34 STATES OF THE RIVER PLATE. 



The dairies for supplying the town with milk are of the 

 most primitive fashion, consisting of a hut and a corral, a 

 greater or less number of cows, and a tract of campo to 

 graze them on. The cows are milked once in twenty -four 

 hours — at dawn of day — and the milk at once transferred 

 to a number of small, round tin cans, which fit into hide- 

 lashings on each side of the saddle, or pad, of the milk- 

 man's horse, on which he mounts half-sitting, half-kneel- 

 ing, and trots off to the city to supply his customers. 

 The calves are allowed to run with the cows during the 

 day, but parted from them and shut up in the pen or 

 corral in the evening, the cows being left at liberty to 

 graze. There are a few establishments better regulated, 

 where good cross-bred (shorthorn cross) cows are kept, 

 and a little -lucerne soiling and hay suppUed them when 

 grass is scanty ; and in some of these are milk-rooms, or 

 dairies. Excellent butter is made in such establishments, 

 which commands a high price, especially in the winter 

 time. In the spring, when milk is abundant, some of the 

 milkmen make an inferior kind of cheese, as also butter. 



During the past dozen years, many English-bred cattle 

 have been imported for the purpose of crossing with and 

 improving the native breed. The majority of those im- 

 ported, both bulls and cows, have been of the shorthorn 

 variety. 



The value and importance of this movement can hardly 

 be over-estimated. Nevertheless, it has not found general 

 favour, as few have hitherto derived that direct pecuniary 

 benefit which is needful to give it wide-spread acceptation. 



To understand this, it is requisite to take into considera- 

 tion the uses made of the great bulk of the cattle of the 

 country, and from which they take their value, as also the 

 position and management of the cattle estabhshments. 



The chief value of our cattle at present is in the hide ; 



