The Penn's Grove record., 1884-07-05

81 never knew horses as scarce as
they are this year" said a well-known
horse dealer.
"Where do most of the horses that
are brought here come from p"
"Nearly all our heavy draft-horses
come from Ohio. We also receive a
good many from northern New York,
Minnesota, Indiana and Maine, and a
few from Canada. A good many young
horses are shipped from Canada West,
when they are perhaps two years old,
and are kept there from two to four
years, and then shipped here. They
are breeding much better horses in the
West than they were. Fifteen years
ago Western horses were not considered
of much account, but they have proved
themselves to be first-rate in every par
~ticular, and are now, on an average,
quite equal to Eastern horses. Many
of our best driving horses come from
Maine, Vermont and New York. They
bring, of course, all sorts of prices, &C
cording to style, weight, speed, etc.
Good draft-horses are worth from $500
to $40 apiece. Come out here, and L
will show you some beauties"
The animals exhibited were, indeed,
magnificent specimens of horseflesh,
weighing from 1900 to 1000 pounds
each, and measuring upwards of sixteen
hands.
"These,r continued the dealer, "are
from Normandy and Clydesdale stock.
L am very well satisfied to make profit
of $50 on of them. Very often l
don't make that. Such horses as we
sell to horse-car companies cost from
S155 to S170 each delivered here. On
these we calculate to make a profit OF
from $40 to S25 EACH"
elbow many horses are brought here
annually ?"
"About Is, 900 head came last year.
Formerly no horses were brought here
except in the Spring I; but they now ar
rive at all seasons. They are very apt
to have horse alp or pink eye soon
after reaching here, especially it they
stay in stables a great while. They are
not nearly as liable to these disorders
if they are at nee put to work. Per-
haps on~e.eighth Of the green ones are
sold at auction and the remainder at
private sale. There are, at least, hun
bred men in the city that make a busi-
ness of keeping and selling horses Of
different grades. Then there are a good
many transient dealers from all parts
of the country. They are here to-day
and there tomorrow ; and a good many
of them do not care to see their Gus
toners more than once.
Sowing to the great scarcity of horses
farmers are generally keeping their
mares, old and young, for breeding.
Fully three.quarters of the horses that
have been brought here this year are
geldings. Quite a percentage of the
horses that are sold at auction here are
sold on account of some fault"
Another large establishment was then
visited.
"Last week, " said the proprietor, "we
received an invoice of f~orty-eight Shet-
land ponies, direct from Glasgow. We
sold them nearly all at auction"
"What did they bring ?"
"About sos apiece. They were about
ten hands high, of all colors, and
weighed from 250 to 300 pounds each
not much larger than Newfoundland
dogs. We have n on hand now,
weighing only 205 pounds, for which
we have refused an offer of over 81 per
pound. Horseiesh comes pretty high
sometimes, doesn't it2 There is quite
a demand for donkeys now-from peo-
pie, l suppose, who have become accus-
toned to them abroad-but why they
buy them In preference to Shetland po-
nies-they cost about the same-I can
not understand"