485 
A NEW SORT OF FORAGE, 
One of the main difficulties encountered by our cavalry in 
Zululand, and also, in a less degree, among the mountains of 
Afghanistan, was the transport of forage. In European 
warfare, the obstacle is not of such serious consequence, but 
the German military authorities have, nevertheless, addressed 
attention to the matter with a view to the discovery of some 
less bulky sort of food for horses. Captain Bonde, formerly 
of the 93rd Highlanders, and now colonel of artillery in the 
Venezuelan army, claims, in a letter to a military contem¬ 
porary, that the required object will soon be attained by means 
of meat meal,” a new manufacture of South America. This 
meal is composed of shredded meat baked with leaven and 
bruised oats into a sort of coarse bread, which horses readily 
eat and thrive upon in a remarkable degree. The German 
Government has already experimented with the compound, 
and according to the report of their proceedings there would 
seem fair reason to expect that meat meal will soon come 
into general use for military purposes. A number of horses 
belonging to the German cuirassiers were fed on meat meal, 
instead of their usual ration of oats, previously to the last 
autumn manoeuvres, and the report says that this squadron 
showed marked superiority to the other horses throughout 
the operations. So successful was the experiment, that the 
Prussian War Office has given orders for it to be carried out 
on a more extensive scale under the supervision of Professor 
Dunkelberg, and should the results agree with the prelimi¬ 
nary test, the meal will become thenceforth a recognised form 
of military supply. The Professor, who has already given 
considerable attention to the matter, believes that the meal 
would also be found very useful in racing stables, as it does 
not produce fat, but goes to form hard muscle. Captain 
Bonde supports this theory with his own personal experience; 
Having served a good deal in South America in a military 
capacity, he bears testimony to the superior hardiness of the 
horses fed there with meat meal instead of ordinary forage. 
In presence of this evidence, no time ought to be lost in the 
institution of experiments by our own Government. England, 
more than any country in the world, is deeply interested in 
discovering some more portable forage than those on which 
her widely-scattered forces have now to depend, and if meat 
meal supplies this want, without being too expensive—on 
that important head Captain Bonde is silent—our cavalry 
ought certainly to be supplied with it as soon as possible.— 
The Globe. 
LIII. 
33 
