The Future Of The Horse

" Thero has of late been a steady declino in tho valuó of tho horse, according to a report from the department of agricnlture showing tho valne of farm animáis ou Jan. 1, 1897. lts treatment of the statistics in relntion to the horse is especially ïuteresting. The decline :n the pricfS of horsos is usually actributed to the rapid introdnotiou of the trolley and the bievclo, but the figures submitted by the department prove these to havo been but minor caujes. Most of the decline in prices is attribuled to the heavily iaoreased produ"tion of horses ou ranges of tho west v. id the facilities afforded for liandling the trafile by the railway. The world 1...3 nover before seen go largo a región suddenly made availabJe for horse breeding. Detweeu tho ytars ÏHH'J and 1893 the nnnober of Lorses in MoVitmia, Wyomii; r, Colorado, New Mexico and farthcr west increased from 1,479,768 to 1,972,688, er abuu.t one-third. In 18CG the average prioeof horses in the United States was f GO. 86. Prom 1S83 to 1889 tl.t) avLi-ge price ranged bet v een v?0. 59 aüd $7-1.64, tho latter prico having Iieen ree bed iu 1884. By laya tñe nverayc was üö.UJ. The rapid declino set in aftcr ]893, in which year the aversgs price . as $61. 2a. The figuro iu 1894 vus $47.83, iu 1S05 $30.29, iu 189G $33.07 anrl at the beginniug of the present year $31.61. On western ranges tho pnces are abovit the lowest on record. The average price of a borse there is but two-flfihs of what it waa in 1884, and of mules less than oue-half. Iu soné parts of the rango country horses are rated at $2 a head. They have eveu been giveu away or shot to save pasturage. Cheap western horses have ebecked breediug in the east aud south, and it is well known that their quality is inferior to that of the horses displaced. The department of agricnltnre thiuks the outlook is encouraging. Since 1893 tbe nuinber of horses iu the western división has declined from 1,972,523 to 1,020,402, or nearly 18 per cent. Our foreign exports of horses havo growu from 8,000 a year prior to 1893 to 000 in 1S06. The horco hai lost ïuuch of its valuó as a product in westera breediug areas, and theywill bedevoted to industries tbat pay better. All improviug deinand is reported for tho better class of horses, especially yonng ones, for draft and driving purposes. The departiuent expresses tho belief that "the depression iu the horse inarket bas already passed its lowest poiut. " Probably there is no directiou in which the breeder can look for better prices more hopefully than in that of good quality. At all events, the market for cheap horses of poor quality is groatly overstocked, says Home and Farm, which recently called attention to the foregoing statistics i its editorial coluwua. Alfalfa In Illinois. C. C. Georgesou is authority for the statement tliat alfalfa can be growu successfully in northern Illinois if a suitablo soil js selected. It prefers a deep, eomewhat porous subsoil, snch as we flnd in alluvial river bottonis, tut it will also do well on any reasonably good ujilaud soil where tha roots can penetrate eigljt or ten feot. The climatic couditions of northerñ Illinois sbould bo no obstado to its successfnl culture. Iu Illinois, whero the rainfall is usually sufficicnt for tho growth of crops and vhere tlx; sunimer drought is seldom st vore, alfalfa seed can be sown with oats in the spring, as grass or clover is sown, either broadeast or drilled. If, on tbe other hand, there is danger of drought in July, the young alfalfa might suffer severely after tho removal 3f tho oats. In that caso it would be better to sow tho seed by itself. Alfalfa cau bo sown in July or the begiuning of Angust with good success. It requires 20 pounds of alfalfa to soed an acre. Chaneing Varieties of Corn. The Ohio station's tests do not encourage tbe making of abrupt changes iu tbe variety of coru grown in a giveu locality. Some of tbe most valuable porta, such aHLeaiuing and Hess' White, have beeu fixed by oareful selection through a considerable period of time iu single loculities, and thus far there has been no evidence that such sorts may not continue to improve under the same method of tieatment, butwbeu removed to a different soil and climate these same sorts aro often disappointing. Even wbeii the differenees in íatitnde are small, if the charaeter of the soil hu radically different there is likely to be considerable variation in the behavior of the erop.