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WrAR DEPARTMENT CONSIDERING THE HORSE. Congressman G. W. Loft of New York Points Out the Necessity of Encouraging Horse Breeding. Second Article. "The horse shows and county fairs which are held in the autumn after the irons have been garnered, should be the best possible mediums in the prosecution of this work. Let each state designate days when lectures will be given by experts, and if these talks are accompanied by lantern slides illustrating the type of animal under discussion. Whether it be thoroughbred, half-bred, standard bred, hackney or draft horse, so much the better. Breeders will carry away with them the rudiments of an education along lines that will make for progress. They will find a fascination in the work and the old clan will have to take a back seat. The poultry, sheep and cattle experts have made tremendous headway through the employment of this kind of publicity. Those who bear competent lecturers discourse on the brooding of good horses will find their interest in the show ring competitions increased a thousandfold, and with the living, breathing prize winners present to represent type, the lessons will be driven homo with additional force. "There was a time when the average farmer was content to run Ids business on the same lines as his father had followed. Rotation of crops and tin- raising of pure-bred livestock for the double purpose of land enrichment and an addition to their bank account was something that was unknown. Then came the progressive, who farmed on scientific principles, built silos, underdrained iiis land and subscribed for tin- best journals devoted to agriculture that he could find. Pure-bred cattle, sheep an 1 swine took the place of the grades in communities peopled by such men. and mortgages were raised and biddings bettered as a conseiptenc". During this march of progress the horse alone has failed to keep pace with the nations advance. Is it not high time that something was done for him. The Canadians, our progressive neighbors to the north, are up and doing in this connection. They have a Federal Breeding Bureau, and in response to appeals of chilis of fifty or more mem-Imts they will send stallions into any district, making a contract with the organization calling for the proper care of the horse and a guaranty that only a moderate fee will be charged for his services. Only pare-bnd horses are sent out. and there is a rigid annual inspection, as no btemisfced or unsound horse is allowed to stand for mares. With an eye to the future preparedness of the country. then is a discount of forty per cent to all those that will breed to thoroughbred sires. This colony is patterning after Kurope.111 countries in the plan for securing tin- best lips of cavalry remount. Canadians Alive to the Situation. "We find the Csaadiaus keenly alive to a situation which has been discussed extensively in the BOWS-papera of the Daited States — the shortage of breeding stock and the advisability of placing an embargo on the shipment of mares of the proper typos to throw army remounts. The records in both countries show that over fifty per cent of some shipments, which have been made to the countries of the entente allies, have been mares, i ben is no denying that some of them were not regular breeders or were etberwtse undesirable, but there is also ever present the fact that many were just the sort we could not spare, atpl Canadian authorities are finding fatdt with some of those in-trusled with making purchases because they paauod geldings in hard flesh from regular work and insisted on the pun base of sleek broo 1 mares, which should be left at home to reproduce themselves. As the life of the horse at the front is but a few : i] .it best, and the gelding would serve the purpose quite as well, and la some instances better, than the mare, it is regrettable that so many females have been sold. It is a matter that has already been called to the attention of the proper authorities in this country by some of our most distinguished officers in the army, and no doubt the situation will be dealt with at the proper time. "It was in 1913 that this gem rnmeut undertook the scientific production of horses for army purposes and an appropriation of 850,000 was -made bf Congress, the work being intrusted to the animal husbandry branch of the department of agriculture. August Belmont of New Vork. donated the noted thoroughbred sires Octagon and Henry of Navarre, the gift being made to the war department, which in turn transferred them to the department of agriculture. In the veins of these horses flowed the liest racing blood of two continents. The government established breeding stations in Virginia. Vermont and Colorado, that at Front Royal, in the 1 list -named state, being chief. Desirable sires, mostly thoroughbred, but some of trotting and saddle blood, were installed ts the number of forty-one at the various stations, and the project. While restricted, hegaa work under encouraging .inspires. Some of these sires wore given the government by patriotic citizens, who lolbiwcd Mr. Belmonts lead, and SOUM were purchased in the open market by ■WVernssent experts, who frequently called UfMM civilians to aid them in making selections. The system in vogue has been to send these horses into communities where the mares that would suit the individual horse were the most plentiful, and the bulk of the work to date has been confined to Virginia. West Virginia and Maryland, the terri-toiy nearest Front Koyal. which last year had eighti en hones out of a total of thirty-seven, the • 111 Is llssi ill from the Initial aumhet of forty sua being due to the cut in the annual appropriat ion from 8SO.O08 to 8SQ.0OO. The statJta in Vermont has beta exclusively for Morgan-, while Colorado has been largely devoted to the trotter and saddle horse. Thoroughbred Horse Par Excellence for Purpose. "As the result of continental experiments have clearly Indicated that the thoroughbred is the horse of paf ox,-• ||, ■nee for this particular purpose, it is not surprising to find that a majority of the Iturse* at the chief station ar- ol pare blood. "Before undertaking the work some of the best experts in the government service visited Europe and saw what had been done there, and it was the rngnlt a| their research, winch cvuiiruicd the gov ernment of this country in its belief that the quickening influence of the thoroughbred would be all important in the evolution of the type of horse that would be serviceable in peace and an element of power and efficiency in time of war. The curtailment in the annual appropriation has naturally taken away much of the enthusiasm on the part of those having the proser-ution of the work in hand. Some idea of the difference in the way the industry is being conducted here and abroad may be glean, d from a comparison of the figure devoted far the purpose in the Inite-el States anil Bussia. for example. In 1914 our appropriation was 880,080, while in th - ntSSC year the Russian government expended ,000,000. and this splendid sum was augmented by an aantfthmal million, a gift of tin-czar. France and Germany each spent alnmst as much, so that our pittance is increelibly small, anil it is astonishing that we- have art ompllslnd anything, measuring by European standard. "The records on file in the- Bureau of Animal Husbandry show that there arete in all breeding stations of the Pederal Government in 1913. forty-one- stallieins to which 1,557 amies were bred. In 1914 the-re were forty-three stallions to which 2.013 mans wen- sent. The apfjrauriatiou had been reduced from S.iO.OOO to 888,080, anil with another cut of .S10.000 in sight for 191a it became imperative to n-eluce- the number of hotsts. The-records for 1913 show that thirty-seven horses were- hied ta men than 2.000 mares, an average of about fifty-five- mares to a horse, as against forty-seven in 1914 and thirty-eight in 1818. These figures te-11 their own story, and it will be to our everlasting discredit if asm 11 thing is not done to put this work on an enduring basis cither through a greatly iiureasi-d appropriat ie, 11 uneli-r Federal control or by a thoroughly comprehensive- plan in the various states along the lines laid dowa la Canada or by the In I lifting bureau of the Jockey Club, which has for years had a large number of thoroiighbre-d horses in the stud in has various counties of the Kmpire State, and also by the Kentucky State Raeing Commission which has ,itl,in the past few months adopted a plan for the general improvement of the horses in the Blue Glass region, and already have- donated a dozen or more representative thoroughbred sir-s for the purpeis,-. Perhaps a combination of the two plana could be arranged, but this is something wheh eeuild be ele-ohie-d after mature- consideration by the ablest students of die- problem this country affords. Raise Maximum Fee for Three-Ycar-Olds. "It has alse been nrged hs certain quartets that the farmers anil horse btuedtts of tin count ry at large- woubl breed the horses if the maximum figure- now paid for three year-olds in the autumn were increased from # 1 7 r« . where- it now stands -this sum Including the i." service fee which the governmiiit obligates to refund in ease of a purchase when the mare has be-in bred tee one e,f its stallions ta a figure- where a profit would be assured. The bmditt of the- east maintain that they can not product wcll-nourislu-,1 three- year-olds for le-ss than 8280, ami that they are lost when it coine-s to the matter of competing with the breeders of the Texas Panhandle or other districts where animals n::i on the range throughout the year. "Frank K. Sturgis. who is the head of the Breed ing Bureau of the Joe key Club, maintains that the well-furnished e-astern three -year-old is cheaper at 8230 than the- rang- animal at 7.V because the former having been grown and developed on grain, will come tei hand anil be- se-rvie-.-abb- much more quickly, ami the government will thus save the item of extra keep during tin- process of hardening. "in eoomecthm with the range propoaithm an Idea has been exploited calling for the placing of Insures on land owned by the gen inane I in okia-1 homa. the il.ims and their progeny running the range, while- the- stallions woubl be housed in inexpensive but pane total qaarters ami nader tin-care of cmipeie-nt men. Those who advocate this plan, and the-re- are several army officers who think it feasible-, maintain that the present figure feu-horse prodacthm as represented by the .*17."i maximum, coubl be beaten. No doubt statistics covering this point are available, and their presentation woubl go far toward solving one- f the most vital problems of the day. Experimental figures could be gleane-d. no doubt, from either quarters, ami with all of the- facts on hand, the- government could proceed intelligently toward the perfee tiem of .1 policy of horse- breeding that would be- ceim- patibh- with the advancement shown by tin- United States ill every other form of endeavor. Army Needs 2.000 Head Annually. .Maj. -b-n. Hugh L. Scott. Chief of StalT. I*. S. A., a Ki-ntuckian by tin- way. is on record as saying that thij service in time of peace- will need li.lMMl bead annually. This was nader the- conditions existing In-fore the call of preparedness electrified the COSmtry. How many more thousands shall be necessary the future alone must determine. The wastage in tfane of war is startling. We have no records available as to the- number of horses killed in the lairopi-an conflict, but some Idea of the- rate at which they an- being eliminated may be gathered by refen ace to statistics in rennn Hon with the army of the- Potomac during the Civil war. TheoO records show that there were thirty -six cavalry regiments, whose effe-ctive Strength varied eluring the- six months from April t October, between 10,000 and 14.000 nie-n. This body 1 f cavalry re-quired the following remounts: May, 5,878; June. ti.sj7: .Inly. 4.710: August. ."..499: September, 5,829, and October, 7.:-t:it . Indicating a loss sf two and one-half horses a man. or a ratiei of five hors, s p,r annum. The secretary of war in commenting on this showing saiel: " If a similar state of affairs xisteel throng!; nit all our cavalry its L33 regiments would require 485,080 horses annually. "Then- is a feature in COUneetkm with the destruction of these, millions of herse-s in Kui.-pe which streets this country lumiaduuslj. The Daited States and Argentina will be- called upon to supply tin- bulk of the III Hiding stock which must be- secured by continental countries to replace theise which have- be-en destroyed, ami it behooves us tei be naily whe-n opportunity knocks at our ebior. Meere- and better horses should be- the- slogan e f every public tpirtted cittnen, and eisin aid should be- gives the move mini for tbelr production, whether it be aader government ausnlc m or the result of concerted acttan on the part of thoaa who are familiar with the- probhia and are ready to work out a boiutiou."
