160 
VIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 31, 
Live Stock and Dairy 
BREEDING OUT DEFECTS. 
It is an axiom of breeding, or heredity, 
that “like produces like,” or tends to do 
so, and that is true; but it is not the 
case that nature tends to strike an aver¬ 
age or effect a “happy compromise” be¬ 
tween too markedly unlike items of con¬ 
formation or temperament. This is not 
commonly understood by the stock-breed¬ 
er who has not made a special study of 
this perplexing subject. 
Poor feet and badly-formed hock joints 
are two most common faults of the horses 
we breed upon the farm. How shall we 
get rid of these objectionable features 
of our horses? Not by breeding to sires 
that have directly opposite features. 
That is the common plan of procedure, 
and it is erroneous. The common sense, 
logical and correct procedure is to employ 
sires as nearly perfect as possible in the 
points deficient in their mates. It is an 
even better plan to discard at once the 
mares that have the objectionable feat¬ 
ures and breed from those having the 
desired conformation, mating them with 
sires of like desirable conformation. 
To make this more plain it may be 
stated that when a man finds that the 
horses he breeds have small, poor quality 
feet (hoofs) his plan of corrective action 
too often is to mate his mares with a 
stallion that has abnormally developed 
ing weak in conformation, somewhat of 
the sickle order and one of them show¬ 
ing a small bone spavin. The mare in¬ 
herited poor hocks from the sire. No 
doubt he in turn came by such hocks 
through heredity, and the wrong shaped 
hock in this family is so strongly bred 
in the “breed and bone” that life is too 
short, apparently, successfully to obliter¬ 
ate it by selective mating. We got rid 
of the mare and most of her female pro¬ 
geny, and other mares of better type have 
been installed in their place. 
Based upon actual, extended practice 
and observation we have no hesitation 
whatever in advising readers of The II. 
N.-Y. never to buy or employ a mare 
for breeding purposes that has a bad 
fault or conformation, with the hope that 
in time the offspring may be made free 
from that fault by use of sires of oppo¬ 
site type, not having the same fault, and 
even extraordinarily excellent in the oppo¬ 
site direction. This advice applies with 
equal force to the breeding of animals 
other than the horse. Faults of conform¬ 
ation cannot readily be bred out. In 
all instances, for quick results and satis¬ 
faction in breeding, decrae upon an ideal 
animal to be produced, start with a fe¬ 
male or two as nearly of that type as 
possible and continuously mate with sires 
of that chosen type. Discard every fe¬ 
male that does not approximate the 
chosen type and, so far as possible, only 
retain as breeders the ones that are above 
average in the desired type. Do this also 
feet. Such feet are as objectionable as 
feet that are too. small. Two objection¬ 
able types of feet, wholly dissimilar in 
type, will not in the foal be reproduced 
as an average between the two types. In 
other words, the too big and the too 
little hoofs will not blend and make cor¬ 
rect size hoofs in the offspring. Two 
wrongs do not blend to make a right, but 
one right and one wrong may partially 
offset each other. If one right is strong¬ 
er (by breeding) than the wrong the re¬ 
sultant blend of the two may, but does 
not surely, favor the right. The correct 
way to attempt righting of the wrong, 
i. e., improving the small weak feet, is 
to use a stallion that has the most per¬ 
fect feet possible and that owns such 
feet because of ancestors that had like 
desirable feet. The best plan from the 
start is to select mares having the right 
sort of feet and mate them with stal¬ 
lions having the same sort of feet, or 
even better feet, if that is possible. In 
breeding horses we have found that it 
is a slow, uphill, disappointing matter 
to breed out faults by the use of sires 
not possessed of those faults. This ap¬ 
plies to the breeding of better feet, but 
more especially to the improvement of 
badly formed hock joints. 
A fine, large, pure-bred Percheron 
mare that was well-nigh ideal with the 
exception of having hocks that ap¬ 
proached the sickle type, or curby forma¬ 
tion, was mated each Spring with a 
purebred Percheron stallion. Each of 
these stallions had hocks of correct 'con¬ 
formation and in one instance hocks of 
the somewhat too straight type. Each 
foal from this mare so mated grew up 
with hocks like those of the dam. Some 
of the offspring had hocks of more ac¬ 
centuated curby formation than those of 
the dam. All of them had objectionable 
hocks in this particular. We knew the 
sire of the mare in question. lie was a 
noted Percheron stallion 20 years ago, 
but his hocks were objectionable, be¬ 
in the selection of sires and there will be 
good reason to expect that the progeny 
of such animals will retain the desired 
type and possibly improve in that re¬ 
spect, if improvement is possible. 
Remember that quick results for the 
better cannot come solely from one side 
of the breeding equation. The nearer 
the two factors in the equation are alike 
at the start the more certainty will there 
be in obtaining the sort of stock desired. 
Gradually by continued grading-up, by 
the use of purebred sires, the type and 
character of the pure parents become 
dominant; but all the while the warring 
element from the dam’s side and ances¬ 
try seeks ascendency and lessens perman¬ 
ency of improvement. For quick results 
never start with widely diverging types, 
or violent opposites of blood. 
In conclusion, to clench the idea here 
advanced, let it be said that we have : 
known many men to fail in horse breed¬ 
ing because they bought a lot of cheap, 
foot-sore mares in the city and used them 
as a breeding battery on the farm, hop¬ 
ing and trying, for a number of years, 
to attain improvement and success sim¬ 
ply by the use of good sires and good 
feed. Better and quicker results would 
have been had by starting with one ideal 
well-developed brood mare of the type 
desired, and mating her and her female 
progeny in turn, year after year, with 
the same sort of purebred, rightly formed 
sires used with disappointing results upon 
the city mares of the wrong type. 
A. S. ALEXANDER, M. D. C. 
He was an old-fashioned father, and he 
said to the young man: “Are you sure 
you’re able to give my daughter the com¬ 
forts and luxuries to which she is accus¬ 
tomed at home?” The young man prompt¬ 
ly replied: “As your daughter’s salary 
lias paid the rent and bought most of the 
clothes and food for your family, I think 
we can worry along.”—Cleveland Plain- 
Dealer. 
Use the Available 
Kind of Fertilizer 
For many crops all the available plant food 
that is needed is one grain to each pound of soil. 
When such a small quantity of food must do 
all the work for your crop, it is exceedingly 
important that what you put into the soil in the 
form of fertilizer shall be available —that it shall 
have not only the right quantity, but the right 
quality and right crop value. 
It has cost us forty years of experience to 
know how to mix the right kinds and the right 
quantities of ingredients for fertilizer. 
Bowker’s Fertilizers 
accomplish also the more difficult task of getting the right 
blending, the fight solubility into a mixture which will 
run readily and freely from the farmer’s planter, and 
which will remain dry and drillable as well as efficient 
until used in the field. We make a brand to fit every 
crop need. 
Write and tell us what your crops are, and we will 
send you our illustrated catalogue. 
RDWkFR FERTILIZER COMPANY 
V/ VV 43 Chatham Street* Boston* Mass. 
60 Trinity Place, New York. P. O. Box 805, Buffalo, N. Y. 
TheOld Reliable 
Horse Remedy i 
Potato Profits / 
depend largely on how the crop Is planted. 
Every skipped hill Is a loss In time, fertilizer 
and soil. Every double wastes valuable seed. 
It means $5 to $50 per acre extra profit if all hills 
are planted, one piece in each. That is why 
T 
NONAGE 
HOUSANDS 
of farmers 
and horsemen 
have saved money 
by using Ken¬ 
dall's Spavin Cure 
for Spavins, Curb, Ringbone, Splint, Bony 
Growths and Lameness from many other 
causes. These men know that Kendall’s 
is a money saver and a horse saver. We 
can prove it by thousands of 
Grateful Letters From Users 
Read the letter of Dr. MacLagger. Parish. N.V. We 
have hu -. dreds of other letters to prove 
everything we say about Kendall’s /—15 
Spavin Cure. Let us send you some 
other letters. But in the meantime 
get a bottle from your druggist. 
Tear this advertisement out 
note to remind you to get 
Kendall’s Spavin Cure. 
Price 81.00 per bottle or 6 
bottles for *5.00. Clet our 
valuable book “Treatise on 
the Horse”—Free at your 
druggist or write to us. 
DR. B. I. KENDALL COMPANY 
Enosburg Falls, Vermont, U 
100 Per Cent 
Planters 
m 
MINERAL 
sheave 
years REMEDY 
’-v« 
$3 Package’ 
will euro any case or’ 
money refunded 
$1 Package 
cures ordinary cases. 
Postpaid on receipt of price. 
(Agents Wanted 
White >.r descriptive booklet 
NEGLECT 
Will Ruin' 
Your Horse* 
Send to-day for’ 
only 
PERMANENT 
CURE 
Safe —Certain < 
Uineral Heave Remedy Co.. 46 L Fourth Are., Pittsburgh, Pa. 
Facts for a Postal 
Why take risks with horseflesh troubles’ 
Mail a postal for booklet telling of 
1Mf astounding cures made with 
v QUINN’S OmJraent 
Safe, sure remedy for spavins, ring- 
bone, lameness, cuts, bruises, scratches, eto.r 
Money returned if not satisfactory. Ask your /i 
druggist; or send his name with $1.00 for tM 
trial bottle. Writo for booklet nnyway. iMl 
W. B. EDDY S CO.. Dept. B. Albany. N. T. JflM 
AUTOMATIC MILKSCALE 
tells you the money-making cows in vonr herd 
Pushing a button gives weight of milk. Paves 
feeding expense on small milkers. Suitable for any 
size herd. We are prepared to equip dairies 
throughout. Send for our S00-paqe catalogue "D”, 
DAIRYMENS SUPPLY COMPANY 
Philadelphia and Lansdowue, Pa, 
Often pay for themselves in one season on small 
acreage. They also plant straight, at right depth, 12 
to 24 inches apart, ft New angle steel frame and 
Steel seed hopper. With or 
without fertilizer distrib¬ 
utor. Ask your dealer to 
I show you this Planter and 
write us for booklet, “100 
I Per Cent Potato Plant- 
inn' ’and copy oi Iron A ge 
Farm and Garden News. 
BATEMAN M’F’G CO. 
Boxj025 Granloch, N. J. 
HAVANA -i 
Steel Wheels 
, For any wagon or cart you 
may have on your farm. We 
make the wheels to fit your 
axle. You give us the exact 
i dimensions of your axle, as 
asked for on our order sheetand 
we guarantee a fit. If you are 
interested, we shall be pleased 
to forward you our catalogue 
and order sheet. Write us. 
Havana Metal Wheel Co. 
Box 17, Havana, Illinois 
When you write advertisers mention The 
Rural New-Yorker and you’ll get a quick 
reply and a ‘‘square deal.” See guarantee 
editorial page. :::::: 
CAN YOUR 
BOYDRIVE ATEAM? 
Then turn your 
walking plow into 
a sulky with a 
WINNER 
PLOW 
TRUCK 
and let him plow 
while you do work 
_ too heavy for him. 
Yon get 10 Days in wim-h to see whether it’s worth tho 
money. If yon think it isn’t, we return your money and 
pay the freight both ways. To buyers in new territory we 
make a Special Introductory Offer. Write today for this 
ofler and our Free Book. Make your boy a full man. 
l ewis Mfg. Co.. Box C, Cortland, N. Y.__ 
Scves 
Horses 
Money 
Worry 
HORSE COLLAR 
Made of highly polished zinc coat¬ 
ed metal. Do not hold sweat or Irritate 
the most tender flesh. Adjustable; 
fits like ma<l©-to-order collar. Tugs 
attach directly to collar. Lighteni 
draft Cheapest and best. Agent s 
IKanfecf; Can make $10.00 a day. 
Act as our agent in spare time. Write 
for liberal soiling terms. Mention 
tfTlitory desired. Address, 
Johnston-Siocum Co. 
fV State St. Caro, Mieb. 
HANDY BINDER 
TUST the thing for preserving files of 
The Rural New-Yorker. Durable 
and cheap. Sent postpaid for 25 cents. 
‘Ihe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
333 West 30th Street, New York City 
