THE ARMY REMOUNT PROBLEM. 



By GEORGE M. ROMMEL, 

 Chief of the Animal Husbandry Division. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The mounting of troops in an army is a most serious problem. 

 Not only must provision be made for a supply of horses sufficient 

 to equip the mounted service for the ordinary routine work during 

 peace, but horses multiply slowly, and a reserve must be provided 

 for use in case of an outbreak of hostilities. In the solution of this 

 problem the European countries, with the exception of England, have 

 for more than a century expended large sums of money in the en- 

 couragement of horse breeding, by maintaining breeding farms, by 

 granting subsidies to stallions, by prizes for horses of suitable type, 

 and by grants to breeders' associations, prizes for racing, etc. Eng- 

 land has heretofore been content to rely upon the resources of her 

 colonial possessions and the United States for such horses, but her 

 experience in the Boer War 10 years ago, when she was forced to 

 drain North America of a large proportion of the horses suitable 

 for military purposes, has compelled her to accede to the demands 

 of the army, and a grant of $200,000 has been made by the Board of 

 Agriculture to encourage the breeding of military horses at home. 

 That the United States faces a similar condition is a very widespread 

 opinion. 



HORSE-BREEDING METHODS IN EUROPE. 

 THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 



Germany probably makes larger total expenditures for the encour- 

 agement of horse breeding than any other country, and of all the 

 German States most attention is devoted to the subject in Prussia. 

 The Prussian Provinces not only supply horses used in the army in 

 Prussia, but in Bavaria, Saxony, Wurtemburg, and other parts of 

 the Empire. 



There are 5 breeding farms and 18 stallion depots in the Kingdom 

 of Prussia, the farms containing a total of over 20,000 acres. The 

 breeding work of the Government is partly to encourage live-stock 

 raising in general, as well as for military purposes, although there 

 are two Provinces in Prussia known as the "remount Provinces," 

 where only the military object is considered by the Government. 



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