1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
539 
WESTERN HORSE BREEDING. 
WILL IT BE OVERDONE ? 
What Stock Will Be Displaced ? 
Do you think the farmers in your State 
are likely to give increased attention to 
horse breeding? If so, what other lines of 
live stock breeding will be likely to suffer? 
There is quite a Strong movement 
among the farmers to give more atten¬ 
tion to the breeding of good horses. I do 
not believe, however, that this will 
mean the sacrifice or shrinkage of any 
other line of live-stock industry. The 
horses kept on the farm at this time are 
there very largely with the idea of doing 
the work of the farm, while the breeding 
that is done is more or less incidental to 
this. The raising of good colts can be 
most successfully done by mares that 
. are employed in farm work. The ten¬ 
dency will be to keep a greater number 
of mares, but I do not think that this 
will greatly influence the amount of live¬ 
stock production in other classes. 
The first effect of the advance of the 
prices of horses will lead to the substitu¬ 
tion of mares for geldings on our farms. 
When the industry becomes more profit¬ 
able, it is likely that there will be es¬ 
tablishments devoting their whole at¬ 
tention to horse breeding; but that can 
not be considered the work of the aver¬ 
age farmer. The general farmer can do 
the ordinary work of the farm with 
good brood mares, and have a certain 
proportion of them rear very profitable 
colts. This will not encroach on the 
other envisions of live stock on the 
farm. joiin a. craig. 
Iowa Ag’l College. 
There is much increased activity in 
(his State in breeding farm, draught and 
coach horses, though speed horses, l 
think, are not receiving so much atten¬ 
tion as formerly. The probabilities are 
that sheep will be discarded by many, 
owing to the low price of wool, and 
horses substituted. The dairy cattle in¬ 
terests, which are steadily growing in 
Indiana, will, no doubt, prosper also. 
Sheep will, I think, suffer most. As to 
what breed, it is hard to tell. The 
Shropshire is the most generally popular 
breed in the State, but the Rambouillet, 
Merino and Cheviot are constantly grow¬ 
ing in favor. The long wool and small 
Merino will probably lose most in 
strength. c. s. plumb. 
Indiana Exp. Station. 
Wisconsin farmers are again going 
into horse breeding to some extent, most 
of them with the object of growing 
horses for their own use to replace the 
old ones that have been retained on the 
farms, and that are now wearing out. 
To some extent, horse breeding will take 
the place of cattle, sheep and swine; in 
most cases, it will affect these indus¬ 
tries but little in Wisconsin, but will 
use up more hay and grain on the farms, 
and replace grain fields with grass. The 
dairy, cattle feeding, swine breeding and 
sheep husbandry will be affected in the 
order named, and barley, wheat and po¬ 
tatoes will give way to grass and corn 
in the order named. In some of our 
neighboring prairie States, with larger 
farms, it will be different. The boom in 
horse raising must come slowly, because 
most of the mares left in the West are 
aged, many of which will not again 
breed, or if they do, it will be only one 
or two colts. This has been my own 
personal experience with our own stal¬ 
lions, and other stallion owners gener¬ 
ally agree with me. geo. m’kerrow. 
Wisconsin. 
You are correct in supposing that 
many farmers in the West are again 
turning their attention to horse breed¬ 
ing. I do not believe that the increased 
attention will especially displace any 
other line of live-stock breeding, except 
it may upon the range where the ten¬ 
dency is strong to replace cattle by 
horses. This will be done to any ex¬ 
tent which the markets warrant. This 
change is made because it costs little 
more to grow a norse than it does to 
grow a steer, also, because horses are 
less liable to loss in heavy storms from 
the fact that they will keep moving, 
and will not pile up in ravines to be 
buried by snow. In so far as horse 
^reeding will be increased over the 
country at large, I think it will bring 
the attention to live stock interests, but 
not in the displacement of any other. 
One of the causes that led to cheap 
horses was the indiscriminate use of 
trotting stallions by all classes of far¬ 
mers, and with all classes of mares. It 
has filled the country with a swarm of 
useless brutes that serve no good pur¬ 
pose. The whole business is becoming 
more rational. Farmers will again 
breed horses, but will take more care 
in breeding something that somebody 
Wants. E. DAVENPORT. 
Illinois Exp. Station. 
THE HAMPSHIRE SHEEP. 
The Business Farmers’ Animal. 
My first recollection of the Hampshire 
sheep'was about the year 1880, when my 
father purchased a ram lamb of the late 
Henry Metcalf, of Canandaigua, N. Y. I 
remember particularly the striking ap¬ 
pearance which he presented when we 
took him out of the crate, and turned 
him in with our flock of sheep. At the 
sight of him with his jet black face and 
legs, the sheep all started and ran, and 
it was some time before they would al¬ 
low him to come near them. The flock 
consisted of coarse-wooled ewes, the 
Cotswold blood largely predominating. 
The lambs produced from this union 
were a revelation to us in the crossing 
of sheep. At eight months of age, the 
lambs weighed from 100 to 150 pounds, 
all being marked with black faces and 
legs, and covered with a very white, 
compact fleece of wool. Some of these 
lambs kept for breeding purposes at¬ 
tained the weight of over 200 pounds at 
maturity. 
The origin of the Hampshire breed 
dates back to the beginning of the pres¬ 
ent century. Of the different Down 
breeds, the South Downs and Hamp- 
shires are much the oldest. In point of 
age, they stand as follows: South 
Downs, Hampshires, Shropshires, Ox¬ 
fords. The two former were old-estab¬ 
lished breeds before the Shropshires and 
Oxfords were originated. 
The Hampshire was produced by years 
of careful breeding among the common 
farmers in the south of England, known 
as the South Down hills. The blood of 
the Hampshire and South Down was for¬ 
merly more or less commingled, so that 
a well defined division was impossible. 
But after years of careful breeding, the 
different types or characteristics of the 
two breeds were more distinctly brought 
out, the Hampshire showing a much 
larger and coarser frame, and blacker 
face and legs. While the South Down 
possessed superior fattening qualities, 
the Hampshire had a hardier constitu¬ 
tion, with the power to withstand all 
kinds of weather. 
Some authorities claim that there was 
an intermixture of Cotswold blood in the 
production of the Hampshire, but that 
idea is now generally abandoned, as no 
reliable evidence can be found to prove 
it. The fact that the Hampshire has 
long been a distinct breed, is important, 
as it is a well-recognized fact in the 
breeding of domestic animals from the 
Thoroughbred race-horse down, that the 
longer any breed is kept pure, the more 
pronounced is its prepotency or the 
power to impress its characteristics upon 
its offspring. This is, undoubtedly, the 
reason why the Hampshire ram, when 
crossed on common grade ewes, marks 
his lambs more uniformly and promi¬ 
nently than do other Down breeds of 
more recent origin. 
The value of the Hampshire sire for 
producing early lambs is unsurpassed. 
Mr. T. H. King, the hothouse lamb 
grower of Tompkins County, prefers 
them above all others. One prominent 
breeder made the remark that the black 
faces and legs on his lambs got to be a 
trade mark with him. The Hampshire 
male, at maturity, weighs from 250 to 
300 pounds. His head is large, with a 
Roman face, back straight, loin broad, 
hams are round and heavy, legs bony 
and strong. The ewes, at maturity, 
weigh from 150 to 200 pounds, are very 
hardy and prolific, being capable of 
withstanding exposure and disease. The 
ewes generally possess a well-defined 
dairy shape, and make the best of milk¬ 
ers. The wool is of medium length and 
strong fiber, and being used for making 
cheviots, tweeds and such business 
cloths, commands the highest prices. 
The rams will shear from 10 to 15 
pounds; the ewes average about seven 
pounds in a flock. 
Mr. Henry Metcalf was, probably, the 
first breeder to introduce the Hampshire 
in New York State, having started his 
flock along in the seventies. They are 
reported to have been bred in the South 
before the Civil War. 
Although the Hampshires have not 
been as extensively shown at fairs as 
some of the other breeds, they stand 
second to none as a show sheep when 
properly fitted up. 
Their owners, as a rule, have preferred 
to keep them entirely for breeding pur¬ 
poses, rather than to pamper them in 
the show-ring, hence they have been 
styled by one breeder, The Business 
Farmers’ Sheep, wheeler a. bassette. 
Farmer, N. Y. 
Mortgage Lifters. 
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Save $10 per cow per year. Send for Catalogue. 
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CHICAGO I NEW YORK. 
SELF FEED 
ENSILAGE CUTTER 
Cut* 8816 % more thnn I 
regular machine. 
Save* Tft% In time. 
Positively feeds itself. 
. No pushing to get feed | 
started, and feeds evenl y 1 
saving power. New wide / 
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j NEW METAL STRIP SWIVEL CARRIER. 
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I \V ithoutextra section at bottom. 1899 , 
.catalogue FREE. Prof. Wall 
Rook on Sling,.” 10c. 
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kSalem, 
LUhio. i 
SILOS 
Are Filled 
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The E. W. Ross Co. Springfield, 0 
Top Price Butter. 
The kind that a fancy private 
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the color that does not contain 
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A Reliable Butter Color. 
More Money per Pound 
The advantages of a 
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Branches: 
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