tilli CATTLE AND DAIRY FAKMING. 



the carcasses in carts for the different city markets. The sight 

 is a most repellant one, ami no' person with weak nerves or a humane 

 heart would care to witness it twice. All these city establishments are 

 under the control of the municipal authorities, not merely for the col- 

 lection of the taxes on each head but to inspect the meat; but the latter 

 duty is most carelessly attended to. and the amount of unhealthy beef 

 which is sold in the city of Buenos Ayres is, according to the physicians, 

 little less than appalling. 



EFFORTS TO IMPROVE THE ARGENTINE BREED. 



Thus far in my report, I have exclusively referred to the native (creole] 

 breed of cattle of this llepnblic.* I have done this for the reason that 

 scarcely any other kind reaches the slaughtering establishments. It must 

 not be understood, however, that there are no blood cattle in the coun- 

 try. During the last few years very commendable efforts have been 

 made, especially in the province of Buenos Ayres, to improve the breed, 

 and some of the best breeding stock of Great Britain has been imported, 

 in some cases commanding extravagant prices. These have mostly been 

 Shorthorns or Durhams, though more recently some valuable acquisi- 

 tions of Hereford bulls have been made. The effect of these crosses 

 with crcolc cows cannot yet be fully determined. So far as the milk- 

 producing qualities of the cross is concerned, of course there is no ques- 

 tion ; but milk is just now a matter of small consideration among estan- 

 cicroSj who never milk a cow. 



On two points, however, there is a very serious question. These are, 

 iirst. the quality of the hides produced by the cross; and, second, the 

 abiVlty of the cross to " rough it" during the long winter months. 



* Mr. I >arwin, in his '' Naturalist's Voyage, around llic World/'' page 146, describes a 

 very curious native bleed which ho says ho met with on two occasions on the Upper 

 1 ruiruay River. I have never seen the breed, hut I give his description. Ho says : 

 " Thry aie called ndlu or Htatd. They appear externally to hold nearly the same rela- 

 tion to other cattle v Iiieli bull or pug dogs do to otherVlogs. Their forehead is very 

 nhort and broad, with the nasal end turned up and the upper lip much drawn buck ; 

 their lower jaws project beyond The upper, and have a corresponding upward curve; 

 hence their teeth are;. I ways exposed. Their nostrils arc seated high up and are very 

 open: their eyes project ouiward. When walking they carry their heads low, on a, 

 short in ,-k : and their hind legs are rather longer compared with the. front legs than 

 u--ua'. 'J heir bare teeth, their short heads, and upturned nostrils give them the most 

 ludicrous sell-confident air of defiance imaginable. Since, my return, I have procured 

 a skeliton head, which is now deposited in the College of Surgeons. Don F. Muni/, of 

 L;ix;in kindly collected for me all the information which he could respecting this breed. 

 I ' "i.i h 1.3 account ; t seems 1 hat about eighty or ninet y years ago they wcre> raio and 

 kejii .[< curiosities at I'.uenos Ayres. The breed is universally believed to have origi- 

 nated among the Indians, southward of UK; Plata, and that it was witli them the 

 commonest kind. Kven at 1 h is day 1 hose, reared in the provinces, near the Plata, show 

 le.ss eivili/cd origin in being liereerthan common cat 1 lo, and in the. cow early 

 ing her lirst calf, if visited too of! en or molested. Jt is a singular fact that an 

 t met nre to the abnormal one of the itiatn breed, as 1 am informed by 

 haracter i/es (hat great extinct ruminant of India, the servitherium. 

 tnif, ;.nd a ninta bull and cow invariably produce niata calf. A 

 t he reverse cross, produces oli'spi ing ha \ ing an inter- 

 niata characters strongly displayed. When the past- 

 le feed wit h tongue, and palate, as well as common 

 l s, when so man\ eat t h- jterish, the >ii<ita breed \'j 

 uld be exterminated if not attended to; for the 

 live by browsing wit h 1 heir lips on the, twigs 



: ""1 '' ( 'd - : 1 hi- t he !/;>!/, in cannot, do so well, as 1 heir iips do not join, and heneo th< y 

 are found to perish before t h< common cattle. This strikes me as a good illustration 

 of how little \ye are aide to jud-e from ihe ordinarv habits of life, on what circum- 

 htanees, oecnrii,M- j lt l.n^r intervals only, the raruy or ',xt motion of a species may be 

 determined.' 



