24 FOREIGN MARKETS FOR AMERICAN HORSES. 



found among the horses offered were cataracts, ring and side bones, 

 and spavin; many had defective feet. I was also told, in reply to a 

 question I asked that, from my informant's point of view, the best 

 animals were produced here by crossing the native stock with thor- 

 oughbred blood, and that the use here of a heavy draft horse as a 

 sire had not given good results. 



Members of the commission told me that they were each year 

 obliged to buy a large number of horses for Africa alone, owing 

 chiefly ^o the number of horses which die there yearly from what is 

 known as "horse sickness," a form of malarial fever that is epidemic 

 there, and not yet understood by their veterinary surgeons, although 

 it has been studied carefully for several years. It is said that 18 per 

 cent of the horses used by the British forces in Africa die each year 

 from this disease alone, whereas not more than 2 per cent die from all 

 other diseases. 



Should the marked "fall in gold" or appreciation in the value of 

 the paper money of this country that has taken place here during 

 the past year be maintained or increased it will be less advantageous 

 for the commission to buy horses here in the future, since the net 

 cost in pounds sterling increases with "falling gold." In the event 

 "low gold" continues, therefore, Australia will most likely be the 

 point the commission will next select for their operations. In that 

 connection I venture to suggest that I believe from conversations had 

 with members of the commission that it would be well for us to give 

 especial attention to the needs of the "Remount department," to 

 which I have made reference, as I believe cavalry horses can be 

 advantageously bought in our country, and I am quite convinced that 

 that class of horses is exceedingly limited here. 



AMERICAN HORSES IN BELGIUM. 



[Letter from Hon. Bellamy Storer, Minister of the United States to Belgium, dated Brussels, 



September 20, 1897.] 



Sir: Learning of your desire to extend, if possible, the export trade 

 of the United States in horses as well as in cattle, especially your hope 

 that the United States might s apply larger numbers of horses for mili- 

 tary service in Europe, I took advantage of the occasion of a visit to 

 Antwerp, made for the purpose of examining the question of the 

 importation of cattle, to see the stables used for imported horses at 

 that city. 



There is no duty on horses imported into Belgium, and therefore 

 no "bonded" stables are needed. 



The largest of these stables are called "the American stables," 

 where the horses, after having been examined on the dock by Govern- 

 ment veterinarians, are brought and kept either for private sale or 

 for sale by auction. There were about 400 horses, all just landed 

 from New York, at the time of my visit, and I am told that they have 

 received as high as 7,000 horses from the United States in a year. 



