38 STATES OF THE RIVER PLATE. 



colour, and possessed, in a marked degree, the form and 

 features characteristic of the Hereford blood. There were, 

 by the way, four young animals which formed a singular 

 exception, but an exception which proved the rule ; they 

 were the produce of two calvings of two black cows, 

 which by accident got into the herd, and were allowed 

 to remain in it. These young cattle had the ' white ' 

 markings of the Herefords well and truly defined, as also 

 the form and features ; the one exception was in the 

 ' colour,' which was black instead of red. 



It must appear strange, indeed, to those who know the 

 value of the shorthorn and Hereford blood, to learn that 

 the owners of very valuable stock of these breeds are 

 compelled to 'cut' the whole of the young bulls which 

 they do not require for their own herds, in every grade of 

 cross first, second, third, and fourth. 



I know several gentlemen who have very fine herds, 

 including the party whose well-bred cattle I have alluded 

 to above, who have not sold a single bull out of them. 

 The loss that is sustained by the country at large from the 

 ' cutting ' of these young bulls is, unquestionably, very 

 great ; as these bulls put into the more domesticated herds, 

 and into dairy kinds would, in a brief time, materially 

 improve such stock ; and, in course of time, furnish ani- 

 mals admirably adapted for the meat supply of the city, 

 as being profitable to feed, making, with equal food, much 

 deeper and more meat than the ' habit ' of the indigenous 

 cattle admits of. 



