The Proper Beef Type. 33 



mulating; the principle has been repeatedly demonstrated, and it 

 is useless to ignore facts. 



After all there is no well-founded reason why a Shorthorn, an 

 Angus, OP a Hereford should make more gain in weight from a 

 bushel of corn than a native or scrub. This is governed alto- 

 gether by the digestive and assimilative machinery of the steer. 

 The Holsteins, for instance, are well known to be hardy and ex- 

 tremely vigorous eaters. They consume large quantities of feed, 

 and render good returns for their rations, and the despised scrub 

 has a ravenous appetite, and is almost as omnivorous as a goat. 

 It is not reasonable to expect that the improved breeds, notwith- 

 standing their superiority in other respects, have inherited any 

 greater constitutional vigor or more perfect working organs of 

 digestion than those animals belonging to the class designated as 

 natives, or scrubs, which, from the nature of their surroundings, 

 and the very law of their existence, have been inured to all kinds 

 of hardship. Nature's law of the survival of the fittest was more 

 rigid and exacting than the selection of the average modern 

 breeder. Why, for instance, should a Shorthorn or a Hereford 

 steer be able to utilize a larger proportion of a given ration than a 

 Holstein? Has not the latter been as highly improved, as care- 

 fully and as continuously bred for the express purpose of making 

 good return for a liberal ration? Scientists have discovered that 

 civilized man has no greater powers of digestion than the bar- 

 barian or the Indian. Neither has the improved steer materially 

 better digestion than the native. The feeder is often deceived 

 in the belief that he has a good bunch of cattle simply because 

 they feed well and gain rapidly. Economy of production is an 

 important factor, but it is by no means all. It is even more 

 important to have a finished product that the market wants and 

 will pay for than it is that it should simply be produced cheaply. 



The illustration (Fig. 11) represents a high grade Jersey steer, 

 fed and marketed by the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station. 

 This steer was fattened and finished for market under conditions 

 quite similar to those of the Shorthorn and Hereford steers pre- 

 viously spoken of, and the rations were practically the same. 



