The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1893-04-28

to what delay he referred. Explana-
lions followed, and Uncle Billy learned
| that no kilograms had been sent him
| by the firm of J. Madison Wright &
| Co. If any such were sent to him,
they were forgeries,',. the telegram
concluded.
'Bunkoed ~ exclaimed Uncle Billy,
land by tenderfeet too"
James Jackson and John Miller were
sitting on the veranda of a quaint lit
tie hotel in the south of France in the
early summer of 1884 A bottle of wine
| and box of cigarettes were on the
table. Miller was laughing uproar-
| iously.
You ought to have seen the look
| on the old mans face" said Jackson
as he lighted cigarette, when gave
him the deed. He actually thought
he was doing us up in great style. |
would have liked to have seen him
when he got into that sand bank
which he called IA mine"
Il suppose he has found out by this
time that sent those kilograms, " said
Miller IT'S he raised a glass of wine to
his lips "Oh, WE'LL" he continued
when he had drained the glass, sit was
only 100000, and he has more left,
while we will soon have to go to work
| again, for we have only $4,000 left.
Why, what is the matter, old mann
he suddenly asked as he observed his
companion gazing at London paper,
his face pale and his hand trembling.
What is the matter, old IMAM are
they after us?''
Read it, replied Jackson.
Miller picked up the paper and
read "The Denver Tribune records
| wonderful mining sale. William
Golden, the noted Colorado millionaire
and mine owner, has just sold the
uncle Billy mine on Fryer hill, Lead
vile, to an English syndicate for
81, 100000. During the past two years
| this has produced $500, 000."
Miller's face was white. His lips
| trembled as he said, We've been bun
koed r'-Neo0 York World.
THE TALUE OF HORSES.
Harpers Weekly.
The sooner the farmers of the United
| States realize the fact that the ordi-
nary and commonly bred horse is like
| ly to deteriorate in value year by year
| the better it will be for them. The use
of cables to drag street cars has already
| reduced the service performed by,
horses in the cities, and the extension
of the trolley system Sin the suburbs
and the perfection of electric motors
| will relieve many other thousands of
horses from such service. 1t has not
been SO very long since nearly all the
threshing was done byshorses now
only very small percentage of even
the threshing- are worked
by horsepower. Practically all of
the blowing is now done by horses;
but cheap and practical steam
pillow will be shown to visitors to
the Worlds FAIR, and it is not impro-
bable that in ten years from now
quite large percentage of blowing
will be done without the aid ofshorses.
The need in the cities and on the
! farms for fewer horses will tend more
| and more to reduce their market val
ne. Commonly bred horses will be
| the first to deteriorate in price; indeed
| it is doubtful whether finely bred
| horses will suffer at all. There is no
reason why they should. The pur-
poses for which they are used will not
! be affected by any inventions revolu
tionizing methods of transportation or
tillage. Even though we could fly in
the air with a balloon entirely under
control, a spin on the road behind a
pair of trotters or a gallop across coun-
try would give just as much pleasure
as ever it gave. The horses who get
the blue ribbons in the horse shows
will continue to be as valuable as
ever, while humber animals-those
that drag street cars and plows-
will be less valuable year by year.
This decrease in value has already
been noted, so far as farm animals are
concerned, by the statisticians of the
United States Department of Agricul
ture In 1892 the average value of
farm horse i'll the United States was
500. OF, and u mule $685.; in 1893 the
average farm horse is worth only
$6122 and the mule $70.68. Here is a
depreciation of 1919 in horses and
$4.S7 in mules. Notwithstanding the
the fact that there are 70S, 662 more
horses and is, 429 more mules on the
farms this year than last, the total
value of the horses and mules has de-
preciated more than twenty-five mil
| lion dollars. This is very hard indeed
on the farmers. Though they have
| to feed more than seven hundred
| thousand more horses and mules than
the year before, the stock in the mar
| ket is not worth as much as it was
| the year before by more than $25, 000,-
| 600. That sum does not really repre-
| sent the loss, for the horses are eating
all the while, and a source of contin-
uOuS expense. Had this increase in
| the number of horses been entirely of
| those that were well bred, the value
| of the farm horses would probably
have appreciated instead of decreased,
and the books would have shown a
profit instead of loss. A well bred
horse costs no more in food and atteu-
| ton than Il common one, and he is a
very much better investment. A
| horse of common breeding is sure to
| be a common and uninteresting
horse; but one with crossing of
| good strains of blood is apt to be
| very interesting. In such u horse
| there are attractive possibilities, Sim
liar to those that invest Il lottery tick
ct with charm. Who cares to watch
the development of the spindle legs of
sucking colt when it is wellknown
that the mature horse will only be fit
1 to draw cart? But what differ
ence when you look upon the awk-
ward youngster and recognize no rea-
son why it should not lower the re-
cord of Salvador or Nancy Hanks.
Failing in such high deeds, either run
ner or trotter would be just as service
able in cart as the cold-bred colt for
whom there was never any high am
bition.
The facts gathered by the statisti-
clans, and the prospects for changed
motive power for transportation and
for farming, appear to indicate clear
ly that in the future there will be less
and less profit in breeding other than
from good strains of equine blood.