Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-16
HAY PANCAKES FOR ARMY MULES.

iA1A l. = ~ HoiS MIMI MULES.
New York Tribune: The Georgia and
Argentine mules which are doing war
duty in South Africa with the British
army, VIII be surprised when they see the
new style OF balei hay which will be
served up to them as soon as the steau.-
ship Susuuehanna. Barber Co, agent,
gets to Clpetown. T:.ree hundred tons
We're sent on the Susuuchanna recently,
and it is the first shipment by William
{. Bloomingdale, Of No. 50 Broad street.
of about 4,5Go tons ordered by the Brit
ISL war department. The baling of the
hay is being done at the Washburn stores,
Atlantic dock, in Brooklyn. where six
new machines owned by the Planters
Compress company, of Boston, are being
used. The machine was invented by a
man named Lowry. The hay is put up
in ba!es cylindrical in form. about the
size and shape of the Old fashioned nail
kes, of Is inches high and of the same
diameter. When balsd in this shape the
hay rs as hard as a board. The bales
weigh about AS pounds.
What Will surprise Mr.. Mule will be the
way the hay is "nanded out" 1t will be
in pancak e form. The hay pancakes,
or layers, which MAKE un the bale, are
about threc-fourtlls of an inch thick. and
as TIE cnrla takes a bite of the pancake
lie VIII be kept chewing 50 constantly
that he will forget all about the bullets.
Mr.. Peek, who showed the reporter the
process, did not say that the mules men
tai faculties would be engaged to this
extent. That is simply a non-hayaating
l~ayinan's wv impression. The hay in
the pancaks is SO tightly packed that.
as soon as the mule bes:y.s chewing it he
will have so.ne buoyant feeling expert
enced by the small boy whose waistband
is made tight by eating dried apples
The most C;npa bale of hay put up by
no NJ tNi - e,,: - re -,,A Cnn - c--A
space per ton. This new tangled Geor-
gta mule hay takes up only SO cubic feet
space per ton.
A rather singular comb nation of cir
cumstances is afforded at the baling plant
in Brooklyn. The contractor, Mr.. Bloom
ingdale, is using Canadian hay, baled in
the old square fashion, in Canada. The
old bales are torn to pieces and fed into
the top OF the six new co1npressors.
About half the product of the Brooklyn
plant gees to South Africa for use in the
army. which is fighting the Beers, while
the other half goes to Manila for use by
aWto and MacArthur's cavalry.
are co1aDressionists when it comes
to baliag hay, bat we're expansionists
when it comes to selling it," said Mr..
Peek. "Tlae good thing about this new
bale is that a mule can carry two H.
pound bales, and after he is fed off them
fer two or three days there's enough left
for a cavalryman to use as & miniature
! rampant. The hay is packed so tight
that a bullet wouldn't go far into it. A
mule can carry only one of the 145-pound
bales. The greater number of bales
shipped to South Africa weigh l12
pounds, the English hundredweight.
"A rather remarkable fact in connec-
ton with this process of baliDg was dis
covered by accident. You see where
the hay goes into the machine through
four mortised holes about the ickne
Of the hand? Well. the FRACTIONAL heat
caused by the drawing of the hay through
those holes keeps the whole top of the
compressor hot. as the hay passes
through the heat fuses the juices in the
timothy and clover ana makes the whole
layer, or pancake, aromatic. Horses
prefer hay run through one OF these COM
pressors to hay in its loose state. on ac-
count of it's properties"
Whether MIR. Peck's theory is correct
or not, the fact remains that the heated
hay yielded a delightful fragrance in the
old storehouse where the work is being
carried on.