140 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 



northern climate. He believed that "a cross with Gallo- 

 ways would produce the handsomest robe ever handled, 

 and make the best range cattle in the world." 



The experiments of Messrs. Bedson, Jones, Goodnight, 

 and other workers conclusively demonstrated the following 

 facts: That the buffalo bull crosses readily with the domes- 

 tic cow, which produces a half-breed calf successfully, but 

 the buffalo cow has not been known to produce a half- 

 breed calf; that the progeny of the two species is fertile to 

 any extent, yielding half-breeds, quarter, three-quarter 

 breeds and so on; that the hybrids display all the desirable 

 quahties of the buffalo as regards ability to withstand ex- 

 posure, etc., and, finally, that the buffalo will breed suc- 

 cessfully and regularly in captivity. 



In order to determine to what extent practical use can 

 be made of the crosses between the buffaloes and domestic 

 cattle, the Dominion Department of Agriculture in 1915 

 purchased a herd of "cattalos," as the hybrids are called, 

 from the herd which was developed by the late Mossom 

 Boyd on his Big Island stock farm at Bobcaygeon, On- 

 tario. An account of the purchase of this herd and the 

 character of the experimental work that is now being under- 

 taken by the Division of Animal Husbandry of the Do- 

 minion Experimental Farms, under the direction of Mr. 

 Archibald, the director, was published in The Agricultural 

 Gazette of Canada for March, 1916, from which the follow- 

 ing statement is taken: 



The experiment carried on by the late Mossom Boyd was commenced 

 in 1894 and continued until the time of his death, some two years ago. 

 At the outset cows of various breeds and crosses were used. Some of 

 these failed to produce and, after several years of experiment, all but 

 grades of the Aberdeen- Angus and Hereford were discontinued. The 

 resulting herd, therefore, possess the thick form of these beef breeds and 

 a modification of the hump and depth of rib peculiar to the buffalo. 



In the early stages of the experiment, sterility was a dominating ob- 

 stacle to progress, more particularly with the initial cross. With the 



