques- 

 tion ? 



Mr. Bo%vDiTcn. I am a very one-sided person to ask, 

 because every one knows I have been' very much interested 

 for the last few years in Percherons, and their grades. I do 

 not know of any work that a horse can do that a grade Per- 

 cheron cannot do better than any breed that I know of. Of 

 course, if you go for speed, that is another matter ; but if we 

 take the wants of the farmer for a starting-point, a Percheron 

 horse got from a good-sized mare can be broken at two years 

 old and will do the lighter kinds of farm work. They are 

 very tractable and docile, and will certainly pay for their 

 keep at that age, and can be sold at three years old for a 

 four-year-old animal. If the horse has any style and action, 

 as most of them have, he will sell for almost a fancy price. 

 If it so happens that he merely has size without any great 

 action, he has weight enough to make him useful as a draught 

 horse, and will always bring a great deal more than he has 

 cost to raise. At the present price of horses, a horse that will 

 weigh fi'om eleven to twelve hundred pounds, as most gi-ade 

 Percherons will at four years old, is worth in the open mar- 

 ket at least $175, and pro])ably over $200. As far as I have 

 seen them and watched them for the last six or seven years, 

 the majority of them are handsome, stylish horses, that are 



