Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-12-14
Cattle in Palace Cars.
NEW DsPARruRs IN THE TRANsroHra-
rArioN OF LIVE SrocK.

/ During last wear sos, 900 head of cattle ar
rived at the Central Stock Yards, Jersey City,
and this year the aggregate promises to De
over tnp 600 When il is considered that the
bovines are sent hither rom the West, the
4 question of transportation becomes an im-
portsnt one. A bullock will lose from thirty
| five to seventy pounds in the coarse of tran
sit between the shipping point and this city,
and il has been serious matter for consider
alton with owners and shippers as to how this
loss can be best prevented.
= A lot of cattle arrived the other day at tn"
Central Stock Yards from Kansas City, Mo-,
| in two s'Palace" stock cars, the patent OF
Western man named Kingly. The custom
| has been and is to feed and water the stock
at regular intervals along the read. Al Pitts
burg. Harrisburg, and Philadelphia there are
yards into which the cattle are turned from
the stock cars for refrcshment and rest. Mr..
kingly designed his cars to afford the cattle
| food and water in transit, and it has been de-
clared that his patent marks an era in the
transportation of cattle. How far he s right
| can only be Judged by the evidence of practi-
! cal Witnesses, one of whom is Assistant Sup
| erintendent Fowler of the Jersey City Stock
Yards. who testified as follows, when exan,-
iued by Star reporter yesterday: ~ :
During the years l have been in this line
| of business have given considerable atten-
ton to the subject of stock transportation
| he said. There have been several patents
designed to prevent the loss in value result
ing from long journey by rail, and the lat
est Is that of Mr.. Kingly. Two cars came
on the day after Thanksgiving, and brought
thirty-six head of cattle. ] examined them,
and found that they were admirably arranged
MS to theory. but very defective in practice.
Each car was divided into eighteen stalls,
built at angles of about thirty degrees, and
feet 6 inches wide. In the wall of the car
was bin containing feed, which was forced
hy lever or crank in trough in each stall.
The water supply was arranged on a like prin-
ciple. The partition between each bin was
oak, and the entire arrangements were of a
superior character which may have deserved
for the the title Palace
Then you consider the cars a success?"
Not in the light of practical results. In
one steer was found dead Being con-
fined in his stall, without the exercise that Is
| as necessary to the brute beast as to the hu-
man being, he developed something akin to
dropsical affection and died Three other
steers had, in resting in the narrow confines
of their stalls, become entangled in the parti-
tons, and were crippled in the process Of re-
lieving them. Therefore the new cars cannot
be adjudged success In the ordinary cars
the cattle are not confined to three fcpt, six.
or any other particular space. From sixteen
to twenty head are allotted to a car, and they
have a certain freedom of movement not per-
mitted them in the new cars
''Is exercise absolutely necessary on this
short journey"
"Yes. Cattle need to stretch as much as to
eat and Mr.. Kinglv's arrangement does not
permit that. Certainly an improvement is
needed, and have no doubt that human in
genuity is equal to the task Of supplying it.
The saving of seventy pounds in the weight
of bullock is very important item. and the
saving must be effected. Another objection
to the new idea is that the patent cars weigh
$50 pounds more than the ordinary ones. -
". J. Star.