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I I ! i I f t I , . , ■ PROPER WAY TO GET ARMY HORSES Every Encouragement Should Be Given to the Farmer to Breed Proper Type of Remount. New York. June K.— There is no higher authority on horse breeding in the Iliitcd States than John K. Madden, who has in H.-mburg Place, near l*» ington. the most extensive stud in America. Not only thoroughbreds, but tue standard-bred trotters are produced there and these. being the predominant light horse types of the country and the strains from which the liest remounts are secured, anything which Mr. Madden has to say aliont the army horse sbsMbM ha wortliv of attention. In discussing the recent activities of the Federal authorities. which after I iieriod of comparative indifference in the matter of remount breeding, have established stations at Fort Sill in Oklahoma and Fort Keogi, j„ Montana, where some fifteen hundred head of selected mares are to be mated with thoroughbred sires which have been picked by experts. Mr. Madden said: "These stations in the west will be helpful, inasmuch as they will serve as nurseries where the seed will be kept alive, but 1 think that every farmer throughout the length and breadth of the land should be a breeder of cavalry remounts for Incle Sam. Armv officials tell me that they would need the remount for fifty years. Intelligent methods should, therefore be formulated for his perjietua-tioii. Encouragement to the farmer is a fundamen till ill this connection, for if the farmer once entertains the idea that the government is a com pet i tor in the horse breeding business, lie will be come indifferent and you will finally lose him entirely. In these days of the tractor and the auto mobile, there must be an incentive for the farmer to engage u the work and the liest way that 1 know to stimulate his interest, is by increasing the price the government will pay him for his remounts in the rough, cjvo him a profit and note the eager res|K nse he will make to his countrys call for a better type of light horse. MUST MAKE IT WORTH WHILE. "If we dont make it worth while now. continued Mr. Madden, "the process of winning him hack again will occupy twenty years and you may lake it as a fact that it will require that long to re-estalilisli the light horse on the farms of America. This country is going to need many thousands of the tvpe the government hopes to breed at their remount depots. It is a good thing for the balance of the country to have Incle Sam setting the example and pointing the way by using the thoroughbred as a top-cross, but in order to secure the number of horses, such a country as ours must have for cavalry, there must be outside help. "Let the Federal authorities supply the stallions and an increased price for the rough product.* said Mr. Madden in conclusion, "ami the farmer will do tin- rest. In order to encourage him to the fullest. I would favor the abolition of taxes on his mares. Racing tests, as always, should be the medium of development for the sires. The Jockey Club, through its Breeding Bureau, as in the past, in conjunction with public spirited individuals, will no doubt see to it that there will lie no shortage of the type of horse that will be needed to carry on the work as successfully as in France, when army horse production has been reduced to an exact science. We are fortunate in having the example of Frame as a guide and. while we cannot hope to equal her achievements in horse breeding, we at least may strive to follow the methods which have made for such a larje measure of success."
