898 



HOUSES 



Horses to-day serve many purposes, and the breeder 

 modifies their form to suit these purposes ; but the two 

 historic classes that. were developed by the needs of war 

 constitute still the two general types that persist in city 

 and country. 



The main contrasts between the two types of horses are 

 shown in the following table : 



295. Heavy or draft horses are used for city teaming, for 

 logging, and for such purposes of the farm as require 

 great strength like plowing. They often are crossed with 

 lighter horses to obtain the common farm horse. 



The four leading breeds of draft horses are the Per- 

 cheron, the Clydesdale, the Belgian, and the Shire. 



(a) The Percheron came from La Perche, France, and 

 was introduced into the United States more than a cen- 

 tury ago. It has become widely popular for heavy 

 dray age, both in the city and country. As a breed, it 

 shows reliability and intelligence, is gentle, easily "bro- 

 ken " and has wonderful powers of endurance. A dapple 

 gray color is held in high favor, although many are jet 

 black. 



(6) The Clydesdale is a Scotch breed. It was first 

 imported into America about two centuries ago. The 



