Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1901-08-22
SHIPS FOR ANIMALS.
VOYAGE THAT BROKE RECORD
IN POINT OF DEATH RATE.
Points Of Interest to the American
Deai1r Who Il Cc:apelled 20
Ship His Surplus Stock.

ment and the British government in
in the Spanish and Boer wars have ex-
cited considerable interest among deal
ers and breeders; and the question of
transportation especially is much dis
cussed in the local headquarters of the
trade and by buyers and middlemen
from the interior.
A wellknown western horsebreeder
on business trip to this city was talk
ing to a group of friends at the Fifth
Avenue Hotel, when the subject of the
probable future of mans best friend"
came up for discussion All of us, |
may say, were friends of the horse.
The passing of the horse" he said.
sis matter-well it's just as you look
at it. | can't see any passing. for my
part. except that it's no use any longer
to raise scrub horses. And you can
always sell a good, well-bred horse
There doesn't seem to be any pass
ing of the good horse He'll be on top
of the earth when the automobile, the
,auto-truck and the whole mob of freak
toy motors are in the junk
shops on top of the bicycle. What's
worrying me is to make some kind of
half-decent arrangement for the trans
portation of horses especially on long
voyages at sea.
Il am here in the interest of horse
and mule transportation by sea. We
are tolerably well supplied with land
transportation facilities by American
railroads--they are getting better and
better all the time
The long sea voyage to the cape and
to Australia. and to the Philippines
and Hawaii, Is much more compli-
Gated matter That we must attend to
at once. That's what I'm here for,
and I'm crossing the water in few
days on the same errand | expect to
have n business talk with steamship
men on the other side. with view to
smoothing the way of the American
general purpose horse into the affec-
tons of stranger peoples. perhaps
stranger races. While in Great Britain I
proposed to call upon Prof w. o. Will
Jams, principal of the new Veterinary
college of Edinburgh. The gentleman
was sent out last year to supervise the
work of obtaining horses and mules for
the use of the British army in South
Africa; and met Prof Williams more
than once during his stay here. I'm
inclined to think that, sharp as he was
in many cases, he is the best friend
the American horse breeder ever had
in many years in this country
Il see that Prof. Williams has been
giving horsemen and veterinarians on
the other side some interesting particu-
lars on the subject OF the care, trans
portation and general interest of the
horse and mule anu how the Britishers
manage the horse in that most difficult
of all positions a long sea voyage--in
that most successful enterprise of the
kind on record. the transportation of
horses and mules from New Orleans to
South Africa with the incousiderable
death rate of 2S5 per cent.
Coming to the precautions aboard
ship, note had to be taken of all shafts,
portfolios. ventilators. and doors which
gave entrance or exit to good and foul
airs, noting whittier such current were
in action. for where there was no cur
rent, artificial fans in the shape OF
machine-driven fans had to be intro
duced Good ventilation. says Prof.
Williams. is of the utmost importance
on a ship, and great care nGd to be
taken to insure il under all conditions.
Shafts had to be constructed of wood to
conduct the air to the remotest corners
of the ship where horses had to stand.
and these shafts had to be provided
with slides so as to regulate the
amount of air passing through After
dealing with the subject of the water
carrying capacity of the ships and that
of the condensation OF the water, if
L a
observations on the provisions made on
these ships for the veterinary surgeons
pharmacy AS a rule the pharmacy is
ahsurdly small on a horse-transport
ship. and the veterinary is sometimes
expected to sleep in the inadequate
room besides. This state of things in
the transportation OF horses by sea
must be iemedied. but he has purpose
" mentioned only a few of the preliml-
nary arrangements, so as to Indicate
how very necessary it is that a skilled
person. and particularly "A veterinary
surgeon, should be al the head OF such
department
AS TO loading. most of the animals
were walked on board. 1t was no I'M
common thing TO load at the rate OF
$50 an hour.
I'm reply to questions Prof Williams
said that no process Of feeding in the
world would enable a horse to go
straight to work after n sea journey
of from twenty to thirty days Nc
horse could be expected TO do so until
he had had a fortnight's rest and reg
ular dieting The first thing hoNe
does on a voyage is TO get Ssasick. A
horse cannot vomit. Consequently he
goes entirely off his feed II is just as
we'll that he does. In New Orleans II
was found best to keep the animals on
sloppy feed for two or three days be-
| fore loading. and give them plenty OF
salt with j The horses were dis
| charged at Capetown, after careful
diet OF oats in proportionately increas-
| ing quantities day by day, They were
| fat and soft and everybody compli-
meuted Prof Williams and his as
sociates on the successful shipment
the most successful in the history oil
| the world
None OF these horses was fit to 20
/ 10 work Nevertheless many OF them
were sent To the front within Few
hours II was on these alone that any
criticism as 10 condition fell. think