A PERIOD OP PROFOUND DEPRESSION 381 



cheron history in 1895. Wyatt Stanley, one of the 

 best Percheron breeders from Stronghurst, 111., was 

 another addition about the same time. Both these 

 studs had good stock and were controlled by men of 

 experience, so that the state was a material gainer 

 by their operations. 



The great handicap to draft horse breeding in 

 Kansas during this period was lack of feed. Dry 

 years predominated. Pastures, never too abundant, 

 were burned brown, and were in far too many in- 

 stances overstocked. Crops were short, grain cheap, 

 and money hard to raise. What grain was produced 

 had to be sold to enable the farmer to live, and the 

 horses were forced to rely almost wholly on the none 

 too abundant pasturage. As a result the Percherons 

 produced during this period were almost all lacking 

 in size, as must inevitably be the case under such 

 conditions. Lack of interest in horse-breeding in the 

 state and. in states still farther west, which were the 

 natural outlets for the Kansas Percheron breeders, 

 made it difficult to sell good horses and prices were 

 exceedingly low. Even the veteran Henry Avery 

 told J. C. Robison, who went to him in 1897 to buy 

 the first Percheron mares for Whitewater Falls 

 Stock Farm, that he could take one or all of the 

 Percheron mares he owned at $100 a head. In this 

 bimch were mares of splendid individuality and 

 breeding, though all were lacking in size. Among 

 the mares were half a dozen or more daughters of 

 Brilliant 3d, now recognized as the leading sire of 

 the breed ; and yet they were for sale at $100 apiece. 



