DIFFERENT CLASSES OF. STOCK. 27 



The amount of capital invested in horned cattle in our coun- 

 try is estimated at nearly $1,000,000,000. A fair estimate 

 of the number of our meat stock at the present time 

 would be 35,000,000, although some estimate it as high as 

 40,000,000. 



In 1840 it was computed that there were 14,971,586 ; in 

 1850, 18,678,582; in 1870, 28,678,000; in 1872, 26,989,000; 

 in 1873, 26,923,000 ; in 1875, 27,870,700 ; showing that in 

 1872 and 1873 the number decreased 1,500,000, owing to* the 

 fact that cattle could not be raised at profitable rates, as 

 the supply exceeded the demand. 



What are known as ;i native " cattle of America have 

 sprung from the stock of the parent countries, which succes- 

 sively contributed to the colonization of the New World. In 

 the older States of the Union the common stock is a mixture 

 descended from different kinds of English, Dutch, Swedish, 

 and Danish cattle brought to the Atlantic shore in the 

 seventeenth century, the English predominating. 



They have, of course, been modified by the changes in 

 climates in which they have lived and bred. The " natives " 

 cannot, therefore, properly be compared with any old and 

 distinct breed. 



In the South-West, the Rocky Mountain region, and on 

 the Pacific slope, are found the descendants of the Spanish 

 cattle introduced into Mexico three hundred and fifty years 

 ago : these preserve many of their original characteristics. 

 They are tall, lean, lank, and bony, flat-sided, high in the 

 flank, and often swayed in the back ; heads coarse, with long 

 and wide-spread horns, with points outward. The colors 

 are black, dark brown, brindle, reddish brown, light yellow- 

 ish red, and occasionally a gray, nearly all with more or less 

 white upon them. The cows are almost as large as the 

 oxen, and of similar appearance : they furnish the calf with 

 a scanty supply of milk, and that for only twelve or fifteen 

 weeks from birth. They have half-wild natures, and are 

 impatient under restraint. Professor J. P. Sheldon of the 

 Agricultural College of Cirencester, Eng., says, in regard 

 to these Texan cattle, " Centuries ago the Moors of An- 

 dalusia reared large herds of awkward, lanky, long-horned 

 cattle, some of which were taken across the Atlantic by the 

 Spaniards who discovered Mexico, and afterwards settled in 



