304 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



importation of these five Percheron stallions, and placing 

 them on service here at a merelj'^ nominal cost. 1 do not 

 know anything about what the Massachusetts Society have 

 obtained, but I will venture to say that those five horses, if 

 they are what they call ' ' approved " by the French govern- 

 ment (as they must be, for they must have the French seal 

 of approvtil before they can be exported), they must have 

 cost, landed in the State of Massachusetts, not less than ten 

 thousand dollars, even if they came in duty free ; I do not 

 know how that was. So that with the risk attending it, a 

 service-fee of fifteen dollars to insure a foal, is certainly 

 next to nothing; and I especially wished to state this expe- 

 rience in handling some of this same family of horses for a 

 year as a matter of encouragement, so that those who have 

 mares and breed at all, could feel assured that, if they bred 

 them to these horses, they would be fully satisfied. 



Question. I understood you to say that there was no 

 danger in harnessing these colts at four months old, and put- 

 tingthem at work when a year old. Was I correct? 



Maj. Alvord. It is quite customary to find them in full 

 working order, at home, at two years old. I say that this 

 colt, from present appearances, will be fit and ready in every 

 particular for light work, and probably just as well ofi'for it, 

 at one year old as if it were postponed to a later period. 



Question. Would Maj. Alvord recommend the breeding 

 of these horses from the fact, as he says, that they can be 

 put at work at a year old ? Is that one of the reasons why 

 they should be used ? 



Maj. Alvord. No, sir. But if this filly weighs a 

 thousand pounds, as I believe she will, from present appear- 

 ances, next May, when a year old, I shall not hesitate to 

 work her. I do not believe it will hurt her any more than it 

 hurts a Jersey heifer to breed her when she is two years old. 

 I do not see any reason for not doing it. As two-year-olds, 

 they are pretty well matured, although our three-year-olds 

 have not bred ; have been growing on our hands. By the 

 way, I will say in regard to this big mare that we have, 

 weighing eighteen hundred pounds, that we use a three- 

 horse horse-power to run a threshing-machine where three 

 common horses are used, and that mare's regular work 



