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ENCOURAGING BREEDING IN CUBA. Havana. Cuba. April 3. — President Mario Menocal of the republic of Cuba, who has been in turn soldier and statesman, takes a particular pride in the fact that he has found time to be an agriculturist and live stock breeder in addition to his other activities. Knowing the needs of the country, he is ever ready to aid his people in the improvement of their horses, cattle, sheep, swine and poultry. A graduate of Cornell and still on the sunny side of fity, quick and alert as a man of thirty, he is a progressive and an advocate of preparedness, as a standing army of 10.000 well -trained and equipped men will testify. While your correspondent chatted with President Menocal one morning recently in the blue room of his palace, a company of soldiers was at drill under the shadow of the aucient fortress of jand Fuerza. built in 1532. and the sharp words of command and the tramp of feet on the pavement filtered through the lattice along with the brilliant tropical sunshine. "I am naturally much interested in the agricultural development of our country, which, this year, will give us three hundred million dollars in sugar alone." he said, "but I am especially eager to see greater expansion in the production of livestock and poultry. In the experiments which we ! have made horses have had special attention, as I j realize their importance in the development of any country. Cuba has long had a useful type of small animal, used almost exclusively for the saddle hitherto, but the time has come when we should have something better. As a result of experiments made by myself and others, we have placed a number of thoroughbred horses, wliieh will be augmented by others, iu the six provinces of the republic. These will be at the service of the breeders who will be taught the advantages of sending their mares to such sires. "Our native mares, as you have probably observed, have a characteristic amble, inherited from their Andalusian ancestors, but the influence of the thoroughbred sire is so potent that this disappears in the first generation and we can product- animals of the walk, trot and canter type, as well as the breeders of Kentucky or Tennessee. It is our intention to keep a record of all half-breds, with a view to breeding back the best specimens among the mares, in order to establish a type which will be ideal for our cavalry. A certain number of the mares, at the same time, will be mated with imported jacks, as the mule is quite an important adjunct in the cultivation of sugar and other crops of this country. "At the present time." continued the president, "we have about 7.000 head of army horses in actual service. Practically all of these were secured in the Cnited States, and realizing that the allied countries of Kurope have made grpat inroads on the Mpplj of the cavalry type of horse in America, we have decided to develop our own. The grass lands of the eastern portion of this island are unsurpassed, and. with our unrivalled climate, it will be only the matter of a short time until we produce a type of cavalry remount second to none. If we were going at the matter blindly I would not be so optimistic, but witli the result of our own ex-Iieriments. backed by the experience of foreign governments, particularly France and Germany. there is no chance of failure. It is a sign of the times that Great Britain has come to a realization of the fact that the horse is an essential to security, and her decision to race some of the thoroughbreds donated by Colonel Hall Walker would seem to l e sound, as* training and racing bring to the surface any structural defects in horses intended for the stud. "I look for a great future for the horse industry in Cuba." concluded the general, "as the thoroughbred sire of the right conformation, crossed with our pony mares, should, in the first generation, produce jxilo ponies of quality. We have sons-good ponies of this type already and I am encouraging our army officers to play that excellent game which is so conducive to good horsemanship. We have a polo field at Camp Columbia and I have within the past six months presented the army with thirty polo ponies. "What witli polo, high-class racing, surf bathing, golfing, automobiling and other outdoor sports which are here at their best in the winter. Cuba annually is attracting more and more visitors to her shores. In fact, so great is the influx that new steamships are already under construction and splendid new hotels are being planned to accommodate tiiose who seek a respite from the rigors of the north."
