306 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Dunham told mo that he could buy those large horses 

 cheaper, and sell them for higher prices in the West than 

 any other horses, but they were the kind he would not have 

 on his farm for his own use. He recommended a medium 

 size, and it was with a good deal of satisfaction that I heard 

 the statement here as to the size of these stallions, and found 

 that the ISIassachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agri- 

 culture, which generally knows what it is about, had brought 

 over the right kind. 



Question. Will you tell us the quantity of hay and 

 grain fed to the colt ? 



Maj. Alvord. I do not think that colt has ever been fed 

 all the oats it could eat. It is the only horse that I have 

 under ray care that I allow to have all the hay it w^ill eat. 

 The colt is fed now about three quarts of oats a day, just 

 about what the full-grown horses get. It began by eating 

 oats out of its mother's box. It has a little bran occasionally, 

 for a change — perhaps a pound of bran substituted for a pound 

 of oats ; never half bran. It is occasionally given a root. 

 It came almost black, and is now shedding its hair, and is 

 going to be a medium gray. 



Mr. Shepard. I think the audience might be misled by 

 the remark of Maj. Alvord in regard to working the colt. 

 I understand him to mean barely using the colt what he 

 would naturally exercise, and no more. I know, from my 

 own experience, that when you begin to use a colt he goes 

 very nicely, and you take too big a load. That is the trouble 

 with colts. 



Now we are speaking about colts, perhaps I can give a 

 little information in regard to the first using of colts. I 

 have never known a colt harnessed for the first time that did 

 not go off well. The next time he may not go a step. If 

 you force him with the whip he falls and breaks a shaft. I 

 have studied to know why he had changed his disposition, 

 and I think 1 have found out why it is, in many cases. If 

 you had gone out and used an axe until your hand blistered, 

 when you took hold of the axe the next day you would know 

 what the trouble was. This colt has blistered his shoulder, 

 and when you undertake to force him to go up to the collar, 

 he refuses. If you will examine that shoulder, you will see 



