Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1895-12-13

TuJnef strongly. AZ any Idut, Inio SOH
Grafton will never see anything like the
full restoration. But to say that ninety
per cent of this sections breeding inter-
ests have ceased to exist is wholly within
the truth, and to state in general terms
that seventy.fve per cent of the nations
horse propagation has ceased is safely
inside of a truthful estimate also.
The longest lived of all the breeds or
families are the Morgans. The extreme
longevity reached Oy any of that family
has been but thrty-two to thirty-hve
years. The heavier and cOarser breeds are
most of them old horses at sixteen or TWEEN
tv. To estimate within the correct
bounds, however, we will estimate by the
standard of Morgan longevity and says
that the average life of the horse is fiji
teen wears, when twelve years would be
nearer the correct average. Then one
million must he raised each year to make
good the death rate of one million, but
with the decrease of seventy-tive per
cent in the breeding, there is shortage
of $50 600 yearly, or three million less of
Young stock now in the country than
there were four years ago. This with
the amount canned, 100000, with the
number dying by neglect, l3O,OOO, and
the amount exported, 100000, makes
3, 600, 900 horses short, and to this amount
add the yearly death rate of one million,
multiplied by four, and we have an actual
deficit of 1900, 900 horses.
1t is not the wish of the writer to en-
ter the domain of speculation or prophe-
CIV. but rather to make an exhibit of
conditions. Yet it may not be inapprO-
pirate to cast glance into the future and
estimate the reserve forces still surviv-
ing.
OF all domestic animals. the brood
mare is the least prolific, the least valued,
the poorest cared for and the soonest
disposed of. The brood mare that raises
or even produces twelve colts is a world
beater; the brood mare that produces
ten colts is phenomenon; the brood
mare that produces seven colts in ten
years is considerably above the average,
] -
and the brood mare that produces five
colts in seven years is among the best.
Now, with most of the nations brood
mares pelted. canned, Theoretically
sealed, and decorated and embellished
with appropriate trade marks, and in
gorgeous display filling the shelves of
German and Italian shop-keepers, with
cans of standard prime beef, what is the
outlook for the horse crop of the future?
But the bear has one resource left and
that is the range horse. The range
horse can be raised at a small cost, but he
is always broncho and the broncho al
ways runs the shipper in debt because he
does not pay his freight, feed and COM
mission, and to raise on the range a
saleable horse consumes hay and gram
and the most expensive commodity in
that region. So the range horse is a
| thing of the past and like the buffalo, his
nelghbor, will grow beautifully less and
about as rapidly meet his extinction.
But with all this array of facts and
conditions the horse is still beggar at
theIauction block, and how can the fact
be reconciled:
/ Its explanation can be found in this {;
Six years ago horse breeding was a very
rcmunerative business. The auctioneer-
ing of horses became the favorite method
of disposal. The sale systems that had
adjusted themselves to the wants and
conditions Of the trade in previous his
tory were wiped out and superseded. All
of the horse products of the country
were focused or concentrated INTO "A few
mems hands. They were always forced
sales, with the seller "never protected" &.
There never was. there never will be.
there never can be commodity pro-
duced that will stard the strain and I'M
natural conditions incident to continued
forced sales. for the absorbing power of
the buyer can never be equal to that of
the seller.
So the equilibrium of supply and de
mand by mechanical agencies was over
balanced. the market price gave way and
every horse was thrown on the market
for speedy disposal. The commercial
depression lent fuel to the flames, the
electric alarm was sounded, the bicycle
craze lent its aid and the whole press of
the country scattered the news from
border to border and stampede, such
as the world had never witnessed before,
was the result.
The shipping of cheap horses to Europe
has had the effect of producing similar
results in the old country. Suddenly
the whole world awakens to the fact that
it stands upon the very threshold of the
greatest horse famine it has ever known,
But the horse killer will never let up,
The immediate aud near future is to wit
ness the grand display of electric cars
carriages. phaetons, buggies, wagons,
p draws and WhpplbnrrOWs drawn bV cleo.