148 The Bison 



animal is larger than either parent, and so makes 

 a better beef animal. Besides, its hide yields a 

 robe which, if not equal to that of the buffalo, is, 

 at least, vastly superior to the hide of the ordinary 

 beef. More important than either the beef or the 

 robe, is the very greatly increased hardiness of the 

 cross-bred animal, which enables it to endure ex- 

 tremes of cold and snow, which would destroy 

 the ordinary domestic cattle. 



From the days of Robert Wycliff, almost to the 

 time when Mr. C. J. Jones, of Kansas, began experi- 

 ments in breeding buffalo, little or nothing had 

 been done in this direction. A few years earlier 

 Mr. S. L. Bedson, of Stony Mountain, Mani- 

 toba, set to work at the same problem, and both 

 men met with abundant measure of success. Both 

 bred pure buffalo in considerable numbers, and 

 both succeeded in breeding the buffalo with the 

 domestic cow, and securing a progeny which was 

 remarkable for size and for the robes produced. 

 Indeed, Mr. Hornaday quotes Mr. Bedson as say- 

 ing that the three-quarter bred animal produces 

 " an extra good robe which will readily bring 

 forty to fifty dollars in any market where there 

 is a demand for robes." 



It is altogether possible that the time for 



