372 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
April  23,  1903. 
Breeding  Draught  Horses. 
We  farmers  are  inclined  to  be  dilatory  in  deciding  on 
any  course  which  we  may  take,  and  the  man  who  travels 
with  a  stallion  knows  how  difficult  it  is  to  induce  likely 
customers  to  absolutely  commit  themselves  to  taking 
nominations  until  the  last  possible  moment.  In  the  case  of 
stallions  which  are  strictly  limited  to  a  certain  number  of 
mares,  this  often  leads  to  disappointment.  Still,  the  choice 
of  a  suitable  sire  is  so  important  as  to  excuse  a  certain 
amount  of  vacillation.  In  the  case  of  a  horse  which  has 
travelled  the  same  district  the  season  before  there  is  natur¬ 
ally  a  desire  to  see  a  few  samples  of  his  stock  before  decid¬ 
ing  to  use  him  again,  and  when  his  foals  are  seen  to  be  of 
good  make  and  shape  the  book  is  very  quickly  full. 
Breeders  often  send  their  mares  long  distances  by  r«il 
at  great  expense  to  mate  them  with  fashionable  sires. 
There  is  much  to  be  said  both  for  and  against  this.  If  the 
mare  be  a  fine  one  and  of  good  pedigree,  a  foal  from  her  by 
a  fashionable  sire  would  probably  be  very  valuable,  but 
fashionable  sires  which  stand  at  high  stud  fees  are  not  as  a 
rule  very  productive,  and  we  would  rather  use  a  well-brecL 
young  horse  which  tramps  a  big  slice  of  country  every  week, 
and  thus  prove  his  activity  and  soundness,  than  pay  three 
or  four  times  the  fee  for  a  doubtful  chance  of  a  foal  by  a 
horse  with  more  reputation  than  legs.  In  horse  breeding 
we  must  cut  according  to  our  cloth,  and  very  rarely  do  we 
find  it  possible  to  breed  animals  with  champion  blood  on 
both  sides.  Some  of  the  finest  mares  make  very  poor  brood 
mares,  they  are  not  built  for  maternity,  and  if  they  breed  at 
all  there  is  too  often  something  seriously  wrong  with  their 
progeny. 
A  good  brood  mare  is  the  most  valuable  animal  a  farmer 
can  possess.  By  a  good  brood  mare  we  mean  one  which 
breeds  regularly  and  produces  good  stock.  Breeding  is  a 
lottery,  and  a  mare  w'ith  good  blood  in  her  veins,  but  of 
mean  appearance,  may,  and  often  does,  breed  better  stock 
than  one  which  has  taken  scores  of  prizes  at  shows.  The 
first  point  is  to  breed  a  foal  of  some  kind,  and  if  you  wish 
to  breed  from  a  mare  begin  with  her  when  she  is  young. 
If  you  mate  her  when  she  is  two  years  old  she  is  far  more 
likely  to  breed  and  continue  breeding  than  if  you  wait  until 
she  is  five  or  six.  At  a  sale  this  spring  we  came  across  a 
mare  which  had  produced  fifteen  living  foals,  and  was  in 
foal  again.  Needless  to  say  she  began  breeding  young,  and 
it  was  not  surprising  to  see  a  good  competition  for  her,  old 
as  she  was.  One  of  her  daughters,  also  in  foal,  was  offered 
at  the  same  time,  and  the  man  who  bought  her  must  have 
secured  a  bargain  if  there  is  any  virtue  in  blood. 
The  brood  mare,  besides  being  a  regular  breeder,  must 
be  a  good  mother,  i.e.,  well  able  to  support  her  foal,  and 
must  possess  a  good  constitution,  for  the  foal  will  take  after 
the  dam  in  constitution  and  after  the  sire  in  shape  and 
colour  ;  at  least,  this  is  the  general  rule.  As  mares  of 
weak  constitutions  are  generally  both  the  most  regular 
breeders  and  the  best  milkers,  the  great  value  of  one  which 
combines  these  two  good  qualities  with  a  sound  and  hardy 
frame  is  fully  obvious. 
In  choosing  a  sire  there  is  no  objection  to  an  aged  horse, 
and  there  is  no  better  testimonial  for  any  animal  than  the 
fact  that  he  has  reached  a  mature  age  wdthout  losing  his 
soundness  and  activity  ;  but  there  should  be  youth  on  one 
side  if  you  are  to  breed  a  vigorous  offspring,  and  old  sires, 
by  which  we  mean  those  which  are  as  near  twenty  as  ten 
years,  should  be  mated  with  young  mares. 
It  should  hardly  be  necessary  to  warn  people  against 
patronising  horses  which  are  hereditarily  unsound.  It  is 
allowed  by  the  greatest  authorities  that  both  sidebones  and 
wind  infirmities  are  hereditary,  but  in  the  latter  case  a 
little  allowance  may  be  made  for  horses  which  have  gone 
through  severe  attacks  of  congestion  and  pneumonia.  Still, 
there  is  always  good  reason  for  prejudice  against  such 
animals,  for  the  fact  that  they  have  contracted  such  com¬ 
plaints  shows  that  there  is  a  certain  predisposition  towards 
them,  and  we  would  prefer  to  use  a  horse  which  has  never 
been  on  the  sick  list. 
Farcy  and  grease  are  common  enough  complaints  with¬ 
out  perpetuating  them,  and  mares  who  have  any  such  ten¬ 
dencies  should  not  be  used  for  breeding.  A  farmer  would 
be  mad  to  use  a  stallion  showing  symptoms  of  such  com¬ 
plaints,  but  young  horses  are  sometimes  brought  round  the 
country  and  well  patronised  which  would  be  scorned  if  they 
brought  their  dams  with  them.  There  is  this  advantage  in 
using  an  animal  of  high  pedigree,  that  his  family  history 
can  be  fully  ascertained. 
Foals  are  rather  numerous  this  year,  and  some  made 
their  appearance  several  weeks  ago.  The  difficulty  with 
early  foals  is  to  get  them  out  for  a  little  exercise,  and  for 
the  dams  to  get  a  bite  of  grass  without  risk  of  chills.  Until 
the  middle  of  May  there  is  always  risk  in  turning  foals  out, 
the  weather  changes  so  quickly.  It  is  now  most  unsuitable 
for  any  young  foal  to  be  exposed,  for  the  hardiest  of  them 
are  but  delicate  creatures,  and  a  sudden  shower  of  sleet,  or 
even  of  rain  following  a  period  of  bright  sunshine  may  quickly 
result  in  chill,  inflammation,  and  death.  A  bite  of  grass  is  good 
for  the  mare  and  a  little  exercise  is  good  for  the  foal,  but 
at  first  the  mare  should  not  be  left  in  the  field,  but  led 
about,  and  the  foal  must  not  be  allowed  to  lie  on  the  damp 
ground.  After  being  taken  out  a  few  times  for  an  hour  or 
two  she  may  be  left  to  graze  at  will,  but  as  long  as  there  is 
any  chance  of  a  shower  a  man  should  be  at  hand  to  bring 
mare  and  foal  under  shelter. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
A  week  ago  we  wer^  remarking  on  the  absence  of  frost,  but, 
alas!  we  have  liad  enough  the  last  few  nights  to  last  us  for  the 
remainder  of  thi.s  spring.  Fro.sty  nights,  with  northerly  winds 
and  showers  of  sleet  and  snow  during  the  day,  have  checked 
vegetation,  and  we  are  afraid  may  have  done  serious  damage  to 
the  Plum  orchards,  which  have  been  miracles  of  snowy  beauty. 
It  has  been  very  bad  for  the  young  clover  where  it  was  stocked 
with  sheep,  and  farmers  who  liave  been  at  their  wit’s  end  what 
to  do  with  their  Swedes  will  now  be  glad  to  have  some  left. 
Young  cattle  which  have  been  got  out  to  grass  must  be  well 
looked  after,  and  brought  up  into  shelter  if  necessary.  If  the 
grass  fields  have  plenty  of  shelter  from  the  north  and  west,  and 
a  good  supply  of  dry  food  is  given  to  the  beaists,  it  may  be  better 
to  leave  them  out  than  to  go  through  the  hardening  process 
again.  Feeding  pastures  must  be  affected  by  the  cold,  and  the 
bullocks  must  not  be  .stinted  as  regards  cake,  for  it  is  the  earliest 
grass  beef  which  makes  the  highest  price. 
The  land  has  dried  well,  and  work  is  once  again  proceeded 
with  under  favourable  conditions.  We  are  ploughing  up  the 
last  Turnip  folds,  and  very  rough  the  land  is  ;  a  great  deal  of 
rolling  and  chisel  harrowing  will  be  needed  to  produce  a  Barley 
tilth.  The  American  cultivators  are  dragging  a  piece  of  fallows 
which  will  be  sown  with  Swedes.  There  is  little  or  nothing  to 
drag  up,  but  the  rams  had  soddened  the  surface.  We  are  loosen¬ 
ing  it,  and  shall  let  it  dry  a  little  in  the  rough  state  before 
ploughing  it  over.  It  will  then  remain  unmoved  until  it  is 
ridged  up  and  manured  a  month  hence. 
We  hope  to  have  our  Mangolds  sown  before  we  write  again. 
It  is  cold  enough  now,  but  may  be  warm  before  the  little  .seed¬ 
lings  are  up.  The  land  is  good  and  dry,  so  we  have  little  fear 
of  frost  should  it  come  after  the  Mangolds  appear.  Wheat  .stilt 
looks  very  well,  and  is  strong  enough  to  stand  the  cold  weather; 
in  fact,  drier  weather  will  really  suit  it  now.  Young  Barley,  on 
the  other  hand,  looks  very  yellow,  and  will  suffer  severely  if  the 
frosty  weather  continues. 
The  boom  in  pigs  is  .sustained.  We  saw  two  very  small  ones 
sold  to-day  for  40s.  each.  Mangolds  at  4s.  6d.  per  load  at  the 
same  sale  looked  useful  at  the  priceT  and  sold  in  a  snowstorm. 
- «  I - 
Newton  Rig'g  Farm  School. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Agricultural  Sub-Committee  of  the  Cum¬ 
berland  County  Council,  the  secretary  (Mr.  Conrtenay  Hodg.son) 
announced  that  the  Board  of  Agriculture  had  been  pleased  to 
make  a  grant  of  £100  to  the  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland 
Farm  School  in  consideration  of  the  valuable  work  carried  on 
there,  as  evidenced  in  the  reports  of  the  Board’s  inspector. 
Imp-rtant  Agricultural  Appointment. 
Mr.  Alex.  Holm,  .jun.,  F.H.A.S.,  gold  medallist  R. A. S.E.,  son 
of  Mr.  A.  Holm,  Lawrence  Farm,  Buckland,  lias  been  appointed 
manager  of  the  Government  Farm  at  Potohefstroom.  Mr.  Holm 
was  educated  at  Wye  Chllege,  where  he  gained  a  Governors’ 
Scholarship  on  entrance,  and  afterwards  passed  the  examination 
of  the  Highland  and  Agricultural  Society  of  Scotland,  and  won 
the  gold  medal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England. 
Mr.  Holm  during  the  last  few  years  has  done  valuable  work  as 
lion,  secretary  of  the  Surrey  and  West  Kent  Milk  Producers’ 
Association. 
