104 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



liable to buy a three-year-old for a five-year-old. They used 

 to lie one way, and now they lie the other. The object is to 

 put them on the market and get their money for them. 

 They are horses of very early development. And there is 

 another thing that may be said of them, to which Mr. 

 Brooks has alluded. They assimilate food better than any 

 other animal, I think, ever known anywhere. Th3y fat very 

 easily, and they can be kept upon less than any other animal 

 of the same weight that has ever been known upon a farm. 

 I have myself a grade Porcheron mare that sometimes almost 

 alarms me by the small amount of feed to which she is 

 restricted. If she has any idle time, her feed has to be 

 shortened at once ; if not, she puts on fat as if she was 

 intended merely for that purpose. They are the cheapest 

 horses to keep in that respect, and that is one of the things 

 that ought to be considered in determining what breed of 

 horses to keep. It is an object to have animals that mature 

 early. Some of the trotting families that I have known do 

 not mature until they are eight or nine years old, and then 

 they are "lathy," "tucked-up," and great eaters, often with 

 bad digestions, and give a great deal of trouble in that 

 regard. The contrary is true of the Percherons. They are 

 good eaters, have good digestions, are well-tempered and 

 easily managed. They have every qualification about them 

 that fits them for the farmer's use. 



Allow me to recall your attention to the paper read by 

 Mr. Slade, — it was very able and beautiful. There are men 

 here, I know, who want to discuss it. I have seen it in the 

 expression of their faces. I felt a great deal of disappoint- 

 ment, after Mr. Slade finished, that there was not something 

 more said about it. We have time now to enter upon the 

 discussion of that admirable paper. 



Mr. Waee. I will say that I watched carefully all the 

 way through Mr. Slade's reading, hoping that I might find 

 some position which he took that was open to criticism, but 

 really I saw no chance for anything except for admiration. 

 He told us some wholesome truths with regard to the requi- 

 sites of success in agriculture. He must have had, I think, 

 a great deal of practical experience to enable him to give 

 such a clear and concise idea or description of the qualities 



