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GEN. WOODS PRAISE OF HIGH BREEDING. It is well known that Major-General Leonard Wood is an ardent believer in the value of the thoroughbred for government uses. In an interview last week he said: "I am sorry that the appropriation for experimental work in horse breeding at Front Royal and other stations under governmental supervision has bc-n curtailed from the 0,000. at which it was originally placed, to 5,000. and we, in the service, who know the necessity of having an adequate supply of cavalry remounts are hopeful that the Pittman-Scully bill asking for an appropriation of 00,000 for the placing of stallions of the proper type in different states of the Union, where the farmers may have access to them will be approved. "Though the work which has been done to date by the government has been beneficial, it has undoubtedly been a costly experiment. It is safe to say that from all the stations we have not had more than one thousand horses I year. As the cost of maintaining the stations would aggregate probably 00,000. this figuring the cost of the animals, gives us the price of more than 00 for the finished product, and in the end we do not get a top-notch horse. "If we could place the proper sort of sire— and when I say that I mean the thoroughbred — in the horse breeding communities, and the government would pay the farmer, say, 00 for his three-year-old in the autumn, both the government and the farmer would benefit by such an arrangement. "The farmer should give an option on the progeny of every mare bred to one of our sires, and if sold to the government no stud fee would be charged. If he had a desire to develop the animal for a hunter or saddle hors, , then the fee. which should lx- a small one. should be paid. Only mares which would be approved by government inspectors should be bred. "All inspection of both males and females should be made under the cavalry branch of the armv, and the quartermaster general should have control. Care should, of course, be exercised in the selection of the sire, and only those of good constitutions, amiable dispositions, proper conformation, ami with the right kind of bone, should be utilized. "I belle re in the thoroughbred horse absolutelv for an officers mount, with the half-bred for the trooiK-r. Of course, the stallion should not have Ik-cii nni much as a two-year-old, as this system I believe, tends to make nervous wrecks out of many of our horses, besides leading to unsoundness and I am such a believer in maturity before asking for a crucial test that I would not expect the proper kind of service out of our troopers before their five-year-old form. As a matter of fact, a well -prepared and seasoned five-year-old should be good for twelve years of efficient service. "I have had a great deal to do with thoroughbred horses and have three of thorn here at the island now, one ly Koek Sand, one by First Cord, and another by Oetagon. My daughter has ridden thoroughbred stallions ever since she was ten years idd. and she has found them tra, tilde and delightful mounts in every way. In my opinion, they an uiiapproarlied as foundation stock for the general improvement of all branches of the equine family. They have the qualities we seek to incorporate into our horses, and we are only following in the foot-bteps of foreign countries when we utilize them.
