NOTES 
FROM 
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. 
EDS^BUMCIII. 
The letter from this Corresponding Member in February has elicited the follow¬ 
ing notes on similar Cavalry experiments in Austria and Italy, the former by 
Major E. S. May, E.A., the latter by Colonel C. E. S. Scott. E.A. 
Major May says:—When in Vienna two years ago I was much interested in 
the system in vogue in the Austrian Cavalry, and it appeared to answer per¬ 
fectly. On my first visit to a Cavalry barracks I was astonished to find the 
troop horses standing in beds of straw, in some cases almost up to their hocks, 
blanketed, and in the kind of luxury we are accustomed to see hunters enjoying 
in this country. On enquiry I was told that the ration of straw was slightly 
smaller than it is with us, and that the quantity of bedding was great, because 
little was ever removed. The bottom of a stall consisted of a layer, I think about 
6 inches deep, of charcoal and sand, all the urine drained away through this, and 
there was no smell, and no sign of moisture or dirt. The Edinburgh corres¬ 
pondent speaks of “ a little platform of dirty bedding .... from which, 
when trodden on, a certain amount of moisture exuded.” I can assure him that 
the state of the case in Austria was very widely different from this. I unfortun¬ 
ately cannot lay my hand on the notes which I made at the time as to the exact 
quantity of straw allowed, or of the precise composition of the substratum of 
charcoal and sand beneath, but I remember that the ration was smaller than is 
ours, and that the comfort of the Austrian horses was immensely greater than 
what the “hairy” experiences here. The blankets were folded under the saddles, 
which were unstuffed, when the horse was ridden. The greatest care was taken 
to pick up every atom of dung from the straw as it fell, and the stablemen on 
duty were continually busy at this work. As the urine all drained away through 
the substratum, and the dung was all picked up, the horse lay on a dry, clean 
bed, and the blankets showed very little signs of dirt. I doubt whether in our 
service, until we persuade a different class to enlist, we can ever hope to arrive at 
the same state of things. The Austrian trooper is by nature and habits more 
frugal minded, methodical, and painstaking than is ours, and will carry out a 
system, such as I have described, more thoroughly and intelligently than most of 
the men we have to deal with, unless they are very closely supervised, are likely 
to do. 
Colonel Scott says :—Observing amongst the “Notes ” for February last some 
remarks by a Member at Edinburgh on the system of allowing stable bedding 
to remain for a time without being removed, and as I have had some personal 
experience on the subject, I beg to submit a few observations :— 
1.—When I was 2nd Captain of the Eiding Troop (1865-7) under Captain A. 
M. Calvert we tried the experiment. Captain Calvert had, I think, heard that 
the Cavalry of some foreign army had adopted the plan with success. He there¬ 
fore obtained permission to give it a trial. 
4. VOL. XX. 
