THE PERCHERON REVIEW 5 
AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS AND 
DRAFT HORSE BREEDING 
Address before Minnesota Horse Breeders' 
Association by ELLIS McFARLAND, Secretary 
Percheron Society of America 
I speak to you men this afternoon as a plain farmer and not 
as a city office man. Having my own farm, the problems I have 
to meet with my tenant, banker, tax collector, freight agent and 
grain dealer are no different than yours. I do, however, have 
the advantage over most of you to the extent that my business 
requires me to travel a great deal and in that way I learn the 
ideas of some of our best farmers in all parts of the country. 
Inasmuch as man must eat to live, agriculture has the most 
dependable future of any of our great industries. It is true 
that the year 1921 presented financial problems more difficult 
than most farmers of this laud have ever experienced. It is 
no wonder that the farmer has had a hard time to make ends 
meet during the last 12 to 18 months when we consider that only 
37 per cent of what the consumer paid for the product repre- 
sented the farmer's pay and the other 63 per cent was used up 
in transportation and commissions. Someone has figured that at 
present prices a whole wagon-load of raw hides would not sell 
for an amount sufficient to buy harness for the team that hauls it. 
Then, too, at the present selling price of cotton, there is not 
a man in the South stout enough to carry sufficient cotton on his 
back to buy a suit of B. V. D. 's. 
We must not forget that in normal times the farmers of this 
country buy three-sevenths of all our steel output, over 50 per 
cent of the products of leather factories and 42 per cent of the 
textile mills of this country. In addition to this, they feed the 
nation. Is it any wonder then that agriculture, in a measure, 
has gone broke when prices have been cut again and again on 
what the farmer raises and not lowered proportionally on the 
products he buys? Since the farmer cannot buy, is it any wonder 
that two and a half millions of people are out of work; that 
business men in cities are being wrecked financially in wholesale 
fashion; that banks are closing their doors and that men and 
women are no longer safe on the streets of our great cities for 
fear of daylight holdups? The whole thing is wrong and 
topi^ling over, and much of this chaos has been brought on by 
trying to force agriculture to a back seat in the world 's affairs. 
For the last quarter of a century or more, we have been 
busy telling the farmer that he must provide more attractive 
homes in order to keep his boys on the land. We have been 
building up a great civilization with the supreme idea of seek- 
ing pleasure, and unfortunately, tliat has directed a steady stream 
of humanity to the bright lights of the cities. We have been 
providing industrial conditions that have enticed the best youth 
of our land away from the soil until today only 37 per cent of 
our i)opulation lives on farms whereas, following the Civil War, 
there was 80 per cent. If those in charge of our country 's 
affairs keep on year after year using their influence in the build- 
ing of great cities and huge manufacturing institutions, for- 
getting the farmer, the one great menace to this country will 
not be foreign invasion, but a complete wrecking of agriculture. 
At the beginning of 1922, however, out of this debris of 
financial turmoil, there are already hopeful signs for agricul- 
ture. The sterling is worth $4.21 now as against $3.53 twelve 
months ago. Cotton is selling for nearly 5 cents a pound more 
than on January 1, 1921. May wheat brought $1.15 as against 
$1.62% now. The German mark is a trifle over % cent as 
against 1% cents a year ago. An economic conference is con- 
templated in Europe for the purpose of forming a strong financial 
organization which will facilitate exchange of goods on the basis 
of barter rather than International exchange drafts, in the case 
of those countries whose economic system is just now in complete 
confusion. Since foreign exchange is improving, exports will 
naturally increase. All of this indicates a more favorable money 
situation which, in turn, means better times for farmers. 
The only two things in which farmers are interested now 
are to improve prices on agricultural products or else find a 
way of producing a crop with less expense. Perhaps it will 
take both to save some from bankruptcy. The signs do not 
point very favorably towards an increase in value of farm products ; 
but there are a number of things the farmers can do to cut 
down the cost of production, and one of them is to increase 
their horsepower to a greater extent. 
With present prices of all kinds of farm feeds and the 
relative sureness that values on such products will not increase 
to any great extent, the draft horse has come into public favor 
as never before. Is it any wonder with corn at 35 cents, oats 
at 30 cents per bushel and the best hay at $10.00 to $15.00 per 
ton, which are about the prices such crops are bringing at farm 
sales in the corn belt states, that the draft horse should be 
accepted so enthusiastically for farm power purposes? There 
are many things raised on the farm, such as corn fodder, oat 
straw and pasture which may be regarded practically as of no 
market value, and are used to make up a large part of a horse's 
ration. Considering this and the present selling prices of corn, 
oats and hay, it costs on an average for the year about 20 cents 
per day to feed a farm horse. Tliis amount will provide enough 
feed to keep a horse in excellent flesh, such as is required where 
mares are raising colts. Where mules are worked or where 
farmers are extremely saving on the amount of feed, the cost 
would be considerably less than the 20 cents. Nearly every farmer 
has enough horses of his own so that when he figures how little 
it costs him for feed, it is evident that he cannot afford to 
use any other source of power than horses. 
Have one man drive as many horses as two ordinarily do. 
Instead of paying a hired man $35.00 to $50.00 per month to 
drive a team, do the driving yourself. One man with eight big 
horses can drive a double 18-knife tandem disc with a harrow 
behind and do as much work in a day as three men ordinarily 
do with four small horses. By one disc going ahead of the 
other, the ground is left perfectly level and the entire work of 
discing and harrowing is done with one operation. The rail- 
roads are following out this idea of cutting down expenses and 
at the same time increasing efficiency. They are straightening 
out bad curves and putting on larger engines so that more 
cars can be j)ulled with the same number of men to operate 
the train. 
Practically every farmer can benefit himself a great deal by 
using six horses on his gang plow instead of four. Pick out 
a pair of horses that will do the best as leaders and put them 
ahead with the off horse in the furrow. There are special hitches 
for this purpose, but since money is extremely scarce with most 
farmers, the old-fashioned way of hitching the lead team back 
to the plow with a log chain will suffice, if one is careful in 
driving. The trouble with most farmers is that the load is 
usually too heavy for their teams and, therefore, it is necessary 
that the horses be rested frequently. If one has never tried it, 
he will be surprised to find what a great help it is to have 
even a pair of small horses in the lead. Anyone knows that the 
only reason for resting a thoroughly seasoned team in the field 
is that there are not enough horses, which is another way of 
saying that there is not enough power. Even as the weather 
gets hot, if one has an abundance of weight in the collar there 
is usually not much need for standing at the ends. All of us 
have seen farmers whose teams seem to stand at the ends a third 
to one-half of the time. A two-bottom, 14-inch gang plow should 
turn 5 to 6 acres per day. 
The practice of using a 10 to 12-foot harrow is certainly be- 
hind the times. Anyone with a good-sized farm should not be 
content with anything smaller than a 20-foot harrow, for with 
six big horses he can then cover 45 to 60 acres per day. Why 
go to the expense of having two men and two teams do what 
one man and a team can do in a day? It is not only the ex- 
pense of the extra man that counts but the matter of getting 
the crop in quickly and thoroughly at the same time. The suc- 
cess or failure of a crop more often than not depends upon when 
it is put in. We all know of repeated instances where it Avould 
have been worth several hundred dollars to have had a crop in 
a few days sooner. 
Many farmers fail to appreciate the advantages of an 18 
to 20-foot plank drag made of heavy 3 -inch oak boards about 
12 to 14 inches wide. They can be bolted together, one lapping 
slightly over the other, shingle fashion, with some weight on 
them such as a big post or heavy rocks. Such a drag makes 
an excellent way to crush clods and fill up holes. One man can 
easily drive eight horses to such a drag and by the time he has 
driven across the field and back, it is very easy to tell where 
he has been. Of course, one must have big horses to pull such 
a load ; eight trotters or even little chunks cannot do the trick. 
If the clods are not too hard almost one time over the ground 
will put the soil in shape to plant. In fact, I have frequently 
seen one dragging such as I have described, and one good har- 
rowing put the ground in excellent shape for planting corn. 
In the Pall, when the clods are very dry and hard, it may take 
two or three such draggings, but what is that when a man can 
cover 40 acres a day with one? Nearly everyone with 200 or 
300 acres of land uses 15 to 20 horses for Spring work. If two 
men, each with an eight-horse team, a drag and a harrow, can 
put 40 acres of corn ground in shape in a day 's time, such a 
system of using large team units is not impractical in the least. 
One's back may be a little more tired at night when it is nec- 
essary to harness and drive so many horses, but as long as fi- 
nancial conditions are no better than they are now, it behooves 
one to work harder and eliminate every possible expense for 
hired labor. It may be necessary to stay a little closer at home, 
work a little later at night, and have less time for automobile 
