Chapter XVI · The Future Outlook
Reading edition
This book is written when war, and all that pertains to it, is the absorbing topic. In fact, no other will be listened to. What is the good of talking about such a peaceful occupation as that of agriculture while the nation is fighting for its very existence? To a certain extent this can be understood, but stock breeding, and more particularly horse breeding, cannot be suspended for two or three seasons and then resumed without causing a gap in the supply of horses coming along for future use.
The cry of the army authorities is for “more and more men,” together with a demand for a constant supply of horses of many types, including the weight-moving War Horse, and if the supply is used up, with no provision being made for a quantity of four-footed recruits to haul the guns or baggage waggons in the days to come, the British Army, and most others, will be faced with a problem not easily solved.
The motor-mad mechanic may think that his chance has come, but generals who have to lead an army over water-logged plains, or snow-covered mountains, will demand horses, hitherto—and henceforth—indispensable for mounting soldiers on, rushing their guns quickly into position, or drawing their food supplies and munitions of war after them.
When the mechanic has provided horseless vehicles to do all this, horse breeding can be ignored by fighting men—not before. But horses, particularly draft horses, are needed for commercial use. So far, coal merchants are horse users, while brewers, millers, and other lorry users have not altogether discarded the horse-drawn vehicle.
For taking loads to and from the landing stage at Liverpool heavy horses will be in great demand after the war—perhaps greater than they have ever been. The railways will continue to exist, and, while they do, powerful Shire geldings must be employed; no other can put the necessary weight into the collar for shunting loaded trucks.
During the autumn of 1914 no other kind of advice—although they got plenty of it—was so freely and so frequently given to farmers as this, “grow more wheat.”
If this has been acted upon, and there is no doubt that it has, at least to some extent, it follows, as sure as the night follows the day, that more horses will be required by those who grow the wheat. The land has to be ploughed and cultivated, the crop drilled, cut, carted home and delivered to mill, or railway truck, all meaning horse labour.
It may happen that large farmers will use motor ploughs or steam waggons, but these are beyond the reach of the average English farmer. Moreover, when bought they depreciate in value, whether working or standing idle, which is exactly what the Shire gelding or brood mare does not do. If properly cared for and used they appreciate in value from the time they are put to work until they are six or seven years old, and by that age most farmers have sold their non-breeders to make room for younger animals. Horse power is therefore the cheapest and most satisfactory power for most farmers to use in front of field implements and farm waggons, a fact which is bound to tell in favour of the Shire in the coming times of peace which we anticipate.
When awarding prizes for the best managed farm, the judges appointed by the Royal Agricultural Society of England are instructed to consider—
“General Management with a view to profit,” so that any breed of live stock which leaves a profit would help a competitor.
Only a short time ago a Warwickshire tenant farmer told his landlord that Shire horses had enabled himself and many others to attend the rent audit, “with a smile on his face and the rent in his pocket.”
Most landlords are prepared to welcome a tenant in that state, therefore they should continue to encourage the industry as they have done during the past twenty-five years.
Wars come to an end—the “Thirty Years’ War” did—so let us remember the Divine promise to Noah after the flood, “While the earth remaineth seedtime and harvest … shall not cease,” Gen. 8:22. As long as there is sowing and reaping to be done horses—Shire horses—will be wanted.
“Far back in the ages The plough with wreaths was crowned; The hands of kings and sages Entwined the chaplet round; Till men of spoil disdained the toil By which the world was nourished, And dews of blood enriched the soil Where green their laurels flourished: Now the world her fault repairs— The guilt that stains her story; And weeps; her crimes amid the cares That formed her earliest glory. The glory, earned in deadly fray, Shall fade, decay and perish. Honour waits, o’er all the Earth Through endless generations, The art that calls her harvests forth And feeds the expectant nations.”