Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-04-21
manner with which chevalier has familiar

manner with which Chevalier has familiar
lied
OF all the queer places in the metropolis
the ISlingtOn market is one of the QueereSt.
Euphcmistically known as the cattle mar
ket,' you can purchase anything and every
thing there relating TO man and beast, but
most of the articles exposed for sale are
not second hand-they look more like TWEEN
ty-SecOnd hand.
When l inquired for a little information
from one of the dealers as to the breed
ing of donkeys he suspected me of trying
to learn the tricks Of the trade and pro-
fessed complete ignorance; but in place Of
enightening, offered me a hicc-looking lit
the donkey for Fifty bob guy nor 'arniss
and all; dirt cheap, and she is Il beauty"
On my assuring him that was in search
of information only and had no need for
donkey, though l agreed with him that it
was dirt cheap. he generously offered to
return me - 'af dollar out of the fifty
bob and also requested me to pull the
moke's tail myself if l had any doubts
to his condition.
| saw the rascal offer the same donkey.
'arniss and all to a fellow dealer a lit
tie later for thirty bob another donkey
merchant, a little more intelligent.
good enough to tell me that this was a
bad time of year for donkey dealing. the
season at the seaside was over, and there
is not great a demand for them. The
summer was long way the best time for
them the "ROmanieS buy them, and they
occasionally git a good one ont of a
drove and | subsequently learned that in
d
good price. The average marketable price
of a donkey at Smithtield is "A sovereign. al
though some poor. weed Unlocking creatures
can be bought for I or shiIlings. while
others fetch as much "a. The record
price for a Smithted donkey is 80, and
this animal was bought for trotting pur-
poses, but met untimely end by being
run over by bus in the east end, which
resulted in a lawsuit some time back.
DonkeyS make capital tPotterS. and some
of them can cover six miles in thirty min
utes. When they attain this speed their
value is considerably enhanced, but to
reach this perfection it is only natural that
ter's moke. 1t is computed that there are
l.; enc donkeyS in London alone, and that
as many as 1900 change hands in Smith
field every year Ireland supplies the
largest quantity, and possibly the best and
as far as the united kingdom is concerned
the Emerald Isle might be termed the ma
tive place of the donkey.
As many as 100000 are engaged there for
agricultural purposes alone, but Italy
boasts the greatest number of any country
on the continent, 1t is calculated that
100, 600 hardy and hard-hit donkeys breathe
Italia"s pure air while France shelters
some 400. 600. Next to Ireland, Wales pro-
duces the best donkeys in the kingdom.
while in England itself lac most valuable
are bred in Norfolk, near Cromer, and are
to be found in nearly every private gentle
mans stable.
In the last few years the price of dom
keys, not quite of the Smithfeld stamp, has
increased, mainly owing to the commons
being inclosed or to the action of the eouh-
ty council in taking them over. The COM
mon rights thus encroached on, and
free pasturage is thing of the past. To
this fact is partly attributed the improve
ment in the breed of the donkey in recent