growing in good seasons, It matures at 5-6 years and will turn the 

 scale at 1000 lbs. and over. 



These remarks on the only indigenous greed of cattle may be 

 expounded on at great length, for they show what can be achieved 

 by breeding for a definite purpose and intelligent selection. The 

 Afrikander cattle are pure-bred to-day and possess excellent qual- 

 ities — foremost being extraordinary hardiness together with com- 

 paratively great scale and weight and of singular beauty of sym- 

 metry. 



The methods used in the production of this excellent breed of 

 cattle have, however, not been followed with the same fixedness of 

 purpose in horse-breeding. There were undoubtedly definite aims 

 in the methods of the farmers up to 1870 for until then their stock 

 was of oriental blood and their sires either Thoroughbreds or Arabs, 

 but as we have seen, these were later substituted by Hackneys, Cleve- 

 lands and even ' ' Holsteins and Cart-horse ' ' sires ; and with the 

 results of these we are already familiar. Thus although there would 

 seem no difficulty to know which sires would be the best we find, 

 however, a great diversity of opinion on this matter. This may be 

 owing to the desire of some breeders to produce a heavier type for 

 general work ; heavier than the Thoroughbred and yet not as heavy 

 as the draft breeds and still possess the hardiness and other good 

 qualities of the Cape Horse. This ideal has not been realized as 

 yet and somehow or other it seemed a failure for most of the breeders 

 have reverted to the Thoroughbred and others have taken to breed- 

 ing pure-bred draft horses. 



At the Robertson Agricultural Show in 1905, Dr. Hutcheon 

 after remarking on the great improvement in the entries for horses 

 and the excellence of the number of stallions of various breeds went 

 on to say that : " It is a delicate matter to give definite advice to 

 farmers which stallion to use. It is a generally recognized fact in 

 breeding that the symmetry, quality and general conformation of 

 the progeny follow the sire more than the dam, more especially when 

 the sire is a pure-bred (which should always be) and the dam is not. 

 It is therefore a matter of serious consideration for breeders whether 

 the stallions in the land are the right ones for begetting the class 

 of horses they should aim at. Energy and enterprise are not want 

 ing. Some of the sires used cost their owners high prices. But it 

 is evident, judging by the great variety of type and character of 



k 



80 



