354 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



the moist climate and fresh pastures of England and Scotland every 

 one may observe the dryer and more concentrated quality, as well as 

 the darker color, of French beef and mutton, though not inferior in fla- 

 vor. The verdure of the country shows the same variation ; both have 

 felt the long dry summer. 



In Italy this change is exaggerated; prolonged heat in summer and 

 dry cold in winter are the rule. Luxuriant pastures in hill or valley 

 are rare, and keep their freshness but a moment. Mountain ranges and 

 spurs occupy much of the surface; land is divided into the smallest 

 parcels ; horses too few and precious to be employed in cultivation ; in- 

 tensive agriculture is little known, and its introduction can only be 

 the work of many years. Until then the race of cattle must be adapted 

 to all uses, principally to labor, and subsidiarily to slaughter or dairy 

 production ; and even then it is doubtful whether the climate and vege- 

 tation could offer a congenial home for the ultra-refined and developed 

 animals of more favored regions. Attempts to naturalize them, made 

 with all the precautions and liberality of scientific experiment, have not 

 so far succeeded. 



THE OX OF THE COUNTRY. 



In the Podolian ox the country possesses a type capable of support- 

 ing its mediocre conditions of existence, and answering its principal re- 

 quirements; sober, robust, and nearly equal to the horse in the rapidity 

 of his pace in labor or journey, he demands neither care nor shelter. 

 To correct his defects of form and temperament the other half-Italian- 

 ited race of the Tyrol seems specially fitted ; indolent, slow, and massive 

 in his native region, he loses the excess of these characteristics in chang- 

 ing his habitat, while retaining his precocity and readiness to fatten. 

 The influence of climate is singular manifested in its effects in these ex- 

 tremes of race character, which, gaining and losing, respectively, by the 

 change, tend to a common medium of good qualities. The Podolian, 

 however, is the proper and universal Italian ox, and in view of the extra- 

 ordinary modifications already noted of the same type, it is difficult to 

 assign a limit to his capability of amelioration. 



SUITABILITY OF ITALIAN CATTLE FOR THE UNITED STATES. 



Whether one or other of these races would be desirable for importa- 

 tion to the United States would depead on the character and the ag- 

 riculture of the region in which the animals should be implanted. 

 Neither possesses the highly developed special qualities that are sought 

 for in the improved cultivation of the older States. If, however, the 

 precocity and solidity of the Tyrolese were considered an acquisition, 

 these are found at their strongest in the valleys of the Upper Adige, 

 toward Meran, the native home of the race. The type should be chosen 

 there, and for these qualities alone ; neither this nor any other race of 

 these regions having any value for dairy purposes to merit attention. 



The hardy and indefatigable Podolian or Pugliese might render use- 

 ful service in the trying climate and difficult cultivation of less fertile 

 and less advanced parts of the country, as, for instance, in the lowlands 

 of the Gulf States, in the wild-sage region of the great plains, or the 

 barren stretches of Lower California and New Mexico, and, according to 

 the special requirements of the situation, there would be large room for 

 choice among the several varieties of the race which stock the different 

 regions of Italy. 



