Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-11-07
AFTER DEATH, WHAT
cop A HORSE 1T MEANS MANY
THINGS.
he is as Useful After Death as Before.

Bays t1e W dsuitlSlOu Ctdr IL was
very misunderstanding old horse
with a consurnptive aspect presumably
cngendered by long periods of semi
starvation, and when it fell dead sud-
denly in the shafts of an ash wagon
opposite the Patent Office, the colored
man who drove the cart did not evince
any marked surprise. A policeman
who was passing stopped for moment
to inspect the corpse, and then went
into shop on the corner TO ring up
telephone. Ten minutes flew by, and
man with a business-like air and a
large wart on his nose made his way
through the little crowd that
surrounded the dead animal. The
ash man he addressed briefly
in whisper and presently
handed him five silver dollars. After
cycling the money for a few seconds
with the air of one consoled for mis-
fortune the ash man put itin his pocket
and walked off, probably to borrow
another horse for the purpose of drag
ging his wagon home. AS the crowd
broke up philanthropic pedestrian re-
marked, with sigh, to the person
with a wart on his nose, that the
poor beast was to be congratulated
upon having finished his career of use
funess in this world. The man with
the wart grinned and replied that the
unfortunate creatures usefulness, far
from being finished, had only begun.
The philanthropic citizen did not
understand the meaning of this re-
sponse; but he would have compre-
hended it better if he had waited
minute or so more, at the end of which
a heavy dray was driven up alongside
the pavement and two men with an
inclined plane Of boards and rope
tackle pulled the dead horse upon the
vehicle and drove away with 1t. The
bystanders noticed that the dray was
marked in big letters with the name of
such-and-such a firm, manufacturers
of superior fertilizers"
This, then, was to be the destiny of
the deceased quadruped. Unlike the
egg that chirps at breakfast, it had
not survived the period of its useful
ness. 1t would live again in the fruits
and flowers and waving grain, TO
which it might contribute the elements
of growth.
After awhile the dray came to a stop
in front of an ugly-looking building
on the Potomac bank at the other end
of Georgetown. The men did not hold
their noses, but that was because they
were used to the very unpleasant
smells which thicken the atmosphere of
the locality. The carcass was unloaded,
and, having been conveyed into the
building, was hoisted to the second
floor. There an expert operator set TO
work upon it with keen knife and
quickly removed the entire skin, the
portion covering the head and tail in
cluded. The fiayed animal was then
cut up into six parts, which were
thrown into big iron kettle with a
steam jacket and boiled four hours. At
the end Of tins time the big bones,
loosened from the flesh by cooking,
were separated from the mass of meat
with rakes for subsequent grinding up
into bone fertilizer, which is very eX-
pensive, but contains elements that re-
store the nutritive power to the soil in
wonderful manner. For whereas
fertilizers made of flesh produce good
effect that is merely temporary, the
ground bone supplies the appetite of
the hungry loan in way that really
lasts. Nitrogen, carbon and lime,
which ii so largely contains, are mar
velous growth producers.
But, as was about to be said, the
flesh and little bones, after the big
bones had been taken out, were put
under powerful press, big enough to
accommodate half ton, and squeezed
until nearly every particle of water
and grease hn.l been forced out OF the
tissue Then the mass was placed in
a steam dryer with two jackets, be-
tween which steam was continually
flowing around, and after while it
came out dry as a chip. Not bit of
grease or moisture, in which the ele-
ments of decomposition are propagated
remained, and the residue, after being
ground up fine in sort of mill, re-
sembed Lone Jack tobacco more than
anything else. 1t had no offensive
smell, and the Star reporter was in
formed that it would last indefinitely
without exhibiting a sign of decay or
change. In this form, put up in bags,
it was ready for the farmer-an excel
lent fertilizer, though by no means
equal to ground bone. 1t is much
cheaper, however.
And now, presumably, you are
under the impression that you know
all about the postmortem history of
horse. By no means. You have not
yet been told that his skin goes to
Philadelphia or New York, and is
made into base ball covers. Nothing
SO tough as horsehide, and, there
fore, so well adapted to that purpose,
has yet been discovered. The hair of
the name and tail is the best possible
material for a curled-hair mattress.
The hoofs are ground up into the