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Vol. LXX. No. 4098. 
NEW YORK, MAY 13, 1911. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR 
THE SUFFOLK HORSE. 
A Noble Breed; Little Known. 
The Suffolk, commonly called Suffolk Punch horse, 
is the oldest recognized breed of draft horses in ex¬ 
istence, and the English Stud Book, Volume I., begins 
with Crisp’s Plorse of Ufford, foaled in the year 1T68. 
The Suffolk Horse Society of England describes the 
Suffolk horse as follows: “Color: Bright red or 
dark chestnut are the favorite colors, a star, a little 
white on face, a few silver hairs is no detriment. 
Head: Breedy with broad forehead. Neck: Deep 
in collar, tapering gracefully toward the setting of 
head. Shoulders: Long and muscular, well thrown 
back at the withers. Carcass: Deep round ribbed 
from shoulders to flank, with graceful outline in back, 
loin and hind quarters, wide in front and behind (the 
tail well set up with good second thighs). Legs: 
Should be straight with fair sloping pasterns, big 
knees and long, clean hocks on short cannon bones, 
free from coarse hair. Elbows turned in regarded as 
a serious defect. Feet: 
having plenty of size, 
with good circular form 
protecting the frog. 
Walk: Smart and true. 
Trot: Well balanced all 
around; good action. 
From the above de¬ 
scription it is apparent 
that the Suffolk horse is 
a chestnut in color with 
a big body on short legs. 
While they do not stand 
as high from the ground 
as other draft breeds, 
yet when led upon the 
scales, they compare with 
any breed in regard to 
weight. Stallions weigh 
from 1400 to 2000 pounds, 
and mares from 1200 to 
2000 pounds. In Suffolk 
County, England, the 
home of the Suffolk 
horse, a custom prevails 
among the farmers of 
feeding their horses but 
twice a day and without 
any intermission at the 
noon hour, yet these 
Suffolks thrive while 
other breeds could not possibly, nor would anyone 
expect them to, stand it. Our own experience has 
been that they do as well as any other work horse 
on half the amount of feed. For agility in comparison 
with weight, they excel all other breeds. They are 
the one breed of draft horses that is expected to trot 
with a loaded wagon. 
As a long lived breed, they are especially noted. 
The Suffolk stallion Julian’s Boxer, foaled in 1803, 
travelled the roads of Suffolk County during the 
breeding season for 25 years, and the majority of 
the present day Suffolk horses can be traced back to 
this horse. The mare Diamond No. 591, foaled in 
the year 1853, well known as the dam of Lofft’s Cup¬ 
bearer 842, was one of 16 foals from the same dam 
in 16 years. In temper, they are docile in the ex¬ 
treme. fliey do not need breaking, they are born to 
work. The writer has visited every well-known Suf¬ 
folk stud in England, yet never was a vicious stallion 
seen. Mr. W. Anson, of Texas, writing for the Feb¬ 
ruary issue of “The Southern Planter,” writes: “The 
query as to why the Suffolks, which bring such high 
prices in England, are not bred more extensively is 
a very natural one to a person not well up on horse 
matters. An animal, to gain entry into the Suffolk 
Stud Book, must be a Suffolk and he must be a 
chestnut; in other words, the Suffolk men cannot, 
and they never could, go outside the Suffolk breed 
to increase the numbers, something which can be said 
of no other breed of draft horses. The Percheron 
must come from a certain defined district in France, 
the boundaries of which, it is whispered, are some¬ 
what elastic, so that it has been easy to produce many 
Percherons; the Shire breed had many counties in 
England to draw on when they started their stud 
book, likewise the Clydesdales in Scotland, but the 
Suffolk men had only the mares and stallions of this 
local breed of chestnut horses, which had been handed 
down to them by their yeomen ancestors, as distinct 
in its characteristics and color 200 years ago as it is 
to-day. With limited numbers to start on and a strong 
foreign demand, the breeding stock has been always 
restricted in numbers, so much so that the Suffolk 
Society is now competing in the open market against 
foreign buyers, purchasing brood mares to give to 
tenant farmers in the county, on easy terms with a 
guaranteed price for the foal at five months, hoping 
in this way to increase the number of brood mares 
at home. The United States has never been a heavy 
buyer of Suffolks; the average American stallion 
dealer not being able to compete against the high 
priced Australian and Argentine buyers. In Aus¬ 
tralia, the Suffolk is held in high esteem and they 
bring enormous prices; the Australians like them on 
account of their ability to withstand the conditions of 
drought and short rations, and their wonderful ac¬ 
tivity, which enables them to travel long distances to 
water and return to back ranges where grazing is 
good. My own experience in West Texas, where I 
have a small herd, corroborates this in every way. 
Fauquier Co.. Va. f. w. okie. 
SHALL IT BE HORSE OR MULE ? 
On a large farm in western Massachusetts well adapted 
to live stock, which will pay better—colts from a good 
draft stallion or mules from superior jacks? 
Horses for Northern Trade. 
The question asked gets down to the question of 
supply and demand, market prices and profit. Both 
horses and mules of the better class are very high in 
price, and a good profit can be made from either kind. 
If your inquiry was from the South, I should say 
raise mules (large ones) by all means,, as there are 
nearly 500 mules used there to one horse, but in the 
Eastern States the proportion of horses and mules in 
use is nearly 500 horses to one mule, so my advice 
would be to raise large smooth draft horses that will 
bring the top price. The market price on horses 
varies so greatly on the different classes that anyone 
starting in to raise horses should be very careful, and 
choose only breeding stock that will produce extra 
good animals. The profit in the business is certain, 
if this man raises stock having size and quality, and to 
get size in draft colts they 
should be fed for moder¬ 
ately early maturity. The 
best months for breeding, 
I believe, are April, May 
and June, September, Oc¬ 
tober and November. It 
looks to me as if this in¬ 
quiry came from a man 
that is on the right track 
as cheap land, a high- 
priced product and good 
markets mean success. 
After writing the above 
I would like to ask a 
question: Why are the 
Eastern farmers buying 
most of their work 
horses at the present high 
prices, instead of raising 
them? What is the most 
practical remedy for the 
present conditions? Let’s 
talk it over. e. s. akin. 
New York. 
Sheep Might Be Best. 
I know nothing about 
mules except that in my 
boyhood in Maryland we 
found them stubborn at 
times and not as versatile as the horses. As to the 
relative profits, I know nothing, but would be inclined 
to think the class of help to be had in New England 
would be apt to get along better with horses than 
mules. There is always a great demand for draft 
horses anywhere, and your inquirer will find that they 
are easily broken and fitted for market, while the 
mules, unless they are very different from those of my 
boyhood days, need some one brought up on them to 
fully understand and get along with them. A practi¬ 
cal farmer who was at the head of the farming opera¬ 
tions of an estate of over 3,000 acres, where they had 
mules that they paid from $700 to $1200 per pair for, 
told me he found they could not do as much work as 
the horses, and contrary to his impressions, they were 
more often in the hospital, and that he would never 
have one on the place if he had a place of his own; 
they have not bought any mules on this farm for over 
10 years. Mules are not in as much demand North 
as the horses are, so that the market is in a measure 
