220 THE AMERICAN BISONS. 



•• they would possess the same advantage that horses have over domestic 

 oxen, that is, superior swiftness.'' but the question lias as yet received little 

 attention. Being more active than the domestic ox, it seems highly prob- 

 able that they might make a superior farm animal, especially since, as Pro 

 fessor Shaler suggests to me, they would be far hotter able to endure the 

 intense heat of summer than ordinary cattle, besides being swifter and 

 stronger. 



From what is already known of the behavior of the huffalo under domes- 

 tication, it seems altogether tractable and docile. A letter written by Mr. 

 P. B. Thompson. Sr., to Professor Shaler, respecting the domestication of the 

 buffalo in Kentucky, hears further on this point. Mr. Thompson says (under 

 date of "Harrodshurg, Ky., October 30, 1875"): "In reply to your inquiry 

 relative to the buffaloes formerly owned by Colonel George C. Thompson of 

 Shawnee Springs, Mercer County, permit me to say that my remembrance 

 of them runs hack at least fifty years. My first recollection is that there 

 was a bull and three cows. They were kept in a park of about sixty acres 

 of blue-grass. In the same park were about fifty deer, and from seven to 

 twelve elk. The animals in the park were fed hut little, and given the same 

 food as other cattle. The elk and deer were but slightly domesticated, hut 

 the buffaloes became as gentle as any other cattle that were not constantly 

 handled. I have been often within a few feet of them, and have no doubt 

 that they could have been used as beasts of labor, or that the females would 

 have submitted to milking. There were hut few young, they being poor 

 breeders, which was probably the effect of neglect. They were very long- 

 lived ; one of them must have been thirty years old, the Others over twenty. 

 The hull died many years ago, the last cow about a year since. 



"During the whole time I do not think they ever broke a fence, or went 

 beyond the limits of the park unless driven. Other cattle were put in the 

 park, and it was used at times for n calf lot. They were not vicious to either 



Cattle, horses. bogS, Or sheep. ••The tWO last left were cows, who sur\ived 

 the hull at least fifteen years. Thev were calved in the park. and. as I 

 have said before, were docile and harmless." 



No attempt appears as yet to have been made to perpetuate an un- 

 mixed dome-tic race of the buffalo. Probably alter a lew generations 

 they would lose much of their natural untractablencss. and when cas- 

 trated would doubtless form superior working cattle, from their greater 



-i/e and Btrength and great natural agility. While on the Plains in 



