318 A HISTORY OP THE PEECHERON HORSE 



dairyman, accustomed to a pay cheek every month, 

 was not favorable to an investment which might 

 not return dividends for 3 or 4 years. For these 

 reasons the spread of Pereheron breeding in coun- 

 ties near Chicago was slow. 



In McLean, La Salle, Woodford and Tazewell 

 counties other conditions prevailed. Farms were 

 large and the land well adapted to heavy machinery 

 and draft horses. Beef cattle and hog-raising were 

 the main lines of live stock production. Farmers 

 were accustomed to making good-sized investments 

 and waiting a year or two for returns. They were, 

 on the average, wealthier than the dairy farmers 

 around Chicago. 



Besides these general factors, the human equa- 

 tion had some bearing. The leading importers in 

 northern Illinois, Mark W. Dunham and W. L. Ell- 

 wood, had by unusual advertising built up a nation- 

 wide business. Buyers came from all states. These 

 importers were therefore largely independent of 

 local trade. In central Illinois there were a large 

 number of small importers, who lacked the nation- 

 wide advertising and showring prestige requisite to 

 making sales far from home. Their trade was there- 

 fore largely local. The result was that more farmers 

 were induced to make purchases than would have 

 been the case had the local field been less thor- 

 oughly worked. The advantages of using Percher- 

 ons became so evident that more farmers invested 

 and McLean, La Balle, Livingston, Tazewell, Iro- 

 quois, Woodford, and McDonough counties rapidly 



