344 AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. 



Board for a supply of first - class bulls and 

 boars for the improvement of the cattle and 

 pigs throughout the country. The owners of 

 horses are, taken as a whole, wealthy gentle- 

 men ; the owners of pigs and cows are, taken 

 as a whole, poor men. There is not the 

 same likelihood of hunters being less well bred 

 as there is of cows and pigs, and there is 

 a danger in increasing the number of small 

 live-stock owners in this country who have 

 not sufficient capital to buy the best of bulls 

 and the best of boars for service. 



Hungary, I think, was the first European 

 state to improve its standard of live-stock by 

 purchasing first-class sires and sending them 

 into many country parishes for service. The 

 improvement in Hungarian cattle has been 

 most marked. In Ireland, as we have seen, 

 the Department followed this excellent ex- 

 ample by allowing farmers to have the use 

 of valuable bulls for a nominal fee. 



In England most small farmers have to 

 pay a fee of 5s. for the use of a third-class 

 bull or 2s. 6d. for an indifferent boar. Already 

 we have complaints from the large graziers 

 of the difficulties of obtaining good store 

 cattle. 



