452 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



Quite recently the buffalo-breeding operations of Mr. S. L. Bedson, of 

 Stony Mountain, Manitoba, and Mr. 0. J. Jones, of Garden City, Kans., 

 have attracted much attention, particularly for the reason that the 

 efforts of both these gentlemen have been directed toward the practical 

 improvement of the present breeds of range cattle. For this reason the 

 importance of the work in which they are engaged can hardly be over- 

 estimated, and the results already obtained by Mr. Bedson, whose ex- 

 periments antedate those of Mr. Jones by several years, are of the 

 greatest interest to western cattle- growers. Indeed, unless the stock 

 of pure-blood buffaloes now remaining proves insufficient for the pur- 

 pose, I fully believe that we will gradually see a great change wrought 

 in the character of western cattle by the introduction of a strain of 

 buffalo blood. 



The experiments which have been made thus far prove conclusively 

 that — 



(1) The male bison crosses readily with the opposite sex of domestic 

 cattle, but a buffalo cow has never been known to produce a half-breed 

 calf. 



(2) The domestic cow produces a half-breed calf successfully. 



(3) The progeny of the two species is fertile to any extent, yielding 

 half-breeds, quarter, three-quarter breeds, and so on. 



(4) The bison breeds in captivity with perfect regularity and success. 

 Need of an improvement in range cattle. — Ever since the earliest days 



of cattle-ranching in the West, stockmen have had it in their power to 

 produce a breed which would equal in beef-bearing qualities the best 

 breeds to be found upon the plains, and be so much better calculated 

 to survive the hardships of winter, that their annual losses would have 

 been very greatly reduced. Whenever there is an unusually severe 

 winter, such as comes about three times in every decade, if not even 

 oftener, range cattle perish by thousands. It is an absolute impossi- 

 bility for every ranchman who owns several thousand, or even several 

 hundred, head of cattle to provide hay for them, even during the severest 

 portion of the winter season, and consequently the cattle must depend 

 wholly upon their own resources. When the winter is reasonably mild, 

 and the snows never very deep, nor lying too long at a time on the 

 ground, the cattle live through the winter with very satisfactory suc- 

 cess. Thanks to the wind, it usually happens that the falling snow is 

 blown off the ridges as fast as it falls, leaving the grass sufficiently un- 

 covered for the cattle to feed upon it. If the snow-fall is universal, but 

 not more than a few inches in depth, the cattle paw through it here and 

 there, and eke out a subsistence, on quarter rations it may be, until a 

 friendly chinook wind sets in from the southwest and dissolves the snow 

 as if by magic in a few hours' time. 



But when" a deep snow comes, and lies on the ground persistently, 

 week in and week out, when the warmth of the sun softens and moist- 

 ens its surface sufficiently for a returning cold wave to freeze it into a. 



