Vol. LXIX. No. 4059 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 13, 1910. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
THE FARM DRONES. 
Giving Idlers the Blessings of Labor. 
A perplexing question which always confronts the 
farmer and breeder is, how shall the bulls and 
be handled to prevent 
them from becoming a 
nuisance? It is a well- 
known fact that a full- 
grown bull is a white 
elephant upon the farm, 
regardless of either 
breeding or value, that 
his care and control is 
the bane of the farmer’s 
life; that he is usually 
enclosed in a strong pen 
or hitched with a chain 
to a post where he gets 
but little exercise, with 
the result that the poor 
brute becomes nervous, 
vicious and dangerous. 
He suffers in loss of 
vitality, deteriorates in 
prepotency, becomes self- 
burdened with .useless 
fat and is a drone in 
every sense of the word. 
What is true of the bulls 
is equally true regarding 
stallions, except that 
there are fewer of them; 
but whatever the color, 
they also become white 
elephants so far as care 
and control is concerned, 
in the hands of the ordi¬ 
nary farmer. It is for 
the purpose of suggesting 
a remedy for this state of 
things that I write upon 
this subject, believing 
that I may benefit the 
poor animals, and at the 
same time relieve many 
farmers and breeders 
from useless burdens. 
Every normal animal 
requires plenty of regu¬ 
lar exercise in order that 
the bodily functions may 
be kept in healthy condi¬ 
tion, and when such ex¬ 
ercise is denied him, de¬ 
terioration at once be¬ 
gins. The digestive or¬ 
gans become weak, the 
liver torpid, the nervous 
system deranged, the 
brain becomes abnormal, 
and the animal develops 
the various bad habits 
and vicious tendencies 
which render him a per¬ 
manent nuisance, never¬ 
theless, a necessary evil 
upon the farm. Any stal¬ 
lion having a tempera¬ 
ment fit to qualify him as 
dallions 
of the vicious brute, kicking and screaming in his pen, 
he becomes a useful, gentle, faithful horse, sure in 
service, a prepotent sire and transmitting vigor and 
style to his offspring. Exactly the same results will 
follow the working of bulls upon the farm, and the 
THE HEAD OF THE HERD” EARNING HIS FEED. Fig. 333. 
THREE DRONES PUT TO USEFUL LABOR. Fig. 334. 
a proper sire, can readily be trained to do some kind 
of useful work, either singly or as half of a good team, 
and when so trained should be kept regularly at work 
in breeding season and out. Such a stallion will sel¬ 
dom give any trouble whatever if prqper care is used, 
and he can be made to earn his daily bread. Instead 
change will be found most gratifying to the bull’s owner. 
At the farm conducted under my supervision, oper¬ 
ated in connection with the New York State School of 
Agriculture, at Alfred, N. Y., are kept four bulls and 
two stallions; the bulls being purebreds, representing 
the principal dairy types; and the stallions being an 
imported Percheron and a registered trotter. In tem¬ 
perament they are probably not materially different 
from other bulls and stallions of like breeds, yet under 
our treatment, they are all absolutely gentle, reliable 
and very serviceable. They work every working day, 
and work hard. The big 
Percheron is one of the 
best, if not the very best 
work horse on the farm ; 
the trotter is our be¬ 
loved Bob Davis, the 
sweetest road horse that 
ever kept a man good 
company, and the bulls 
are just as gentle as the 
cows. A bull staff is an 
implement not owned 
upon the farm; the 
word of command and 
the crack of the whip 
brings them here or 
sends them yonder, and 
there is no farm work 
which they cannot do 
quite as well as any 
other animal, and they 
do it every day. The 
thing is so simple, the 
wonder is that such ani¬ 
mals have not always 
been made useful upon 
j;he farm. 
The animals shown in 
the illustration, Fig. 334, 
are respectively a regis¬ 
tered four-year-old Per¬ 
cheron stallion and a 
registered Jersey and 
Guernsey bull each three 
years old, and worked 
solely by the young men 
driving, who are stu¬ 
dents in the agricultural 
school, both still in their 
teens, and one of them 
but 17 years old. They 
work their charges sin¬ 
gly, in pairs, or combine 
their forces when neces¬ 
sary, as shown in the 
illustration. The bulls 
work equally well in the 
ordinary ox yoke or in 
regular horse collar and 
full harness, and none of 
these animals entails one 
cent of extra expense, ex • 
cept that the bulls require 
to be shod in order to 
protect the feet from in¬ 
jury. 
There are several dis¬ 
tinct and important ad¬ 
vantages which result 
from the system which 
ve have adopted in caring 
for our breeding stock at 
this farm, and I am in 
much doubt which should 
be placed first as being of 
the most importance. The animals are rendered per¬ 
fectly gentle. The vicious bull or stallion with us, is 
quite unknown. Every animal is made to earn an 
honest living, no matter how pure his blood or grand 
his pedigree; we. tolerate no drones on the farm. 
Service becomes almost absolutely sure. The offspring 
