222 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



lands of LoDg Island, of which I have read, might be turned to 

 account in this way. My elks are on the same ground that they 

 have occupied since I first commenced to raise them. I wintered 

 twenty-two last winter; I have brought three into market here. 

 Two of them are bucks, with antlers, weighing five hundred lbs. 

 apiece, and one doe, weighing three hundred lbs. I have several 

 hundred lbs. of hay near my field, with which I feed the animals 

 a little. I think that, in ordinary circumstances, three elks will 

 not eat more than one cow. 



They reproduce when they are two years old. I think it used 

 to be generally believed by the Indians that they commonly 

 brought twins, but I have not known* an instance where more 

 than a single one has been produced at a birth. They might 

 possibly be made to give milk, but never, I think, with profit. 

 They can be driven, and make very fancy teams, but this is never 

 likely to be done, as a matter of utility. I broke one pair, and 

 sold them for $1,000, to take to Europe. I used a common horse 

 harness, with the bit. The bucks are very beautiful trotters, and 

 I think that a buck with antJers moves Avith more grace and 

 majesty than any other animal. The objection to their use in 

 this way is that in the summer their horns are very easily chafed 

 and hurt. They shed their horns in March, and the new ones 

 commence growing in two weeks, and in about ninety days from 

 that time are complete. During this time they are not in good 

 condition to drive; and, besides this, they cannot stand the hot 

 weather. In the winter time they will travel an immense dis- 

 tance. They will probably outstrip a common horse, but will not 

 equal a trotting horse : they do not tire as easily as a horse, and 

 a buck of four years old will go a distance of fifty or a hundred 

 miles quicker, and with less fatigue, than a horse could do. The 

 great profit in raising them, however, is for their meat. They 

 live and fatten on useless land. Where the feeding ground is 

 brush they will destroy it; but the grass will come up more pro- 

 fusely on this account in the summer; and it has the result of 

 giving them better feed in the summer, though not so good in the 

 winter. I paid $400 for the first pair I bought : I have bought 

 two does since, from which, wdth the first pair, I have raised my 

 whole stock : I have been at various unnecessary expenses, from 

 the fact that I did not know how to manage them : I can now 

 raise elk cheaper than I can sheep : I have a three year old buck, 

 weighing four hundred and eighty pounds, which has cost mo 



