BELGIUM. 359 



BELGIUM. 



CATTLE IN BELGIUM. 



REPORT BY CONSUL STEVAET, OF ANTWERP. 



In reply to ttie circular and memoranda calling for information relative 

 to breeding cattle that would be of value to stock-breeders in the United 

 States, I have to regret that niy efforts, both by personal inquiry and by 

 correspondence, to obtain some points of value bearing on the subject 

 have been attended with indifferent results, some of my letters remaining 

 unanswered. 



Belgium offers no catlle for export, first, because the home demand is 

 far in excess of the supply, and then because there is no race here suffi- 

 ciently prominent or meritorious to attract the attention of the pur- 

 chasers from the United States, who are almost always present in the 

 neighboring kingdom of Holland seeking the valuable cattle in which 

 that country is so rich. 



From an official report published this year by the bureau of agricult- 

 ure in the department of the interior at Brussels, we learn that for some 

 years past the cattle in Belgium have shown great improvement, owing to 

 the great care taken in the selection of the breeding stock brought into 

 the country from England and Holland, and to the great attention paid to 

 the offspring. They are well housed, carefully fed, and every care taken 

 in order to produce the best results. The Durham bulls from England 

 are the most valued and most in use, and the cross from this race are very 

 successful, and becoming more and more numerous every year. In some 

 places an effort has been made to preserve and breed the Durham stock 

 pure, but the result was a failure. After two or three generations they 

 degenerate so greatly that the infusion of new blood is necessary ; thus, 

 whilst the cross is a great success, the pure race will not thrive in this 

 country. 



The province of Antwerp prefers to improve her stock by the introduc- 

 tion of the Dutch race, because the dairy is the result aimed at, and but 

 little attention paid to the other products. The cow is valued only by her 

 milk-giving qualities, and for this purpose the Dutch are much the best. 



In the province of Flanders the great proportion of the cattle are of 

 the Cassei breed, or, as it is called in France and in all the markets, the 

 Flemish breed. In many of the districts more than half the cows are of 

 this breed, whilst in other districts the Durham is used to cross with the 

 native cows, or with those brought in from Holland. 



In the province of Brabant the Durham is held in the highest esti- 

 mation, but in the weekly market held at Diest, which is a very im- 

 portant center for the cattle trade, the Holland cattle take a very im- 

 portant part. 



As the home product falls far short of the demand for consumption, 

 the Government has interested itself greatly, as it does in all matters 

 affecting the material interests of the Kingdom, in order to secure the 

 increase needed, and at the same time to improve the breed as much as 

 possible. To this end an appropriation is made yearly and expended 

 by agents appointed by the department of the interior for the purchase 

 and importation of the best pure-blooded animals suitable for the pur- 

 pose ; the purchases are generally made from the Durham and Holland 



