356 Report on the Agriculture of 



Ministry, which he forwarded to me. Hungary during late 

 years has exported 50,000 head ot" cattle per annum, and about 

 250,000 cwts. of meat and grease (probably lard and fat). About 

 half the supply of fat cattle for the ^ ienna market comes from 

 Hungary. The markets for Hungarian draught-oxen are prin- 

 cipally found in the Austrian provinces of Bohemia, Silesia, 

 Moravia, and Lower Austria. 



Baron Kiibeck also supplied information on another point of 

 interest, namely, the cattle plague. He wrote as follows : — 

 " The cattle plague (rinderpest) shows itself every year in Hun- 

 gary, but generally only in a sporadic manner, without claiming 

 many victims. The quarantine has lately been most excellently 

 organised between Podolia, Russia, and Hungary, so as to cause 

 us to expect with all certainty the entire removal of the evil, 

 the more so as the cradle of this disease is in more eastern 

 countries than our own. The cattle plague is, however, also 

 acclimatized in the more western countries of Europe. It does 

 not now appear with its former virulence, and is not so fatal in 

 its attacks. The western races of cattle, as well as such eastern 

 ones as the Hungarian and Podolian, have become hardened 

 against and less liable to this plague." Further, with respect to 

 the method employed for effecting the arrest of the disease, the 

 Baron writes : — 



" A continuous quarantine against the east ; prohibition of 

 any export of cattle during the existence of the plague ; quarantine 

 in each individual district (comitat) of the country in which the 

 plague appears. The strictest and most energetic measures are also 

 used by the official executive officers in keeping the quarantine." 

 Working Oxen. — One of the pleasantest sights in Hungary is 

 the long teams of majestic oxen either ploughing or drawing the 

 Hungarian waggon over the rough roads. 



I have seen twenty-three teams, of four oxen each, ploughing in 

 one field. One ploughman guides both plough and oxen without 

 the assistance of reins or a driver, and all is done with the voice 

 and whip. In Upper Hungary I saw oxen engaged in carting 

 hay home from a distance which would only allow one journey 

 to be made in the day. 



Sheep. — A description of the Merino sheep will be found, 

 together with remarks upon merino wool, in my Report upon the 

 Vienna Exhibition. The Merino sheep may be said to occupy 

 all the sheep-stables of Hungary, if we except a few Southdown 

 crosses, seen upon the estates of the Archduke Albrecht and 

 Count A. Erdijdy. They are housed in sheep-stables every night 

 in summer, and day and night in winter. In summer they are 

 also housed during the hot hours of the day. They graze on 

 the natural pastures, and are never folded on forage crops as 



