December, 1931] Dairy Farming ix Grafton County 



21 



Tlii^ farmer's barn burned shortly after the hay harvest in 1929. He had two kinds 

 of insurance — the usual fire insurance and a farm lumber lot. 



Horses 



In spite of the increased use of automobiles, the number of mature 

 horses per farm in this area liad decreased between 1915 and 1929 by 

 only one-tenth of a horse. (Table 12.) The number of colts showed 

 more change. In 1915, there Avas one colt to every three farms ; in 

 1929, there was only one colt to every fifty-nine farms. The number of 

 horses by age groups is shown in Table 13. It will be noted that more 

 than 40 per cent of the horses were fifteen or more years of age. Prob- 

 ably the situation is somewhat similar for the whole United States, but 

 less exaggerated. 



Table 13 — Age (list rihitt ion of 1,1 'fi horacf^* on J/l '/ farms 



* A lack of information as to the ages of 27 horses has eliminated that 

 number from the i;ronp. 

 ** Only 406 farms of this number reported horses. 



No one knows just how many horses are needed. Horses on farms 

 in the United States have been declining steadily in numbers at the 



