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Show DEVELOPING THE ZEBRA AS THE IDEAL DRAUGHT ANIMAL " "H riB horse has another rival besides the auto-j auto-j mobile. It Is the zebra that striped beauty Sof the wilds, that for so long a time was reputed to be untamable. Experiment has shown that It can be broken to harness. This applies to zebra's proper, but even belter results than from these are expected as a result of the crossing of zebras with various types of horses, resulting in a hybrid combining the hardiness of the zebra and iU ability to thrive In a climate unsulted to the horse with ; the superior qualities of the latter animal ns a beast of burden under good conditions. Recent letters received by ue from abroad throw interesting light upon the developments of the last two or three years along these lines by those most interested interest-ed in the effort to produce the ideal animal for draught purposes in countries where tho use of the horse has been found to be Impracticable notably In tho "lly country," as It Is called, and In fact in Central Africa 1 generally. If these experiments prove, successful and there Is every Indication that they will the problem prob-lem of carrying camp equlpago and supplies In that 1 country will have received a practical solution and the planning of campaigns there will be simplified greatly. , For this reason the British Foreign Oflice and military authorities generally have been displaying great ln-lercKt ln-lercKt In this subject and are keeping close track of ! every forward stop made In the effort to develop the 1 perfectanimal for tholr special uses. One of the leading animal importers, breeders and trainers of Europe wrote in a letter not long ago: "An Interesting experiment was recently made by Professor Kwart, of Edinburgh the crossing of a male Chapman zebra with dlffcicnt breeds of horaes, from a Shetland pony up to a heavy cart horse. I have taught from Professor Kwnrt two zebra horses, the one foaled by an American hotting mare, the other by a small English cart horse. Judging by results up to dale, which hae been more than satisfactory, these experiments will lead, I think, to a revolution in breeding mules, for tho zebra crossed with horses gives better results than breeding mules from Jacks. "The zebra Is an animal with more life and possesses greater endurance. Formerly It wns very difficult to got the zebras from which to breed, but they are now caught for me In any number. They are worth about $7G0 apiece, delivered In New York." Zebras JiuVe been plentiful in the animal markets of the world only for the last four or live years, Blnce the discovery of astonishing herds of them on the plains that lie south of Albert Nyanza and Albert Edward Nyanza. and on the plateaus between the great lakes generally. It is said that they may be seen there feeding like ponies in a field and that they have almost no fear of man, as many of the tribes Inhabiting the district are only vegetable feeders and do not even dig pitfalls for Uie abounding gamo. It was this abundance of natural wild horse in tho district which prompted Mr It Stordy, M it. C V S., to forward to tho British Forelgu Otllce a detailed rec- ommendatlon now on file there suggesting the domestication domes-tication of the animals for draught purposes The first need Is that some hardy animal larger than a donkey be found. The constitution of all zebras Is astonishingly robust They arc naturally dwellers upon high plains and dry mountains, and though their natural habitat Is In the fly haunted veldt of Eastern Central Africa, in temperate zones they live out of doors through tho winter without suffering the slightest slight-est harm. Professor Ewart's zebra hybrids were more hardy than ponies and thrived under exposure the year round In the Peutland Hills of England. Neither the Idea nor the fnct of taming zebras Is new, but It is only of recent years that systematic et-forts et-forts toward the scientific breeding of the most perfect type of zebra hybrids have been made. In the middle of the Inst century half broken zebras were sometimes seen for sale In Capu Town, with a rider mounted to show that thoy were ridable. It Is said that they were exported to Mauritius for draught purposes. The experiment has been tried with complete success suc-cess Hi England. Mr. Waller Rothschild's team, three zebras and a pony, wns fairly well broken, though perhaps the animals were not all that could be desired in the stable. Barnum had a team of four zobra mares that -were as quiet as so many sheep. Tho writer has seon thorn when waiting for their turn In the performance, perform-ance, where they drew a cnr. They were In pairs, ready harnessed In their stalls. All four were standing stand-ing quietly with no one near them, not fidgeting in their harness or pawing the grownd as some of the ponies were. |