362 
May 27 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
for its horses as it was 30 years ago, as it undoubtedly 
has the climate and the soil for rearing an exceed¬ 
ingly lusty and vigorous horse of iron constitution. 
One thing above all others that makes me believe that 
the Hackney horse is the coming animal for the 
farmer to use on his native mare is that the progeny 
mature at a very early age. I have on my farm twc- 
year-olds, coming three, well broken to harness, and 
well formed, animals that I could market at a large 
price this spring or next fall. They are large-bodied 
and weigh from 1,000 to 1,100 pounds. I am keeping 
them for breeding and show purposes. Now, take a 
farmer with a good native mare and let him breed her 
to a Hackney stallion, which should be selected accord¬ 
ing to size and finish of the mare. The get will cer 
tainly be a large, solid animal that at three years can 
pull a plow or harrow, or draw a farm wagon with 
a fair amount of speed and good action. Such an ani¬ 
mal is always worth from $200 to 8250, and if it has 
big action it will bring very much more—perhaps 
$500. Now, his neighbor has bred his mare, equal to 
the other in every respect, to some trotting stallion at 
a large fee. He may get a fast trotter (the chance 
being about one in two hundred), and, if he does, it 
will cost him a great deal to develop it, take him off 
his farm business, and in many ways be a nuisance 
rather than a benefit. It may even be a curse to him, 
creating in his sons, should he have any, a liking for 
racing and fast horses, and so taking them off the 
farm, and weaning them from the wholesome life their 
father followed. 
My views on this point were expressed by the Maine 
farmer whom I quote herein,, and who 
wrote in the same strain a quarter of a 
century ago : “Suppose, as is indeed most 
likely, he does not get a trotter. He 
has a horse that is hardly fit to draw a 
load, and do farm work, and certainly 
has no market value in the large horse 
emporiums of the country.” 
I believe the trotter has his place, 
and no one appreciates one of this breed 
of horses more than the writer, but I do 
not believe that the average farmer can, 
by breeding his native mares to a trot¬ 
ting stallion, aid in the development 
of the trotter, improve his native stock, 
or improve his own condition in life, 
either financially or socially. I believe 
the trotter should be raised in a warmer 
climate, where he has not to be housed 
so many months in the year, and by men 
who make it a business and a study, and 
have the facilities for developing the 
speed afterwards. When arguing this 
question the other day with a well-to-do 
farmer’s son in my locality who shares 
the native Vermont enthusiasm in regard 
to trotting strains, he said, “Oh, yes, I 
like the Hackneys; there is no doubt 
about it that they are beauties, but you 
know a farmer may want to hitch up 
and drive into town, and they would be 
too slow for him.” In answer to this 
criticism I may say that it is my experi¬ 
ence that the Hackney can road off eight 
or ten miles an hour, and do it steadily 
and strongly, and much better than the average 
farmer’s weedy trotter. 
I have given the use of two Hackney stallions to the 
farmers of Chittenden County; they have been invited 
to breed what they called the Vermont mares to these 
Hackneys, the charge for the service being a very 
small figure—that is, to induce them to breed, I offer 
to give a service for nil and agree to buy a six-months- 
old filly for $75 and a colt for $50, if sound. Now, 
what these Vermont mares are it is pretty difficult to 
say. They are not the original Vermont draft 
horse, nor are they the original Morgan, as people 
have got to call them. Vermonters of to-day are 
laboring under the impression that the old type of 
horse was the Morgan. He may have been so called, 
but, in reality, the Morgans have all come down from 
Justin Morgan to the present day as trotters. The 
old type of draft horse, which Vermonters errone¬ 
ously call the Morgan, and which has died out, we do 
not get through the trotter. When you go to an old 
Vermont farmer to purchase a horse he will say : 
“There is a Morgan mire” What he means to tell 
you is that her great-great grandam was a Vermont 
draft mare. But if you talk about a Vermont 
draft horse they are up in arms against you, be¬ 
cause the mention of such a horse conveys the im- 
preesion that he was big, heavy and clumsy, whereas 
he was nothing of the sort. 
Mr. Albert Chapman, in a paper entitled “ Horses 
for Vermont,” written in 1876, gives the following 
points as deserving the greatest attention : 
The horse that has such multifarious duties to perform must be of 
medium size. If he Is too large the travel up and down hills, at 
any gait Vermonters’will be satisfied with, will soon shakePitm to 
nieces. He must be medium height, as well as weight. Sixteen-hand 
horses may be all very fine to talk about, perhaps to sell to some 
parties, but they cannot, as a class, endure the road at a lively pace 
with horses of a hand lower measure, especially in a hilly country. 
Another very Important qualification of the Vermonter's h use must 
be a good, kindly disposition. While he should be a willing, quiet, 
peaceable worker, he must not be a lazy dolt, or the requirements for 
a good horse will not be answered. Although quite as many farmers’ 
sons as Is desirable are becoming professional trainers and breakers, 
still It Is. perhaps, quite as well that all cannot be, and so long as so 
many of our horses have to be broken and driven by farmers and 
their sons, who are comparatively unused to this wont, this item of 
disposition Is one of great importance. Another requisite for the 
Vermonter's horse is early maturity, or, at least, the ability to per¬ 
form much of the work of the farm while he Is growing, maturing, and 
becoming fitted for market, without breaking down or becoming un¬ 
sound by such use. And. lastlj under this head. Vermonters should 
raise such horses that, as they arrive at maturity, will bring good 
prices In the market; and the nearer they come to gentle sen's stylish 
dMvlng norses and fulfill the other requirements, the better, and the 
more they will bring. The horse should be of medium size, well pro¬ 
portioned, clean, flat limbs, strongly made, but not coarse or gross; 
good color—bay, brown, black, or chestnut; he should have a gooa 
easy road gait that will take a'ong a buggy with two men in it a mile 
In four minutes, 10 miles In an hour, or from 60 to 80 miles In a day; 
with a courageous, free disposition, that will not require more work 
to get this performance out of him than it Is worth when yon get it. 
Withal, he should have a bottom or endurance i,hat will not make it 
Impossible to sometimes repeat these performances, and enable him 
to perform a reasonable amount of driving every day. With these, a 
good, klndlv disposition, free from all tricks and vices, Is Indispensa¬ 
ble. Any horse that possesses all these good qualities Is worth any¬ 
where from $300 to $500, and the more oeauty and style In performing 
this work you can combine in them, the more can be added to the 
prices, wltn a reasonable expectation that the dratt will oe honored. 
A horse may have a fine form and beautiful color, but If he has not a 
good gait or good courage, if be is Ill-tempered or tricky, the man that 
buys him at any price that will pay his raising and breaking will be 
cheated. 
My experience and belief are that the Hackney, rr 
the cross of the Hackney on the native mare, comes 
nearer to this than any horse I ever raised. 
the list. This is the only crop on which we must take 
a back seat. We have not begun to reach the average 
crop per capita that is grown abroad. Our imports of 
potatoes are greater in value than are those of any 
other single food product that can be grown at home. 
No room for extending the potato crop? We would 
like to ask what other crop has anything like its mar¬ 
ket possibilities. Wheat ? Just think a moment and 
see what the chances are abroad for an increase in 
price of that grain. The price has been steadily 
dropping, and no one can give facts to show how or 
why it should rise with the increasing areas given to 
its culture. 
The potato has a wider range of uses to which it can 
be put than any other vegetable product. It can be 
served as food in numberless ways, or made into 
starch, alcohol. In France it is crushed, dried and 
ground into flour, which, when mixed with wheat, 
makes an excellent bread, while the juice of the tuber 
is used to make a cheap wine. More animal food can be 
grown on an acre in the form of potatoes than of any 
known grain. No, exclusive wheat must go on our 
Eastern farms, and potatoes will drive it off. 
Shelburne Farms, Vt. 
W. SEWARD WEBB 
MORE ROOM FOR THE POTATO. 
In the little contest pictured at Fig. 133, the chances 
are that Potato will settle Wheat in short order when 
they come to close quarters. This picture simply 
illustrates a contest or agricultural change that is 
quietly going on all over the country—viz., the sub¬ 
stitution wholly or in part of the potato foi the 
wheat crop. 
For the past 15 years The R. N.-Y. has labored in 
every conceivable way to show its readers how to pro¬ 
duce large crops of good potatoes. At times some of 
our wheat-growing friends were inclined to sneer at 
the potato business. Still we went ahead and to-day 
potatoes are profitably grown on thousands of farms 
that were being ruined by continued wheat culture. 
To-day we come forward and say that no farm crop 
grown promises a surer return for the farmer’s care 
and skill than the potato crop. 
We are so used to bragging about the bigness of our 
Nation’s business that probably nine out of ten of us 
would say, if we were asked where the United States 
stands in potato production, “At the head, of course.” 
That's where we make a mistake, as the following 
table will show : 
A POTATO CENSUS. 
Production. 
Exports. 
I mports. 
Busnels. 
Bushels. 
Bushels. 
Germany. 
891,723,040 
0,538.079 
1,709,330 
France. 
390,740,138 
4,634,850 
779,018 
Russia-Poland. 
404,441,187 
1,257,323 
13,004 
Austria-Hungary.. 
409,368,793 
536,504 
777,589 
United Kingdom... 
228,093,397 
5,334.005 
United states. 
109.809,053 
465,059 
3,033.504 
Canada . 
01,6'9,009 
3,784,307 
65,294 
Belgium. 
99,480.505 
679,092 
2,783,049 
These are the figures for an average of 
several years 
in most cases. You see the United States is sixth on 
FREE COINAGE OF SILVER. 
W. E. R.. on page 207, asks i ome questionshe thinks 
opponents of the free coinage of silver will find diffi¬ 
cult to answer. First, he wishes to know “what valid 
reason had the Government for demonetizing silver 
in 1873, when the intrinsic value of a silver dollar was 
greater than that of a gold dollar?” There was no 
reason for demonetizing silver that did 
not apply to gold so far as the people 
were concerned, but W. E. R. should 
know it is not the masses but the'dasses 
our National and State legislators work 
to benefit. It is claimed the banks of 
England and Germany bribed Congress 
to pass the bill of 1873. Any individuals 
or corporations may have any law they 
wish if they have the money to pay for 
it. Still, if the silver in a silver dollar 
was of greater intrinsic value than the 
gold in a gold dollar, that would be a 
good reason for not coining silver dol¬ 
lars; because the less intrinsic value 
there is in money the better it is for the 
masses. All money is fiut money , if legal 
tender, and the cheaper it is made the 
better it is for those who pay the ex¬ 
penses of the Government. Gold dollars 
are now the most expensive. The Gov¬ 
ernment borrows money from the bank¬ 
ers, (the people pay the interest) buys 
gold from the miners or dealers, and 
coins it into money. Is there a single 
reader who fails to see the folly of this 
expensive method? If the Government 
would print a paper dollar, and by “fiat” 
make it a full legal tender for all debts, 
public and private, it would be a better 
dollar for every one not a money lender 
than a gold dollar; and a gold dollar 
costs the people from 100 to 200 times as 
much as the paper dollar, for many of the 
gold dollars cost the people far more than 
100 cents because of the interest paid the bankers for 
the money borrowed to buy gold. If a baker borrowed 
money to buy silver, and insisted on putting five cents’ 
worth of silver in each of his five cent bread checks, 
he would be no greater financial fool than are those 
who advocate 100 cents intrinsic value in our dollars. 
The silver dollar with 60 or 65 cents’ worth of silver 
in it would therefore be a better dollar (for the people) 
than a gold dollar, provided it was by “ fiat” made a 
full legal tender. 
During our civil war there was danger of Congress 
making paper money a full legal tender, but the banks 
of the country opposed this with all their power, and 
with success. They secured the insertion of the excep¬ 
tion clause as follows : “ This note is a legal tender at 
its face value for all debts, public and private, except 
duties on imports and interest on the public debt.” 
This exception clause was not in the interest of the 
Government (i. c., the people), but it was in the 
interest of the banks, for it is to the advantage of 
these to make money dear, while it is to the advantage 
of the people to have it cheap, nad Congress refused 
to accede to the demands of the bankers at that time, 
our Government would never again have needed to 
borrow money, and our producers would now be far 
more prosperous and happy. 
W. E. R.’s second question, “ If it was a national 
benefit, why was the act smuggled through Congress ?” 
is answered above. It was not in the interest of the 
people, but of the banks. 
The third question, “ If silver was good enough from 
the start of our government until 1873, why is it not 
