BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 87 



selection. The stallions Carmon, Albion, Wilmering, and Carnagie 

 are being used in the stud. The stallion Defender has been leased for 

 the season of 1915 and 1916, and will stand for service at Carbondale, 

 Colo. 



During the past year 20 animals were discarded as unsuitable to 

 be retained for breeding purposes and were sold at auction. These 

 included six brood mares, one 5-year-old stallion, one 2-year-old filly, 

 eight yearling stallions, one yearling filly, and three weanling foals. 

 All males were gelded before being sold. Two yearling geldings 

 were retained to be used later by the station for work purposes. 



Two animals were lost during the past year; the mare Iowa was 

 destroyed because of old age and a 2-year-old filly died from pneu- 

 monia. 



A feeding test with alfalfa, whereby it is hoped to ascertain if any 

 harmful effects attend its continuous feeding throughout the year 

 to brood mares, was begun last December. So far all mares on an 

 exclusive alfalfa hay and pasture ration are doing well. 



Fifteen foals were dropped during the fiscal year and four mares 

 were due to foal during July. 



During the 1915 breeding season 25 outside mares were bred at 

 Fort Collins in addition to 35 mares belonging to the department and 

 the Colorado experiment station. 



\'EEMONT WORK. 



At the department's Morgan horse farm, near Middlebury, Vt., 24 

 Morgan mares were bred and 14 foals were born during the fiscal 

 year. 



Seven of the stallions at the farm were sent to other parts of 

 Vermont and New Hampshire for the 1915 breeding season, and one 

 was sent to Eutherfordton, N. C. 



AEMY HOESE BREEDING. 



The plan to encourage the breeding of horses suitable for military 

 purposes was begun, in an experimental way, in 1912. The result of 

 this test proved a success and a definite plan was put into effect in 1913. 

 Under this plan a form of contract was adopted whereby the owners 

 of approved mares could breed them to Government-owned stallions, 

 giving the Government an option on the resulting foals when 3 

 years old at the price of $150 a head. Mare owners were not, how- 

 ever, bound to adhere to the option price, but could cancel the option 

 at any time by paying the stipulated service fee of not to exceed $25. 



For convenience in administration this work has been divided into 

 three districts, the first comprising the States of Vermont and New 

 Hampshire, with headquarters at Middlebury, Vt. ; the second com- 

 prising the States of Virginia and West Virginia, with headquarters 

 at Front Royal, Va. ; and the third Kentucky and Tennessee, with 

 headquarters at Lexington, Ky. 



The amounts appropriated by Congress for carrying on this work 

 have been as follows: Fiscal year 1913, $50,000; 1914, $50,000; 1915, 

 $30,000; 1916, $25,000. 



The following table shows the results obtained from the stallions 

 in service in the respective districts for the breeding seasons of 1913 



