994 A HISTOET OF HfiEEFORD CATTLE 



"Until recently animals were allowed to run semi- 

 wild upon the veld, and the only regard which the 

 farmer had for his stock was that it should in- 

 crease as rapidly as possible, and afford the mini- 

 mum amount of trouble and expense. 



"In many ways this is a trying country for stock, 

 as in the winter, whilst the days are hot, the nights 

 are bitterly cold. We are also bothered by many 

 parasitic diseases caused by bacteria and protozoa, 

 and conveyed by insects. The fact that South Africa 

 once carried such an enormous herd of large game 

 leads me to believe that when the various diseases 

 have been overcome, and more sensible systems of 

 management adopted. South Africa will be a good 

 cattle country. ' ' 



We reproduce herewith the photographs showing 

 an Afrikander bull and females, kindly supplied by 

 this correspondent, and in addition a plate show- 

 ing the result of a cross of a Hereford bull upon 

 a native African cow, from which it will be seen 

 that the youngster, while nursing, is almost as large 

 as his mother. 



Mr. Walsh, who has selected something over 4,000,- 

 000 acres of land in Ehodesia for the British South 

 Africa Co., believes that cattle-breeding can be suc- 

 cessfully conducted in that region. It is not a well- 

 watered country, that is, in the dry season, which 

 is the winter. The summer or wet season is in 

 November, December and January, during which 

 time the weather is very hot, although not unbear- 

 able because the altitude is 1,500 to 5,000 feet above 

 sea level. An abundance of water is to be had by 

 digging or boring at a shallow depth. At the 



