Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-07-16
Horses as Food.

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Horses as Food.
Visitors to the geological garden
have noticed down in the lower end OF
the grounds, a little to the right Of the
place where the polar bears are kept,
line Of low, rambling buildings built
against the fence which separates the
grounds from long strip of land lying
betWocn the gardens and the Now York
branch OF the Pennsylvania Railroad.
| Tho lsse of these buildings is gool
deal better than the rest, being tall.
close, frame shanty of pine boards, ant
having door to il. The others, small
er, more uneven and without any doors,
are nothing more than mere sheds or
stalls. Always in front Of them will
DO seen 4 pile Of clover hay, with half
a dozen, more or less, sorry-looking
horses, the sole occupants of the sheds,
feeling thereon. An inspection of
these animals will usually show u
plethora of defects in the way of dam
aged eyes or spawned joints or broken
wind, all, in the maj GRITTY Of instances,
being the regular Accomplishments of
old age and being but another way
|
weight of years and past his stage of
usefulness. Occasionally younger ami
mails may be seen in tthe stalls, but
these are also suffering from some af
Fiction Of body or limb, and stand on
the same footing as the rest.
These horses, when once they get
under the aboye-le scrlbea sheds, have
all one common destiny-they are to
be killed and dressed as food for the
animals of the geological garden. The
chief intoxicating animals are the lions,
tigers, leoparas, pumas and hyenas.
Altogether they consume about 175
pounds of horse meat a day. Four
horses week is the usual average in
keeping up the supply of these animals
alone.
AS to the cost of the horse meat for
the other animals, this is not SO much
AS might be imagined. The horses arc
usually purchased at the horse market
by one of the employees at the gardens,
who has all such work in charge. The
horses, as above stated, are usually
animals which have become superannu-
ated and useless. The average price
paid per head is about five dollars. A.
four horses per week suffice the cost
for horse meat foots up to about twenty
dollars week. The lions, tigers, Loop
ards aud pumas are not the only ami.
mails that are fed on horse meat. The
wolves and foxes and prairie dogs and
monkeys and black bears also come in
for their share of the supplies, being
fed almost altogether on this kind of
meat. 1t is regarded rs singular that
| Ia
ards-should make no distinction be-
tween horse meat and beef, albait ii is
& point decidedly in favor with tho
pocket-books of the corporators of the
gardens. For four years preceding
their discovery that the animals would
eat horse meat as we'll as beef, they
kept feeding them on the latter. Two
years ago it was found that they would
eat the flesh of horses as quick ~ that
of COWS, and provision was made ac-
coriinglx, Since then the society has
ben pratticing judicious economy by
feeding the animals on horse meat alto
gether, and they save about fifty per
cent.
Ali the horses that 90 to supply the
mt tt-eatiu5 animals are killed on the
Srouni, in the small slaughter
that stands d: the lower end of the row
OF sheds in the lover part of tue gar
den. -FhiiQdslphM Times.
what a Shoemaker Did by Study.
Most of our readers have heard of
:" the learned blacksmith" (Eiihu Bur-
ritz but "the learned shoemaker"
though not nearly so famous, was, in
his way, quite as remarkable maa.
Cnarles G. Frost, n learned shoe
Siaker, recently died at Brattle borough,
VT, aged seventy.four years. He re-
colye,t Il common-school education. and
learned his fathers trade. Suffering
from dyspepsia, he Was advised To walk
one hour every morning ana cYeniue
in pursuit OF the field study of botany,
OF which lie was very fond.
He sent 10 London for standard
work On botany, AMI on its arrival, dis
covered that it was written in l. attn. a
language of which he was ignorant.
He bought Lltin gram uar, AMI in six
months could read his new book as
easily Us though it were written in Ea-
Ssish. In the same manner he master
ed French AMI German, anl his scieu-
tine studies soon caused him to be
widely known TO Swans.
He received the degree II A. NJ.
!ron D.rtn"utA AMI Miidlo1ary Cnl-
leges. He devoted part Of every day
/ tSun&ays excci''c'l) to the stu ~ of the
languages and sciences, and at the time
OF his death was well ve!s ed in geology,
mlneraiogy, entomology, zoology, con
cLoiogy, metecrology aud botany es
! peciaily the latter, to which he devoted
! his PARTICULAR attention. aud il the dc.
partment Of cryptog4uls he became 8
leading authority.