Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-03-28

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1t will be seen by the above analysis
that FIVE millions or fve-eighths of the
whole number of horses In this country
are animals devoted to the ordinary
drudgery of horse life, and whose indi-
vidual value ranges from fifty dollars up
to S200 There are two more classes,
the first of which we will designate as
horses Of general utility, and the second
as fancy stock, the latter comprising the
fast horses of the land. The first of
these, the horses of general utility, COM
prise nearly three-ftths of the whole,
for they are aot only the fast and sty-
lish, but they are horses adapted in a
majority Of eases to most of the useful
purposes Of life, including the coach,
the express wagon, and the road. This
class Of horses we have ranged in value
from 5000 to $1,000. The third and
fancy class is a comparatively small one,
numbering about 10000, and includes
the running and the trotting horse, with
values ranging from s2500 to $4,000,
with the exceptional cases where they
bring as high as $4,000 or 10000
the latter figure having been paid for
the race horse Kentucky before he fell
lame, and So, 900 for Dexter, with 1885,
000 offered and refused for Bashaw, jr.
Within the past year Goldsmith Maid
sold for $4,000, Lady Thorn for sl7,-
500, with $4,000 refused for George
Palmer. The stations Fearnaught,
Rhode Island, George Wilkes and Draco
Prince, all of whom have trotted better
than 2:25, are individually valued at
over $4,000. As might be expected
from our table of valuations, the horses
designated as fancy horses are by no
means all horses that appear on the
turf, such horses being merely the selec-
tions, while the great mass are the pri-
vate horses of gentlemen of wealth and
leisure, who seek recreat excitement
and sometimes notoriety on the road.
The action Of agricultural and other
societies in Offering the large amounts
they do annually for horses to complete
at their exhibitions operates as a pow
erful incentive to the breeding of fine
horses, every breeder hoping to be able
to exhibit a Dexter, a Pocahontas, a
Lucy, or a Bashaw, jr., to the gaze of
admiring thousands and carry off pre-
MUM which will enrich him for life.
All this tends to greatly increase the
number of horses bred and the great ae-
cumulatiOn Of national wealth in that
speciality. The following are about the
prices paid for speed at the present
day A horse that can trot in 2:45 will
bring from S150G to $1,000; a dashing,
good, young ANIMAL of square action,
will command $500 to $4,000, while a
well-bred one, say Messenger or Ba-
shaw, for instance, that can trot in 2:35,
with a prospect of improvement, will be
sought after at $4,000 and one of either
of the above stock that can beat 2:30 is
considered cheap at $4,000, while for
every second in the twentes $1,000 extra
will be readily given.
From all that we have said above, and
which may be implicitly relied upon, as
having been drawn from the best sources
of information, the conclusion is una
voidable that our facts and figures indi-
cate a rapid increase in the number and
value of the horses in this country, so
great as to surprise all who have not
given attention to this subject, and
whose only opinion has been that of
mere conjecture.