(^haptcr III 



DOMESTIC HIDKS UNSUITABLE 

 FOR LOOM PICKERS 



OUR domestic cattle hides are too thin tor picker 

 purposes and do not possess the strength and 

 toughness characteristic ot the huftah) hide. 

 Thev are also much more expensive, so that, even it suit- 

 able, pickers made of domestic hides would cost much 

 more than those made ot huttalo hide. 



The only American cattle hide which approaches in a 

 slight degree the buffalo hide in thickness is that ot a 

 breed of cattle in Southern Texas. It was tound that the 

 native cattle were thin and scrawny because ot the ticks, 

 mosquitoes and the Berney fly which pestered them, and 

 the problem, therefore, was to produce a breed ot cattle 

 with skin thick enough to withstand these pests. The 

 buffalo does not interbreed with either the domestic cattle 

 or the humped cattle of India, but the hides of the latter, 

 although not as thick as those of the buffalo, are much 

 thicker than the hides ot our domestic cattle. Cows ot 

 the native humped cattle of India were therefore im- 

 ported and bred to Hereford and shorthorn bulls. This 

 produced a species of cattle with skins impervious to tlies 

 and immune from Texas fever. Brazil, for the same 

 purpose, imports b<Jth the bulls and cows, and it has 



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