220 THE AMERICAN BISONS. 
“they would possess the same advantage that horses have over domestic 
oxen, that is, superior swiftness,” but the question has as yet received little 
attention. Being more active than the domestic ox, it seems highly prob- 
able that they might make a superior farm animal, especially since, as Pro- 
fessor Shaler suggests to me, they would be far better able to endure the 
intense heat of summer than ordinary cattle, besides being swifter and 
stronger. 
From what is already known of the behavior of the buffalo under domes- 
tication, it seems altogether tractable and docile. A letter written by Mr. 
P. B. Thompson, Sr., to Professor Shaler, respecting the domestication of the 
buffalo in Kentucky, bears further on this point. Mr. Thompson says (under 
date of “Harrodsburg, Ky., October 30, 1875”): “In reply to your inquiry 
relative to the buffaloes formerly owned by Colonel George C. Thompson of 
Shawnee Springs, Mercer County, permit me to say that my remembrance 
of them runs back at least fifty years. My first recollection is that there 
was a bull and three cows. They were kept in a park of about sixty acres 
of blue-grass. In the same park were about fifty deer, and from seven to 
twelve elk. The animals in the park were fed but little, and given the same 
food as other cattle. The elk and deer were but slightly domesticated, but 
the buffaloes became as gentle as any other cattle that were not constantly 
handled. I have been often within a few feet of them, and have no doubt 
that they could have been used as beasts of labor, or that the females would 
have submitted to milking. There were but few young, they being poor 
breeders, which was probably the effect of neglect. They were very long- 
lived; one of them must have been thirty years old, the others over twenty. | 
The bull died many years ago, the last cow about a year since. 
“During the whole time I do not think they ever broke a fence, or went 
beyond the limits of the park unless driven. Other cattle were put in the 
park, and it was used at times for a calf lot. They were not vicious to either 
cattle, horses, hogs, or sheep. “The two last left were cows, who survived 
the bull at least fifteen years. They were calved in the park, and, as I 
have said before, were docile and harmless.” 
No attempt appears as yet to have been made to perpetuate an un- 
mixed domestic race of the buffalo. Probably after a few generations 
they would lose much of their natural untractableness, and when cas- 
trated would doubtless form superior working cattle, from their greater 
size and strength and great natural agility. While on the Plains in 
“nian. seceemmmeenensin =, pment 
