Vol. LXXXI. 
Published Weekly by The Rural Publishing Co.. 
333 W. 30th St.. New York. Price One Dollar a Year. 
NEW YORK, JUNE 24, 1022 
Entered as Second-Class Matter. June 26. 187f. at the Post 
(•llice at New York. N. Y.. under the Act of March 3, 1370 
4006 
Draft H orses in New York State 
Part I. 
S HORTAGE OF GOOD ANIMALS.—According to 
tlie latest statistics. New York State annually 
imports from $10,000,000 to $15,000,000 worth of 
horses. These importations come largely from the 
corn belt States. A large percentage of them are 
horses inferior in quality, size and bone. The scarc¬ 
ity of horses is indicated in an address given by 
Prof. J. L. Edmonds, Chief of the Department of 
Animal Industry, University of Illinois, before a 
meeting of the members of the Horse Association of 
America in Chicago, November 50, 1021, in which he 
states: "‘If you should ask me to find a good pair 
of geldings or mares weighing from 1,000 to 2,000 
will never reach maturity. It is safe to assume that 
only 50 per cent, of them will he filly foals. Were 
this ratio to continue for any period of years, its 
seriousness can be readily appreciated. It is self 
evident on the face of it that, as Prof. Edmonds 
states, there is hound to he a shortage of good liorses 
for the next three to five years in spite of what 
people do from now on. 
PURCHASES FROM THE WEST.—New York 
State lias approximately 800.000 horses in use on its 
farms and in its cities. The annual replacement 
requirement, figured on a 10-year life basis, would 
be 80,000 head. To meet this demand there were 
usually too light for his purpose, often animals that 
are unsound, certainly a risky investment at best. 
These horses have changed hands two or three times, 
each time at a profit. They usually have passed 
through the horse market in some large city, and 
have often been exposed en route to contagious or 
infectious diseases which may later develop. Many 
men purchasing a Western horse have the experience 
of taking the animal home and within a few days 
have it go stale, develop a high fever, fall off in 
flesh, and for a long period of time practically worth¬ 
less to them. Often they attribute this to a change 
of climate. Actually such is not the case; it is 
George Urban Company's Three Stallion Team Hauling 100 Barrels of Flour (10 Tons). They Show the Size, Quality and Bone Desired in a Heavy Draft Horse 
lbs. each, I would not know where to go. I cannot 
sec anything other than a shortage of good horses 
lor the next three to live years in spite of what 
people may do from now on.” A similar sentiment 
was expressed in talks by nine other men, author¬ 
ities in horse breeding, representing the principal 
heavy horse producing states of America. The latest 
census figures give* the annual replacement require¬ 
ments of horses and mules in the United States as 
1.859,390 head: to meet this demand there were less 
than 1,500,000 foals raised in 1921. Of this number 
many will be inferior in size and quality, and many 
less than 4,000 draft colts raised last year in New 
York. There are approximately 1,000 head of pure¬ 
bred draft horses in this State, or less than one per 
cent of the total number now in use are purebreds. 
These figures are significant and conclusively point 
to tin' fact that good draft horses of proper size and 
quality are very scarce. Especially is this true in 
New York state, and they will be very hard to get 
for some time to come. It is true that a New Yorker 
can buy all the Western horses lie wants from local 
dealers at prices which might seem to him attractive, 
but he does not realize that lie is buying culls, horses 
really the outcropping of some disease which the 
animal contracted in transit. These horses come 
from farms that sell at $200 to $300 an acre. It 
would hardly seem reasonable that horses produced 
on such high-priced land, shipped a long distance 
and passed through several hands, each time at a 
profit, could he sold to the New York State buyer at 
a price that would figure cheaper to him than he 
could produce a good draft horse. 
THE FALLACY OF CHEAPNESS.—The conten¬ 
tion of New York State farmers that they can buy 
their horses cheaper than they can raise them is a 
