458 A HISTORY OP THE PERCHERON HORSE 



good mares and a sire of unusual excellence, but he 

 found it necessary to close out his holdings and his 

 entire bunch was sold to A. P. Nave of Indiana. 

 Progress in Michigan was relatively slow on account 

 of the fact that the farmers were not accustomed to 

 using heavy horses and did not realize their advan- 

 tages over lightweights. The persistent work of 

 the breeders named and a number of others was 

 effective, however, in gradually educating them to 

 the advantages accruing from the use of draft horses, 

 and large numbers of grade drafters and many 

 purebred Percherons have been shipped into the 

 state in the last 5 y^ars. 



Missouri. — In Missouri A. M. Walker, J. W. Barn- 

 hart, J. F. Roelofson, N. S. Cox and J. M. West 

 were the leading breeders. Mr. Walker bred almost 

 as many as his three leading contemporaries. Prog- 

 ress in Missouri was slow because Missouri farmers 

 were more familiar with mules than with draft 

 horses. The belief that draft horses would not stand 

 the hot weather was another retarding factor. Be- 

 sides, scalpers and speculators did a great deal of 

 harm by purchasing coarselegged horses which were 

 at a discount in draft horse breeding sections and 

 disposing of them to men in Missouri, who on ac- 

 count of their unfamiliarity with good draft horses 

 did not know that they were being supplied with 

 inferior stock. The certain failure of these stallions 

 created a prejudice against all draft horses which 

 the Percheron breeders in Missouri found difficult 

 to overcome. However, their persistent work in 



