GERMANY. 



399 



CATTLE AND PKODUOT SUl'PLY OP BAEMEN. 



As said iu the preface, the immediate surroundiugs of Barmen and 

 Elberfeld and the adjacent territory are covered with wooded bills and 

 the soil is rather sterile. Consequently neither agriculture nor cattle- 

 breeding could strike any root. The cows are kept only for dairy pur- 

 poses, there is neither butter nor cheese production going on, the bulk 

 of butter and cheese is drawn from Priesland, Holland, Switzerland, 

 and the southern provinces. Cows are obtained either from the Mun- 

 sterland or the Priesland or the Dutch breeds. The Muusterland cows 

 yield from 10 to 15 liters of milli a day, and their price averages from 

 $57,12 to $64.26; the Priesland cows yield from 14 to 20 liters of milk 

 a day, and their price ranges from $71.40 to $85.68; the Dutch cows 

 yield from 20 to 28 liters of milk a day, and their price is in the average 

 from $99.96 to $107.10. The last breed is the finest and the most valuable 

 one, and as the importation over the borders is closed from time to time 

 on account of contagious cattle diseases iu Holland, these cows can be 

 procured very often with great difSculty. All the cows in Barmen and 

 in its neighborhood are fed on grains and grounds and hay, and during 

 the summer months partly on clover, and are generally kept in the sta- 

 bles. Very few of them are driven into the pastures. These milch 

 cows usually yield milk for a year or fifteen months ; then they become 

 dry, when they are fattened for the butcher. Those cows are replaced 

 by a fresh supply froni Munsterland or Priesland or Holland, and this 

 process is continually repeated. 



TOTAL NUMBER OP CATTLE IN GEEMANY. 



The census of live stock in Germany is taken every ten years. The 

 last one was taken January 10, 1883. The following statement exhibits 

 the aggregate number . and the different kinds of cattle in the whole 

 German Empire in the year 1873 : 



Calves below one-half year 1, 469, .581 



Young cattle iiom one-half to two years .' 3, 545, 57a 



Cows 8,901,221 



Oxen 1,564,741 



Bnlls 235,587 



Aggregate number of cattle in 1873 15,776,702 



The number of cattle in the German Empire averaged 1,606 head to a 

 German square mile, and 38.4 to every one hundred inhabitants in 1873. 

 The census of 1883 is not obtainable at this time ; the aggregate number 

 will, however, most likely exceed that in 1873 but very little. The excess 

 in cattle of home demand is comparatively small, the surplus is exported 

 to England and a small lot to France. The surplus in 1876 amounted 

 to 56,942, in 1878 to 24,582, iu 1880 to 90,224, and in 1881 to 86,893 head 

 of cattle. 



The cattle census in the Kingdom of Prussia resulted as follows : 



