THE EARTH'S BOUNTY 



are expensive animals. But practical common 

 sense asserted itself after the first glamour of 

 admiration faded, and instead of abolishing 

 the useful animals we already owned and 

 crippling our exchequer to establish a herd of 

 the coveted creatures, we concluded to pur- 

 chase a buck and gradually build up on our 

 existing possessions. After much correspond- 

 ence, a gentleman of good family, fifteen 

 months old, with silky hair, became ours for 

 $80. We had six females by that time, all 

 nice, healthy animals, and through my fond- 

 ness for white, they had all been chosen to 

 gratify it. The buck arrived in September, 

 and by the following April there were ten 

 kids, the result of the first cross, six being 

 females, which we kept for stock. Of the five 

 males one died, and four were sold when two 

 months old for $3 each. It takes five genera- 

 tions when a pure-blooded buck is the sire 

 of each to banish all trace of maternal an- 

 cestry, and cannot be accomplished in less than 

 four years; at least it took that length of time 



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