PERCHERON HOESES. 99 



people appreciate him. He has style and action. There is 

 not a doulile team in Massachusetts from which, if you 

 wanted to take out one of the horses and put in another, I 

 would not agree to take that Percheron stallion and put him 

 in by the side of any horse in the State, and go right along 

 and do a day's work with him. As to his speed, I will say 

 that I met a gentleman in Springfield last summer, and he 

 said to me, "That horse of yours is a pretty good traveller." 

 I said "Yes; it is rather a surprise to us, for we did not 

 expect much in that line from so heavy a horse." " Well," 

 said he, "you had him on the road to Holyoke the other 

 day and I was behind you ; I thought I had a pretty good 

 horse, but I couldn't keep up, although I tried." I did not 

 know he was on the road , and did not know he was trying. 



The colts of this stallion are splendid stock, and they are 

 growing in favor. He is a large horse, 14| or 15 hands, — 

 something, in comparison with other horses, like the Hol- 

 stein cows that have been spoken of here in comparison with 

 other cows. He makes good use of all the food we are giv- 

 ing him. We keep him in a box stall, and neither myself 

 nor any of the men on the farm ever hesitate to go into that 

 tight box stall, if necessary, with a currycomb and brush 

 and clean him ; and if we take him out, we never think of 

 having any trouble with him any more than with our old 

 dog. Of course we understand that it is our business to 

 be masters, and we never have any trouble with him. 



Secretary Eussell. I can say, gentlemen, that I agree 

 entirely with the men who have spoken. I used to be an 

 advocate of horse-breeding, but now I do not believe that to 

 the average farmer there is any money in raising colts. I 

 say "the average farmer," because that is the common expres- 

 sion. Whenever we are discussing any other topic, we speak 

 of what would do for " the average farmer." Mr. Brooks is 

 a horse man. He understands horses ; they know him, and 

 he handles them easily. He can raise colts and make money 

 on them. So can his neighbors about him, for they will do 

 it pretty much under his direction. The same thing is true 

 of Mr. Bowditch. I have done pretty well with colts myself, 

 but I cannot say that I, as Secretary of the State Board of 

 Agi'iculture, have ever advised the Massachusetts farmers to 



