REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 45 



portion of the ration as the fowls will eat readily, but no harmful 

 effects from this feed have been observed. Cowpeas, soy beans, 

 and dried beet pulp have also been used experimentally as poultry 

 feed with satisfactory results. 



Work for improvement in the methods of handling eggs has been 

 undertaken, and while it has not progressed very far it is certain 

 that better methods will bring about a great reduction in the heavy 

 losses experienced in the egg trade. 



BREEDING HORSES FOR ARMY USE. 



For some years the United States Army has found great difficulty 

 in obtaining a sufficient supply of horses of a suitable character, 

 and this condition led the Secretary of War during the past fiscal 

 year to invite my cooperation in working out some plan for meeting 

 the difficulty. A representative of this Department was accordingly 

 designated to confer with the representative of the War Department, 

 and these gentlemen have submitted reports pointing out the neces- 

 sity for Government encouragement of breeding army horses and out- 

 lining a definite plan with an estimate of the cost. It appears that 

 on the present peace footing the mounted service of the Army 

 requires from 2,000 to 2,500 horses a year, and in order to supply 

 this number of suitable animals it is estimated that at least 100 

 stallions would be required. These stallions should be purchased 

 and owned by the Government, and arrangements should be made 

 for the use of privately owned mares of suitable type and breed, the 

 War Department to have an option on the purchase of the foals. 

 It is estimated that the cost of putting such a plan into execution 

 would be $250,000 for the first year for the part of the work to be 

 administered by the Department of Agriculture, and that the annual 

 expense of maintaining this work thereafter would be about $100,000. 

 It seems essential that the Government should undertake some plan 

 of breeding suitable horses if the efficiency of the mounted service 

 of the cavalry and artillery branches of the Army is to be maintained, 

 and such a plan would also have experimental possibilities of high 

 value to the horse-breeding industry. 



WORK RELATING TO THE DAIRY INDUSTRY. 

 DAIRY FARMING INVESTIGATIONS. 



The average production of dairy cows in the United States is entirely 

 too low, and there is no doubt that it can be raised considerably by 

 proper methods. It is important that the dairyman should know 

 which of his cows are good producers and wliich are kept at a loss, so 

 that the latter may be eliminated and the herd built up with profitable 

 cows. The best kno\\'ii method of doing this is by keeping records 

 showing for each animal as closely as possible the cost of maintenance 



