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going further in the direction of breeding than the usual force oi 

 farm teams will justify. There is a great demand in this country 

 for good horses, and it is so diversified in its character and so wide in 

 its extent, that practically it can neyer be overdone. The farmer 

 need not be restricted to any one type of horse, and if he has any 

 preferences in the matter they may safely be consulted, since every 

 really good horse finds ready sale. But whatever the type selected 

 the farmer should always breed for stoutness and stamina, with a fair 

 measure of style and a movement and disposition suited to the pur- 

 pose for which the animal is to be ultimately devoted. And the 

 effort should constantly be made to produce animals for some par- 

 ticular purpose, and stallions patronized with the power to produce 

 just the kind of a horse the farmer desires, avoiding the nondescripts 

 at the " Cross Koads" who throw colts too slow to trot, too light to 

 pull, and without style and character for anything else. We know 

 of many farmers so negligent in this matter as to maintain teams of 

 geldings for farm work. If a farmer wishes and can afford a driving 

 team in which his personal pleasure is a fair compensation for their 

 keep, he has as good a right to such horses as anybody ; but aa for 

 horses maintained simply for farm purposes, we have often thought 

 that a farmer had full as much use for a plug hat in the harvest 

 field as for a team of geldings at the reaper. 



It occurred to me that a few remarks to the farmers of America 

 would be well received. 



As regards a very large proportion of the farmers of this country, 

 their farms are so conveniently located that they are enabled to haul 

 to market the products of their farm in the shape of hay, grain, eto., 

 which is done to a great extent. Having been giving daily exhibi« 

 tions for fifteen years, I have noticed in my travels the great number 

 of farms that were badly run down, the soil fast wearing out, build- 

 ings neglected, etc. On inquiry I found that many were heavily 

 mortgaged, and the parties working the land barely making a living; 

 also for years that nearly all the produce from these farms had been 

 sold and coniumed away from the farms, and scarcely anything re- 

 turned to the land in shape of manure or fertilizers, which all land 

 in this country must have in order to keep it productive. 



There could of course be but one end to such management as thia, 

 the farm would year after year produce less, until it would ev«i- 



