AMERICAN HORSES IN LONDON. 59 



ance, etc. To my mind the price paid for these horses answers 

 laconically the inquiry, Why are not more of our American horses 

 found in the cabs of London? 



In the city of London alone there are at present about 20,000 cabs, 

 including "four-wheelers," and it requires 2£ horses to each vehicle, 

 making 50,000 cab horses now in use in the metropolis. Their aver- 

 age life is about 3£ years. 



Ireland will continue to furnish the cab horses for England, and 

 possibly for France, and we are willing she should do so, as the price 

 will not justify our interference. 



There is still another horse which Ireland is famous for and which 

 the English regard higher than any other, and that is the Irish hunter. 

 To show his honesty of opinion, the English gentleman is willing to 

 pay a fabulous price for this horse if it meets his requirements and 

 suits his fancy. I mention the latter horse here only incidentally, and 

 in order to show the two extremes of Ireland's breeding, as I now want 

 to call attention to the fact that between the two horses described she 

 produces nothing that materially affects the sale of American horses 

 in England, and has thus left a space we are particularly prepared to 

 fill. I shall have occasion to mention the hunting horse hereafter, 

 but will here remark that we are not at the present time prepared to 

 produce him, unless in Kentucky and a few of the Southern States 

 and then only occasionally^ in form, type, and training, to suit the 

 Englishman. 



Having mentioned the horse America does not want to produce for 

 export and the one she can not raise successfully, I now come to con- 

 sider the animal that fills the space left vacant by Ireland and which 

 lies between the two extremes mentioned. 



THE OMNIBUS AND THE COMMERCIAL CARRIAGE AND PRIVATE BUS HORSES. 



These are so nearly alike that I shall combine them under one head. 

 It is certain that the large majority of American horses sold in Great 

 Britain are used for above purposes, and the increased importation 

 of them by England is not to be wondered at when we consider the 

 large number in use in the city of London alone. 



Since it costs practically the same to ship an inferior horse that it 

 does a superior one, it is evident that the freight charges are propor- 

 tionately less as the value of the horse increases; hence the bus 

 horse, being a higher priced animal than the cab horse, our people 

 have been given a market for horses which they happen to have on 

 hand at the present time. I say "happen to have," because the type 

 of horse I have in mind was not especially bred for in America. 



To meet the requirements of the bus companies, a horse may be of 

 any color but substantially conform to the following description: He 

 must stand 15 hands 2 inches high, and may be 16 hands, but not more. 

 He must be on short legs; for, as the buyer of the largest London com- 



