36 Report upon the Agricultural Features 



and gives off a mossy odour which spreads over the whole house, 

 and also affects the milk. For this reason buffalo beef is 

 seldom used, although the veal is considered good. The skin 

 makes good leather. 



The buffalo has not a sweet temper, and when roused his 

 anger knows no bounds. With his convex forehead he can 

 inflict a terrible blow, levelling his antagonist to the earth, 

 and he then treads round and round upon him like a mad 

 creature. With necessary food and good treatment he is quiet 

 and good tempered, so much so that a herd of them can be 

 managed by a boy, and their quiet and dignified demeanour at 

 the Vienna Exhibition, where they were constantly surrounded 

 by an admiring crowd, may be taken as evidence of their gene- 

 ral placidity. They may he managed by kindness, but the rod 

 of correction they cannot bear. Herr Josef Schuster, of Her- 

 mannstadt, already referred to, exhibited two Albino buffaloes 

 which attracted much attention. 



Sheep. 



Above 1500 sheep wei-e entered for competition, and com- 

 paratively few failed to appear. Of these entries England con- 

 tributed 135 ; France, 69 ; Italy, 22 ; Germany, 377 ; Austria, 

 467 ; and Hungary, 431. Russia was scarcely represented in 

 this or in any other section of the Cattle-sliow. Several of the 

 best English races were present, and Italy contributed some 

 characteristic and peculiar sheep, presently to be described. 

 W ith these exceptions, as well as that of some hardy mountain 

 sheep from Transylvania, and Duke Coburg Gotha's Zackel 

 sheep, there were nothing but Merinos. Attempts have been 

 made by some enterprising noblemen to cross the Merino with 

 English sheep, and the result has certainly been encouraging. 

 Such cases, however, are rare ; and, as in the showyard so 

 throughout the entire Empire, the Merino sheep is dominant and 

 almost universal. They are in the hands of large proprietors, 

 Avho breed them with great care, the peasants as a rule restrict- 

 ing their attention to cattle, swine, goats, and horses. The show 

 of these sheep was probably the finest ever held, and offered a 

 splendid opportunity for studying the various differences which 

 exist under the generic name Merino. 



England. 



The English sheep offered a strange contrast to the files of 

 Merinos which constituted by far the greater part of the show. 

 It is important to remark that Merinos have ceased to be 

 remunerative ; and throughout whole regions of the northern 

 part of the Empire, sheep are being, or have been, given up. 



