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animal best adapted for the production of milk. After referring 

 to the conditions of pasturage and of climate of the new Italian 

 Colony, the writer comes to the conclusion that sheep and 

 goats, in view of their great adaptability and their special 

 resisting powers in regard to changes of climate when moved 

 to different pasture grounds, must be considered as the most 

 suitable animals for profitably working the steppes of Tripoli. 



ZOOTECHNICAL EXPERIMENTS IN THE BELGIAN CONGO. 



By M. VAN DAMME, 

 Colonial Office, Brussels. 



[ABSTRACT.] 



All the races of native domestic animals in the Congo are 

 susceptible of improvement. The cattle give a very small 

 amount of milk, and their yield of meat is not considerable. 

 The goats do not give much milk. Fowls are very small. 



On the other hand, certain species of useful animals, such as 

 asses and horses, do not exist in the Belgian Congo, and the 

 possibility of breeding them has still to be experimentally 

 shown. With the object of studying these questions the 

 Government has founded several experimental breeding- 

 stations and has imported into the Colony animals of different 

 foreign breeds. The zootechnical researches actually being 

 made concern cattle, buffaloes, horses, asses, pigs, goats, and 

 poultry. 



(i) CATTLE. 



(a) Belgian-bred Cattle. Belgian bulls have been imported 

 and crossed with native cattle. The cross-bred animals are 

 far superior to the local breed so far as concerns their con- 

 formation and the development of their milking qualities. 



(b) Brittany Cattle. A herd of small Brittany milch cows are 

 being tried for milk production at the experimental station of 

 Zambi (Lower Congo). The results so far are very satis- 

 factory. 



(r) Dahomey Cattle. A small herd of the small Dahomey 

 cattle has been tried for breeding purposes in the Lower Congo 

 bush at Zambi. They are very hardy and seem to do very 

 well in their new home. 



(d) Indian Zebu Cattle. A dozen Zebu cattle of the Nellore 

 breed, bought in India, have been acclimatized in the Congo 



