10 Bulletin 827, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



scrubs is not true, so far as heredity is concerned, for they will 

 transmit the power to respond to feed and will far surpass the 

 scrub if given proper feed and care. In other words, the pure- 

 bred animal has been developed through long-continued breeding 

 and selection to intensify the quality of responding to plentiful feed 

 and converting it into "meat of the most value, and that quality has 

 become a fixed characteristic. 



If a pure-bred or grade animal is kept under the same conditions 

 to which the native cattle have been subjected, all the inherent 

 advantage of responding to feed will be lost in that individual for 

 the time being, as it will be subjected to an environment to which 

 it is entirely unsuited and to which the native cattle have adapted 

 themselves through generation after generation of natural selection 

 and the " survival of the fittest." It is necessary that the native 

 cattle should be hardy animals, and were it not for the powerful 

 influence exerted by heredity to maintain the offspring true to the 

 ancestors and not to the individual, the strain of native cattle would 

 have run out long ago because of the ravages of the cattle tick, 

 lack of feed, breeding immature animals, and inbreeding. 



Prior to the Civil War large plantation owners took pride in their 

 cattle and brought in pure-bred bulls, mostly Devons and Short- 

 horns. The steers with Devon blood were prized as work oxen, 

 on account of their endurance and easy-keeping qualities. Traces 

 of the Devon blood may still be seen in many of the native cattle. 

 Brahman blood was also introduced along the coast, and some native 

 cows are found showing Brahman characteristics. For a good many 

 years very little improved beef blood was introduced. Considerable 

 numbers of Jersey bulls were brought in, however, and when crossed 

 with the native cows produced animals inferior to the native for 

 beef purposes. 



The cattle tick has had a far-reaching effect on the native cattle. 

 Cattle heavily infested with ticks have been lowered in vigor and 

 vitality to such an extent that they have not been able fully to 

 utilize the grazing. "When infested with ticks through the summer 

 the cattle are in poor condition to stand the hard period of the 

 winter months when grazing is scarce. This is especially true of 

 young animals which are badly handicapped during the first 2 

 years of growth. It is not uncommon in a tacky country to see a 

 yearling calf so emaciated from ticks as to go down when driven 

 and be unable to stand even when assisted to its feet. 



Further, with no provisions for winter feed, native cattle are 

 forced to go through a period of semistarvation each year and dur- 

 ing that time they lose a large part of the gains made in the more 

 favorable grazing season. This system is particularly hard on 



