84 REPORT OF SPECIAL INVESTIGATION No. 66 



Report Inspectors' District 5. — Continued. 



tion and license, the balance of the gathering as a matter of course fell in 

 line, having no definite opinions of their own. Even those who carried the 

 meetings did not impress your Inspectors with the idea that they had given 

 the matter sufficient consideration to realize the difficulties which the De- 

 partment may encounter in carrying out their suggestions. 



In the prosecution of our labors, and as the result of serious considera- 

 tion your Inspectors are so keenly alive to the following observations that 

 we herewith present them to your judgment. 



(1) Many inferior sires are being used in service throughout this dis- 

 trict of the Province, and many, even some good sires are kept in miserable 

 unhealthy and unthrifty condition. 



(2) A number of sires have beeoi sold to their present owners at exorbi- 

 tant prices. 



(3) That the crossing of Percheron sires (of which we saw quite a num- 

 ber) upon the class of heavy females of the Province, principally of Clydes- 

 dale and Shire breeding will result in serious injury to the horse breeding 

 industry. 



(4) In some sections of our district, if inferior sires were prohibited 

 from standing for service, th.re would not, at present, be a sufficient num- 

 ber of suitable sires, and in those sections many farmers do not seem to real- 

 ize the great advantage of breeding from good dams and to good sires, and in 

 consequence, there is great need of educational work along this line, and the 

 need of a better class of breeding females, both heavy and light. 



(5) That the system of ownership by syndicate, although, in theory, ^t 

 may appear to be ideal, yet in practice has proven such a signal failure, ti.at 

 great caution should be taken in giving the movement any further sympathy 

 br encouragement. 



(6) 'In some of the more advanced sections we found those who urged 

 that instead of inspection and license a vigorous educational campaign be 

 conducted, through the 0. A. C. short course in judging, the Agricultural 

 Societies, and the employment of well informed and successful horse-breed- 

 ers as Institute lecturers, thus spreading the gospel of wisdom to those who 

 desire information. These are mediums of instruction which we consider 

 the Department would do well to endeavor to still further encourage and 

 strengthen. 



(7) While the information gleaned from this inquiry, will, as already 

 intimated, be valuable to the Department in their' further efforts in assist- 

 ing this important branch of live stock development, yet we would be very 

 cautious in advising the inspection, and more particularly the licensing of 

 sires. What is to be gained thereb;^ ? Is it not a fact, that, in the mind of 

 every successful breeder, no legislation is required in order to compel him to 

 act in his own best interest in this matter. These men, although in some 

 sections they may be comparatively few, yet practically speaking, are strewn 

 all over the Province, and if their next door neighbors with this object lesson 

 right before their eyes, are so blind they will not see, would it not be highly 

 impolitic in this free democratic countrj for the Government to force upon 

 an; unwilling people, what their own best interests tell them they ought to 

 do. Were it a matter of human life or health that was at stake, the case 

 would be very different. Take for instance the handling and treatment of 

 the farmers' milk supply. M'lk and the products thereof, constitute a vital 

 'portion of the food of humanity. In the handling of that article of diet the 

 health and vitality of our people are at stake, and the Government would be 



