26 
THE PERCHERON REVIEW 
Lagos 99093 (102389) 
also given point to the discussions. The co operative 
sale work has produced a better acquaintance among 
the breeders. It has encouraged a number of 
young farmers to engage in Percheron breedmg, 
because it offers an assured market for the surplus. 
It has developed a desire for better stallions and 
mares. 
The spirit of friendly co-operation among the 
breeders has grown strong. Rivalry has been 
largely replaced by united effort. Young farmers 
appreciate the advantage in business offered by 
the organization and several have hastened to buy 
good mares and begin producing Percherons. The 
first of these young men to begin Percheron breeding 
bought his first pair of mares, one and two years old, 
in 1913, and sold his first stallion foal, seven months 
old, in the auction sale last December for $275.00. 
It is evident that no organization could accom- 
plish this work except by concentration of purpose. 
Such results could not be secured by an organization 
including more than one breed. The one breed idea 
of this association keeps all members together in 
their aim and effort toward the extension of Percher- 
on breeding and the development of the Percheron 
horse. This guarantees harmony among the mem- 
bers. The specific purpose of doing business puts 
life into the work as nothing else can. The educa- 
tional features follow naturally. The best proof 
that this plan of organizing Percheron breeders alone 
and for business purposes is a success, is that the 
Tazewell County Association does good work. 
E. T. RoBBINS. 
Interest your Boy in Percheron Mares and 
Keep Him on the Farm 
M. C. Hodgson of La Salle County, Illinois, gave a 
purebred Percheron mare to each of his two sons on 
their twenty-first birthday. From these two mares 
and three of their mare colts kept on the farm, these 
boys have sold 13 colts for $11,950, seven have died, 
and 13 colts valued at $7,300 are still owned on the 
farm. These two mares are still doing their share 
of the farm work and are in foal again at 16 years 
of age. Nineteen thousand two hundred and fifty 
dollars in colts from two mares that have earned 
their way by the work that they have done is surely 
a paying proposition. 
It isn't any wonder that Mr. Hodgson's sons 
stay on the farm and are interested in good horses. 
There is a reason to his method which every farmer 
should know. Give your boy a good draft filly 
which will provide something for him to think about 
besides the city and its attractions. Once interested 
in a colt that is all his own to feed and care for, he 
will forget how hard a job it is to clean out the barn 
and to haul straw on stormy days. If you can 
engage his thoughts during boyhood in good live- 
stock, he will grow to manhood before he knows it. 
By that time, he will be so interested in what he is 
doing that he will forget all about his early desires 
for city life, and instead will think that the farm is 
the greatest place on earth. Good draft horses seem 
to appeal to a boy better than any other class of 
livestock. Try this suggestion and see if it won't 
work for you as it is doing for thousands of other 
farmers. Ellis McFarland, 
Profits in Raising Percherons 
A decade ago there were very few purebred draft 
mares in central Indiana. With one or two others 
in this county I invested in some purebred Per- 
cheron mares, though we received scant encourage- 
ment from the neighbors. However, each of these 
pioneer ventures has been a success. This does not 
mean that every farmer who happens to launch 
into the business, regardless of his interest in or 
his suitability to it, is sure to succeed. It does 
mean that the man who understands the art of 
raising and developing good foals and who sees 
that his farm work may be done by their dams has 
a splendid chance for success. 
Notwithstanding the dull tone and limited demand 
for all classes of horses this fall I have seen at 
farm sales two purebred Percheron colts, five or 
six months old, sell for over $400, two yearling 
fillies for over $600, two yearling stallions for over 
$600 and two mature mares for $1,000. Two of my 
neighbors have each sold a two-year-old stallion 
for $500. These are not high prices, but they are 
high enough to put the business of producing a 
good class of purebred draft horses on a profitable 
basis. I know of no class of livestock that can 
be handled with so good a prospect for profit. Many 
good farmers in the cornbelt have fed carload after 
carload of cattle for six or eight months that did 
not average the net profit that one of these Per- 
cheron colts showed. 
