BUYING THE STOCK.

I have always attended to the choosing and buying of stock personally; but with all possible care in the selection as to the proper weight, build, etc., for our use, I often find that the animal which seems perfectly fitted for the work "goes all to pieces" in a short time, while the one which I hesitated to purchase as seemingly inferior, proves an excellent "railroader." Places differ so materially in climate and construction of roads, whether level or hilly, etc., that the kind and size of horse suitable for one part of the country would be entirely unsuitable for another. In this connection I will state that I am inclined to the opinion that horses should be bought near the place where they are to be used. I have found that for our use Ohio stock is best. The experiment of bringing in horses from other States has never been successful with us. Whether the same holds true in other States, or is the effect of our peculiar, raw climate, I have no knowledge. We buy horses weighing from 1,050 to 1,200 pounds, and prefer blocky ones.

A new horse should be trained gradually by driving him one-quarter of his work at first with an old horse, at a time of day when travel is dull. One can Soon tell whether he will stand the test, or if it is best to sell him as soon as possible. It is a waste of time trying to doctor up a horse whose feet become sore quickly. He will render good service for years on country roads, while on pavements he is useless.

I agree with an able predecessor of mine writing on this subject, that, if it were possible to learn from the owner the former habits of the animal purchased, it would simplify matters much as to the method of treating him. But as it is a well known fact that, in most horse trades the truth is conspicuous by its absence, I fear that reliable information could not be thus obtained.

The comfortless, rattling of a horse, that could be bought for a song, and driven by a rusty-looking tramp, is a thing of the past, and the plump, well-groomed and carefully tended street-car horse of to-day has become as much a matter of course as the luxurious car which he pulls, or the neatly uniformed and polite conductor, so far advanced are we in these modern days.

bob-tail" car, drawn by a decrepit, old skeleton

FEEDING.

Much of this improvement is doubtless due to the system of feeding now universally conceded to be the best, i. e., mixed, ground feed in small quanti. ties and at short intervals. No set rule can be given, as no two horses are alike. The habits of every horse should be thoroughly learned by the feeder, whose position is a very important one.

allotted

He should have a certain proportion of horses

to his care-not too many; should always feed and tend them himself, When a

and become perfectly familiar with the peculiar needs of every one. team comes in from their trip, a handful of loose hay should be thrown down to them; then, when their regular time for feeding comes (which should never be just after or just before a trip), they should be fed from six to eight quarts of ground oats and corn mixed with cut hay and dampened. They should be watered every half-trip; oftener in Summer. The sponging out of the mouth

and nostrils at the end of the trip is very refreshing in hot weather. On short lines each team should do half its work in the morning and half in the afternoon. On long lines one round trip of fifteen (15) miles is sufficient to constitute a day's work, with a lay over of ten minutes at the end of the line, when, in hot days, the sponging referred to above is very beneficial.

Our stock should be groomed twice a day, and I think we will all agree that too much grooming is hardly possible, as the more a horse is groomed, the better he feels, and therefore gives better satisfaction.

After the horses have stopped eating, the feeder should see that each feed-box is thoroughly cleaned out, and he can soon judge of the capacity of the different animals by the amount of food left in the boxes. After he has once learned this, there is no necessity for under or over feeding the stock. This cleansing of the boxes is just as essential as the cleanliness of the stable itself, which should be kept thoroughly neat at all times. That it should be well ventilated and lighted we all know. Disinfectants are necessary, especially where there are a large number of horses, when they should be constantly used.

DRIVING.

If the feeder should devote his whole time and attention to the care of his proportion of stock, so also should the driver. I cannot lay too much stress upon this point. It is a proven fact in my experience that when a team is driven promiscuously, first by one man and then by another, that they grow thin and broken down in a comparatively short time; when, if driven constantly by one man, they become accustomed to his voice and touch, and keep in good condition. The man also becomes attached to the teams he handles, and is much more careful of them to prevent any unnecessary strain at starting than if he drives every team in the barn. He is more apt to be watchful and report slight bruises or cuts, that, if attended to at once, may prevent permanent injury. I would say right here that there should be a positive rule in every barn, that each driver should have his own stock, and should report at the end of each trip the slightest slip or bruise. This, for fear of reproof, is seldom done.

In closing, I feel that I have omitted much that I might wish to say; but I have tried to present a few of the most important points of this much-debated subject. Although I cannot hope to bring anything new before you, as it has been so ably discussed at former conventions; still there is much yet to learn, and in discussing this paper, we may receive from your remarks upon it some profitable ideas.

Respectfully submitted

GEORGE G. MULHERN,
Committee.

DISCUSSION ENSUING ON THE FOOD AND CARE OF HORSES.

The President: If there is no objection, the paper will be received and placed on file.

Mr. Jenkins I move that a vote of thanks be tendered to Mr. Mulhern for his able paper.

The motion was carried.

REMARKS OF MR. WM. RICHARDSON ON HORSES.

Mr. Wm. Richardson: Mr. President, I think this paper is of sufficient importance to demand the attention of every man who has the running of a horse railroad. There is not a word in it that is superfluous; and every word conveys useful information and valuable teaching. I feel very thankful to Mr. Mulhern, for the valuable paper he has prepared, and which I think should be carefully pondered over by every one of us. What he says about careless driving, the driving by one man, the cleaning out of feed boxes, the running of teams working on a long distance of fifteen or sixteen miles, so that they may do all their work in one portion of the twenty-four hours and have their entire rest for the other portion, and the manner in which we all find disappointment in the selection of horses is all of the highest importance. In New York and its vicinity we cannot do as he suggests, namely, get horses raised in the State in sufficient supply and at sufficiently low cost to meet our demands. We have to depend on horses from other parts of the country. From his State we get some good horses; but we now get very few, because the home demand takes nearly all of them. We could get a firstclass horse from Vermont, but it is very much more costly generally than we can afford to pay. Michigan are good, in fact from any State with a rolling country, while the horses from Illinois and Indiana are generally flatfooted, and, therefore, not good for city pavements. The horses from Minnesota, Iowa and other rolling or mountainous States are very much better for our use; both on account of the shape of the foot and the greater toughness of the horse.

We find that horses from

The system in New York is perhaps as nearly perfect for our supply as any we could ask. We make the best selection of horses that we can, and are allowed ten days' trial of every horse, to see whether he will answer our purpose, with the perfect right of return to the seller, either with a reason or without one. After ten days we are supposed to have had a sufficient trial to enable us to judge whether the horse will suit us; but we still find just that difficulty which Mr. Mulhern alludes to; and that is, some of the horses which we think will answer best and have years of service in them, will in three months be used up or fit only to be sent on a farm in the country, while others which we

expect but little of when we take them on an agreement for a longer trial than ten days, prove to be the toughest and best horses. I would like to have heard from him as to what he finds the average life of a horse. We find considerable differences on different portions of our road, where we run several lines. On some it will not be over three and one-half to four years. I think the average life in Brooklyn is about a year longer than it is in New York City, judging from my experience in both cities. will average from four to five years taking one with another. course we all know that some will run and keep right along, and with but little rest, for periods of eight, ten and even twelve years. It is astonishing and, I think, unaccountable why this difference exists. I do not feel like discussing this paper, and yet I felt that it was so important in its character that it ought not to be passed without some comment.

Of

Mr. John Harris, of Cincinnati: What is the average price of horses in New York?

Mr. Wm. Richardson: From one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty dollars. We have been able to supply ourselves at that price, and I think we have as good a lot of horses as most city companies, at an average cost of one hundred and fifty dollars.

Mr. Jenkins: I would like to ask if there is any special color which is most desired. I was out a short time ago with a young man who was brought up about stables, and his special color was an iron gray horse, and he would not select any other if that color could be got. I learn that at all the stables all foremen have one particular kind of color, which they think will do better work and last longer than any other. I would like to hear some information on this point.

REMARKS OF MR. C. DENSMORE WYMAN ON THE COLOR OF HORSES AND THEIR DRINKING WATER.

Mr. Wyman: It may be possible that I can give the experience of the Parisian tramway companies in relation to this matter of color, although I have no doubt that any characteristics of the horse that are revealed by the color would possibly vary as to their utility, according to the locality in which they were employed. The Parisian tramway car companies are especially particular in all their statistics regarding their horses, keeping

very accurate statistics as to their height, color and other particulars of description, to see if when the term of service of each animal is noted, there is discoverable any special difference by reason of color and height. In the matter of color they report that, the grays are, in their experience, the longest lived, and give them the greatest amount of service, and the blacks the least. In our stable in New York our experience has been somewhat similar. After noticing the French system, I have made for some years accurate memoranda concerning our own stock in the respects mentioned. We find that grays and roans, other things being equal, are the longest lived for us, while creams and blacks are as a rule the shortest time in our service. Particularly we find it true in hot weather that black horses do not seem to have the staying powers equal to those of other colors. The bays are an average. There is one other point that I would like to speak of in this connection, and that is in relation to the water we give our horses. It has been our experience that a microscopical examination of our Croton water revealed at different times different grades of purity; and it was thought best by our management some four or five years ago to make some experiments in filtering the water. We devised a sort of a home-made filter by placing over the troughs in our stable, of which we have some ten or twelve, a barrel, about the size of an ordinary oil barrel, containing charcoal, coarsely ground, with brush and gravel to keep it in position, to which we added some sulphur. Through this filter all the water entering the trough was passed. We were led to add the sulphur by reason of the fact that some time ago at Richfield Springs, N. Y.-Sulphur Springs-I found that the farmers, whenever they had horses that seemed in poor condition and rather debilitated, brought the animals to drink of the sulphur water there and with beneficial results. Horses were fond of it; it was necessary to limit the amount of their drinking. They would drink until they would almost drown themselves, they were so fond of it. I concluded, from such advice as I could get, that sulphur would be of benefit. We have now been using the filters with the addition of the sulphur for about four months. Our cases of colic have decreased seventy-five per cent. In fact, we have hardly any. Whether it is due to the sulphur and the filtered water, I cannot say positively; but it is our opinion that our stock has been benefited. The horses enjoy the