Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1890-11-26
AFTER DEATH, WHAT
SoR A HORSE 1T MEANS MANY
THINGS.
&c ia as Useful After Death as Before.

HcIahShO4iN-l -lnJkIng old horse
with consumptive aspect presumably
engendered by long periccz q I.ni-
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. \ policeman
who was passing stopped for moment
10 inspect the corpse, and then went
into n shop on the corner to ring up a
telephone Ten minutes flew bv. aud
= man with q business-like air and a
large wart on his nose made his wav
through the little crowd thaC
surrounded the dead animal. The
ash man he addressed briefly
in whisper and presently
handed him five silver dollars. After
| eyeing the money for a few seconds
with the air of one consOled for a mis-
fortune the ash man put it in 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 rerson
with wart on his nose, that the
poor beast was TO be congratulated
upon having finished his career OF use
| fulness in this world. The man with
the wart griuned and replied that the
unfortunate creatures usefulness, far
from being finished, had only begun
The philsnthropic citizen did not
understand the meaning of this re-
sponse; but he would have compre-
hended IL better If he had waited a
minute or so more, at the end of which
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 it. 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. Ii would live again il the fruits
and flowers and waving grain, TO
which it might contribute the elements
of growth.
After awile the draw came to d stop
in front of all 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 10 the very unpleasant
smells which thicken the atmosphere OF
| the locality. The carcass was unioaded.
and, having been conveyed into the
building, was hoisted to the second
hOor- There an expert operator set 10
work upon it with a keen knife and
| quickly removed the entire skin, the
/ portion covering the head and tail III
| cluded. The fayed animal was then
| cut up into SIX parts, which were
| thrown into a big iron kettle with
| steam jacket and boiled four hours. At
! the end of tins time the biz bones,
| loosened from the flesh BY cooking.
| were separated from the mass of meat
/ with rakes for subsequent grinding up
into bone fertilizer, which l. very eN-
| pensive, but contains elements that re
store the nutritive power To the soil in
| y wonderful manner. For whereas
fertilizers made of flesh produce a good
I 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 it 80 largely contains, are mar
velous growth producers
But, a. was about 10 be said, the
| flesh and little bones, after the big
! bones had been taken out, were put
/ under = powerful press, big enough 10
accommodate half ton, and squeezed
| until nearly every particle OF water
| and grease had been forced out of the
| tissue Then the mass was placed IN
| q steam dryer with two jackets, be-
| tween which steam was continually
| flowing around, and after a while II
came out dry as 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-
! sembled Lone Jack tobacco more than
anything else. Ii had no offensive
| smell, and the Star reporter was in
| formed that il would last indefinitely
/ without exhibiting a sign of decay or
uhange. In this form, put up IN bags,
I il was ready for the farmer-an excel
| lent fertilizer, though by no means
equal to ground bone. Ii is much
cheaper, however.
And now, presumably, yos are
under the impression that you know
| all about the postmortem history OF
! horse. By no means You have not
| vet been told that his skin goes 70
/ PHILADELPHIA or New York, and is
made into base ball covers. Nothing
so tough as a horsehide, and, there
fore, so we'll adapted to that purpose,
has vet been discovered. The hair Of
| The name and tail is the best pCSslBl4
! material for a curled-hIir mattress
The hoofs are ground up into tn
finest gardeners fertilizer known, aui
the most costly of all fertilizers, owInl
to the difficulty of grinding them
| The result is called ''hoot meal" AMI
J its value from the gardeners point o!
/ view. is largely owing 20 the preSencI
| in it of great percentage OF amrnonl2-
Very likely, however, the hooit
NAV be utilized in the manufacture ot
an excellent quality of glue, or II may
/ be that the chemist VIII adapt theih 10
the various uses of his own, among
others to the making Of that exquisite
| color of Persian blue. Besides, the
| hair NAV be used for hair cloth and
6sh lines. and the bones for animal
| charcoal and buttons.
| The mule Is useful after death Tor
sery much the same purposes as ths
horse. The fertilizer-maker finds nm
aonaIIv available. Nor does the manu-
factnrer of fertilizer disdsin the hog'
and cows that die natural death'
Offl from the slaughter-houses ne oe.
nends upon largely for his supphes o.
material. which is all prepared IN the
.ame vay. Heads and feet and Other
80 nortions of animals killed IN the