VOL. LVH.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., JULY 26, 1902.
NO. 30
GIVE EXPERIENCE IN RAISING HORSES EOR
FARM USE AND FOR THE MARKET.
WHAT TYPE IS MOST PROFITABLE?
Fall Breeding Satisfactory,
lat   Premium.—
There has been a mania among the average farmer to cross breed in all of our
domestic animals and the result has been
that we have a mongrel set of mares to
start from and can not get a very definite
type of horse from such mares for like
begets like and bio d tells. Well you
ask what I shall do with my mongrel
mare I say breed her and then breed her
progeny, in the same line and not jump
from the draft to the race horse and then
from the race horse to the draft. If you
choose to breed more than one type keep
them iu line for the most foolish thing for
tin* farmer to do is to cross breed in any
ot tho domestc animals. Your first cross
may do well but after two or three crosses
you cannot tell what to expect. You cau
start from a scrub, if you have nothing
l clter, aud breed in a straight line, and in
a few generations you will have a pretty
good horse, sheep, cow, or hog, but never
if you cross back and forth. Style and
color has much to do with the price of
your horse, and how can you expect any
definite style or color in cross breeds. If
you do not like the draft try the coach
horse, but leave the race hoise to the
jockey and the gambler, for there is not
one in* a thousand that brings its thousands, and if they do it is after they have
left the farmer's hands, at a nominal price.
My experience in fall breeding of my farm
mares was very satisfactory. My colts
came the last of August or the first of September, a leisure time for farm mares;
kept in a warm stable through winter,
weaned iu spring and turned on grass, the
marc is ready for farm work, and without
much loss in the busy season; and then you
have more time to look after your mare
and colt, for the colt should never know
when it is broken, or in other words that
it was ever broken*. I do not want to
deter you from having a good buggy horse,
but 1 would let the other fellow raise him;
or you may often get a good buggy horse in
breeding your mougrel mares to draft
Btock, for you can not tell what you may
(jel in the first cross; but breed for a definite type. You may ride on the steam
car, electric car, automobile or bicycle,
Inn the average mau will prefer his horse
ami buggy. Give me a stylish sixteeu-
hand high, thirteen to fourteen hundred
pound horse to a buggy, and you may
ride on all the rattle traps you like. The
horse is here to stay. There is another
point in favor of the draft horse after he
is Iwo years old you can work him al light
work, enough to pay his keep until he is
ready for heavier work and the market.
You need not fear competition with the
range horse longer, for the range is a
thing of the past. You should feed your
colt for bone and muscle until well developed, but never put a poor horse in flesh
on the market, for fat and flesh cover many
defects. My father used to say that most
any one could tell what a poor horse was
bin it took a good judge to see through
a fat horse. A good horse is a very sensitive animal and you should not think of
-peaking to him in a loud and angry manner, any more than to your wife and children. We used to criticise the slave owner
for his harshness to his slave, are we less
culpable for our conduct toward our horse?
Marion Co. I. \. C.
Breed to the Beit.
2d Premium.—
Horse breeding or horse raising should
be just like everything that a farmer undertakes. First, select the breed that you
like best. Second, breed to the best that
you can find. The best are none too good
for the farmer, and he will find that it
pays to breed to the best, regardless to
cost of stud fees. A man had better pay
$20 for a colt that will mature into a horse
that will sell for $150 to $250 rather than
pay $5 to $10 for a colt that he can't
sell, or get only $100 for. The trouble in
this neighborhood is that the farmer counts
his fee money first; then hunts the stallion
that he can get for the least money. Then
he wonders why he can't sell his horses
lor as much as his neighbor does. Breed
to the best stallion you can, regardless of
fee. I prefer the draft breed for the
tarmer. I always breed to the best, and
have no trouble to sell my colts, or keep
them till they mature, at good prices.
When horses were low I bred to a good
draft stallion, I will not name breed for
the draft breeds are all good, paying $15
for a colt. Neighbors thought I was
crazy for paying such a large fee, when I
could breed to a good horse for $8 aud
get just as good a colt, they thought. But
when my colt came, two of them, they
could begin to tell a difference. Tney
grew right along, and looked big enough to
work almost anytime, and by the time
they were old enough to wean I was offered $75 a piece for them. Now those
two colts did not take any more feed or
care than an $8 colt would, in fact not as
much for good stock of any kind will not
take as much feed and care to make good
stuff as the scrub will, and what a pleasure it is to have something that everybody
wants, always wants you to price it to
them. What is it to have stock that you
always have to be working with to try to
make something out of, and have everybody making bad remarks about it. I
think there is more money in the draft
horse for the farm, for market, than any
breed of horses. They are easy to raise,
and you can always sell them any time
after they are weaned, at good profit. Iu
the draft you are more apt to get au even
lot of colts than the light breed. If yon
breed trotters you will have to wait till
they art broken. If they show speed you
can sell at a good profit, if they don't
show speed they are no good for anything
1 s y farmers should breed drafters and
breed the best. An importer told me once
that when he commenced importing he
stood his stallion at $20, aad offered to
1 ay $100 for the colt at weaniug time. The
farmer* bred, time rolkd on, colts began
to come, "ornery" they thought; so they
set up a howl for too high colts no good.
So when breeding time came again they
went and bred to a grade for $10 in the
fall. The importer went around. He
drove up to the farmers and wanted to
see those ornery colts that the women
could carry in their aprons. The farmers
hung their heads. Well come around to
the barn lot. What did the importer see?
Good, big strong colts. The farmers told
him that they made one mistake; they did
not breed back to his stallion, but had
gone und bred to a grade which they were
sorry for when they saw the colts maturing. W. R. M.
Carroll Co.
raised in the haphazard sort of a way, several colts and believe that I have derived
some valuable lessons that might be profitable to others by enabling them to avoid
some of the mistakes that I have made
Wheu I first thought of raising colts the
Norman craze was at its hight, and horses
being too high, any sort of a colt selling
for $50 at weaning time. Without much
study or thought I raised a couple of Normans, partly- because it was convenient
aud partly because it was fashionable.
Just about this time, on account of their
color, the Normans became unpopular.
Their many good qualities were forgotten
and everybody said: "We must raise
horses of a better color, because grays are
too hard to keep clean." My fancy was
rheu attracted by a Bedbuck, but the colt
being too small, I then tried the Cleveland
Bays. About this time the public be**an
Tto clamor again for more size and a nice
large, black Norman coming iuto the
neighborhood I again raised a Norman,
uud was well pleased with it. By this
lime the horse market was very dull, colts
conld scarcely be sold at any price and
only the very besl horses would sell for
enough to pay for raising, so becoming
discouraged I quit the business. After a
tew years horses became more valuable,
so profiting somewhat by my former mistakes, I looked around for a horse that
combined both size and action and decided
upon the German Coach. I have raised
two of these colts with which I am well
pleased but as they are not mature horses
yet, cannot say whether they will give
general satisfaction or not, but believe
they will. The horse for the general
farmer is also the one that he can sell for
most profit. It would be a mistake for
him to try to raise two types of horses.
This should be left for horse fanciers. The
average farmer requires a horse that combines size, action, speed, endurance and
gentleness. Most all the draft breeds
have these qualities. A horse of this class
is always salable. Before we began the
raising of the drafts nearly every farmer
had one or two balky horses but I now
haven't seen one for years. Every breeder
should select the variety that he likes lest
and then stick to it as long as he lives.
The ones that have done this have been
successful. They became known as a
breeder of this variety, and when anyone
wants a horse of that sort they will know
where to go to find him. If he changes
from one breed to another he will never
have any particular type of horses. The
draft breeds are most profitable to the
general farmer, and next in order are the
Coachers. After beginning with the Normans, my mistake was in not sticking to
them, because, with the exception of color,
they were just the kind of horses I needed
and they would have sold most anytime
for good money. The text is: "Select one
breed aud then stick to it through thick
and  thin." Farmer.
Morgan Co.
No. 336, Aug. 16.—Tell why the farmer
and his family should attend the State
fair.
Stick to One Breed.
3d Premium.—
While my experience as a horse raiser
has not been very extensive, still I have
Premiums of $1, 75 cents and 50 cents
are given for the first, second and third
best articles for the Experience Department each week. Manuscript should be
sent direct to the Indiana Farmer Company and should reach us on* week before
date of publication.
Topics for discussion in future numbers
of the Farmer are as follows:
No. 334, Aug. 2.—Tell how to select
calves for beef qualities, and how to treat
them through fall and winter.
No. 335, Aug. 9.—Discuss the economic
value of paint. How, when and where
should it be nsed?
postal (£>awtspamltnct.
Noble Co., July 18.—Raining to-day; much bay
and nearly all tbe wheat out; it has been rery
tedious getting bay made on account of bo mucb
rain; during tbe few days of wheat cutting waa
good weather; no threshing done yet in tbls flection; fat cattle and bogs scarce; corn scarce,
worth 65c; wbeat 75c; oata about 42c; butter 15c;
eggs 15c; pasture plenty; corn looking nice, but
a little late; health good. O. U W. H.
Putnam Co., July 20.—We have been having flne
rains all week; tbe prospect is very good for corn;
wbeat all cut and some threshing done; quality
■ad yield good; we have a heavy crop of oats,
not all harvested on account of rain; timothy
meadows good, and most alll harvested; stock
cattle   scarce;   no   hogs   to   speak   of.
S.   G.   W.
Morgan Co., July 19.—Oats fine; wheat good;
grass very good; stock in excellent condlton; very
uttle fruit in this county; corn 70c; wheat worth
75c;   eggs   15c. N.   S.
.Ripley Co., July 19.—A good rain to-day; lust
what we wanted for tbe corn; wbeat, hay and
outs is secured; we have the best crops, all in all,
for many years; wheat will average 25 bushels
l>er acre; oats a full crop; potatoes a delight to
see;   stock   in  fine  condition. J.   B.
Rush Co., July 19.---Wheat Is yielding well, making from 15 to 45 bushels to the acre; the larger
part making from 20 to 30 bushels to the acre;
we never had a better prospect for corn; oats
good but lodged considerably; pastures fine; some
bog cholera  reported. W.   E.   C.
Noble Co., July 18.—Good rain tbis morning;
eorly corn good; late don't seem to grow; oats
extra good, with good crop of hay, which Is
mostly put up in good condition; wbeat not unite
nil cut yet as everything came ln a rush the
same time; threshing commenced; apples not very
plenty; plums scarce; stock of all kind doing well.
M.  J.  G.
Washington Co., July 18.—Weather haa been very
warm the past week; had a good rain the ICtb;
corn began to need It badly; wheat threshing going on rapidly; not turning out well; oats all lu
the shock. good crop; hay most all harvested;
good crop of potatoes; all kinds of vegetables
plentiful;  fruit of all kind   very  scarce.
I.   T.   A.
Morgan Co., July 19.—Frequent rains have hindered hay making; wheat all threshed, average
yield 15 busbels per acre; corn looks well; oats
good, a small fruit crop; pastures are fine and
stock   looks   well,   prices  are  good. (
A. H.
Huntiugburg, Dubois Co., July 21.—Wheat
threshing will soon be over, with a moderate yield;
oata are rather short on account of the dry spring;
plenty of rain now; corn looks fine: early potatoes
good and plentiful; not much fruit of any kind;
soma few grasshoppers, but don't think we could
catc-i 12 bushel; don't forget the free street carnival at Huntingburg on August 25 to 30; health
nothing to brag of; stock looks well; hogs scarce;
hay  making ls all the go now. I.   L.  P.
swit zerland Co., July 21 .—Considerable wheat
Is being threshed lu this community, yield good;
quality poor in river bottoms, but good on the
hills; oats are being harvested while some have
been threshed; good yeilds have been reported;
hay is about all harvested; second crop of clover
is looking fine and a big yield is anticipated:
heavy rains have fallen ln the last few days which
will make the early corn; wheat 78c at the landing. G.  C.
Fultou Co., July 19.—I have not seen a postal
report from Fulton county since February 20th;
plenty of rain; corn crop Bure where it was not
dmwu; wheat threshing from 15 to 25 bushels per
acre; ground very soft to run binders; big rain last
Dlgbt; oats ready to cut witn ground very soft;
plenty of pasture; some injured by overflow; the
local markets tbls week are, new wheat 68c; corn
60c; oats 38c; rye 56c; good lambs J4.50@5; butter 16c; eggs 15c. J.   B.
if tale 2pt»S.
R. A. Simpson, ot Vincennes, says he bas discovered the cause of apple rot, so damaging lu
that part of the state, and that he also has
a  preventive.
All the smallpox guards posted on roads lead-
lug to Knightstown have been withdrawn. The
epidemic Is dying out.
Posey county's melon crop U now oo the
move. Over flfty carloads of cantaloupe* have
been  sent   out.
Irving Black, of Portland, hauled to town what
Is supposed to be the largj-st load of wheat
ever hauled with one team—166 bushels and 40
pounds.
Thrashing has progressed far enough at Dublin
to Indicate that the average wheat yield ln that
vicinity will be at least twenty-five bushels per
acre.
A peculiar accident resulted in the death of a
valuable eow at the S. O. Mason home west of
this city. Tbe cow swallowed a snaU and Its
shell. The snail worked through the cow's diaphragm and entered the heart. Veterinary surgeons  consider  lt  a  remarkable  case.
Some unknown person visited the orchard of
Dt. J. T. Jessup. of Curtisville, six miles north
of Elwood, and with an ax chopped Into about
three hundred trees, damaging them so badly
that they will die. The identity of the vandal
is unknown. The orchard was one of the most
promising   in   this   section   of   the   country.