598 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



broad savannahs, stretching for many miles almost unbroken, are cov- 

 ered by a most luxuriant carpet of grass, and are crossed by hundreds 

 of small streams, rising in the gravelly hills of the gold-bearing district 

 west of the plains. The prairies are constantly refreshed by showers, 

 which, beginning in May, increase in frequency and duration, until in 

 November and early December, when they become almost continuous 

 rains, at times falling copiously every night, for two or three weeks, 

 But fortunately the days are usually clear and pleasant even in these 

 rainy seasons, and though the streams rise rapidly over night, they as 

 rapidly fall during the day. 



CATTLE BREEDING IN HONDURAS. 



Under such favorable circumstances cattle have ranged for centuries 

 on the plains and mesas of Honduras ; yet, no attempt' appears ever to 

 have been made to improve them by the introduction of improved blood, 

 by the selection of the best animals with which to add to size, strength, 

 or quality, or by other means known to breeders in other lands. There 

 is a want of proper management, and of attention to the easiest and most 

 natural methods. Bulls are not castrated until they are three years 

 old, and men who run cattle estates say that about one-fifth castrated 

 at this age die from the effects of the operation. They believe that more 

 would die if the operation was performed earlier, but they admit that 

 they have never known of a trial of the plan of altering very young 

 animals. 



The custom of selecting for slaughter the strongest, smoothest, and 

 best bulls in the herd has doubtless done much to check the natural 

 tendency to the improvement of the breed, which, but for this custom, 

 might have been of great value, under the very favorable conditions 

 existing in the districts named, even without the use of any already im- 

 proved stock. Calves suck their dams much longer than they are al- 

 lowed to suck them in the United States. Frequently a cow may be 

 seen standing quietly, while a young calf tugging at a teat on one side, 

 is aided in emptying the udder by a yearling sucking away at a teat on 

 the other side. The spectacle has been seen of a cow suckling a calf, 

 while a heifer stood sucking the opposite teat, and at the same time gave 

 suck to her own newly-born scarcely dried by the sun, it had seen for 

 the first time only an hour or so before. . 



Notwithstanding these disadvantages the cattle here are profitable 

 to their owners, are of excellent quality for beef, of large size and re- 

 markable docility ; and with the modern improved methods of treat- 

 ment and breeding, they could, of course, be made far more valuable. 



DESTRUCTION OF CATTLE BY WILD BEASTS. 



There are few dangers threatening cattle in Honduras. Chief among 

 those which do exist is that arising from the existence of the mountain 

 lion, the black tiger, or puma, and the cougar. These animals continue 

 to haunt the mountains and occasionally kill calves or yearlings. The 

 tiger is capable of Jdlling a grown bull. Fortunately the wild beasts 

 are not so formidable as in the north, and consequently losses from their 

 attacks are not very great. The killing of a cow or a yearling or two 

 by wild beasts occasions considerable excitement in the neighborhood 

 where it occurs, and usually results in a hunt which ends in the death 

 of the cattle destroyer. 



