of killing a horse is t(j sIkjoI liini. A horse 

 can he killed hy the use of chloroform, hut 

 the operation is difficult and recjuires an ex- 

 pert. I"V)ra man without special knowledge 

 or experience to attempt to kill a horse in 

 tiiis way might he a matter of great cruelty. 

 Some horrible scenes have been witnessed 

 when an inexperienced man has endeavored 

 to chloroform a horse. 



Great care also should he taken to make 

 sure that the horse which the owner in- 

 tends to be killed really is killed, and is not 

 sold by some corrupt em])loyee. Several 

 months ago, a horse in Uoston was in- 

 trusted to a stable hanger-on to be led to a 

 rendering company and killed. A black- 

 smilli saw the horse as he was being led 

 through the streets and bought him from 

 the man in charge for $50. Another case 

 of the same sort occurred not long before; 

 and recently an agent of the M. S. P. C. A. 

 happened to overhear a conversation be- 

 tween a man on the sidewalk and the driver 

 of a dead-horse wagon as to the purchase of 

 a horse led behind the wagon. The agent 

 compelled the driver to shoot the horse then 

 and there. 



Some horse-owners, esjiecially corpora- 

 tions, have large farms in the countrv, or 

 have some connection with a farm where 

 they send such of their horses as are fit for 

 light work, but no longer fit for city work. 

 The Adams Express Company, for ex- 

 ample, has a fanu in Pennsylvania where 

 125 horses can be pastured. Other owners 

 send their horses to farms owned by them- 

 selves or by their friends or relatives, and 

 this method of disposing of the old horse is 

 certainly to 1)e commended, provided that 

 sufficient care is taken in the selection of 

 the farm. But to sell or give a horse to a 

 farmer — to any chance farmer — without 

 making sure that he is of the right sort, is 

 about as dangerous a thing as could be done 

 with him. Farmers in general feed their 



horses less grain and take less care of them 

 than an\ other horse-owners in the world. 

 As a rule they also give them almost no 

 cleaning and little or no bedding. Every 

 farmer has an opportunity to procure bed- 

 ding at very slight cost. There is always 

 meadow^ hay which he can cut on his own 

 land or obtain for nothing, or almost that, 

 on the land of another, and it is also, of 

 course, always possible for a farmer to dry 

 the liedding which he uses, for he has an 

 unlimited amount of space and sun. There 

 is, therefore, every reason why a farmer's 

 horse should be well bedded. LUit as a mat- 

 ter of fact, the farmers' horses are apt to 

 lie on hard boards even in winter. Almost 

 all horses used in the city are w'ell grained, 

 and the old horse whose grain is suddenly 

 withdrawal, suffers much for want of it. 

 Even in a rich pasture, an old horse accus- 

 tomed to grain will rapidly fall 0& in flesh 

 if he no longer receives it. 



Those who look upon the farm as a sort 

 of paradise fof horses think of it only in 

 suiumer when the grass is sweet and the 

 trees afford a pleasant shade ; but for the 

 greater part of the year the grass is dead, 

 and the horse is kept in a barn which is apt 

 to be full of holes, cold, and in every way 

 uncomfortable. 



Some horse-owners manage to carry their 

 old horses along, giving them such light 

 work as they are fit to perform, and finally 

 keeping them in the stable most of the time 

 and in some cases all the time. This, we 

 are glad to say, is largely the practice of 

 the Txiston Elevated Railway Company and 

 of the Metropolitan Coal Company in Bos- 

 ton. In a big concern the hay, grain and 

 bedding that a few old horses require 

 would add very little to the expense of the 

 stable. Old horses so kept on are not sub- 

 jected to the homesickness wdiich is caused 

 b}- new sm-roundings, nor are they sepa- 

 rated from their old companions. Any 



