GERMANY. 441 



escapes the butcher's knife while he is of tender age, must, as a rule, 

 serve an ignominious apprenticeship in the traces, preparatory to being 

 hitched to the plow or to some other wearisome load. There is rarely 

 ever a warm place prepared for the cow at the interesting periods of her 

 life, and the calf, dropped upon a cold stone floor or upon a bed of 

 needle-like spruce tips, may consider itself fortunate if it is allowed to 

 feed in the natural way the first fortnight of its existence, before being 

 .brought to the skimmed- milk trough or to the sour-milk bucket. 



But 1 should say that there are several " model farms" in the district, 

 where the best Swiss stock is kept and where the housing and care are 

 more comfortable. Even here the verdict is that the best-blooded stock 

 will not breed pure, and that the cross between the Frankish and Sim- 

 menthaler cattle gives the best results. 



The treatment of the calf is about as follows : Sweet milk until the 

 eighth or ninth week, in. daily quantities of about one-fifth the weight 

 of the calf, with one-half pound of coarse oat-meal and 1 pound of hay 

 in the ninth week ; in the tenth and eleventh weeks, about 14 quarts 

 of milk, 2 pounds of coarse oat-meal, and 5 pounds of hay daily ; in the 

 twelfth week eight quarts of milk, 4 pounds of oatmeal, and 10 pounds 

 of hay daily ; in the thirteenth week, 4 quarts of milk, 3 pounds of 

 oat meal, and 10 pounds of hay daily, by which time the calf is sup- 

 posed to be able to gradually abstain from all liq uid food and to confine 

 tself to grass and hay. 



THTJEINGIAN BTJTTEE AND CHEESE. 



Very little cheese is made in Thuringia, the reason being that it is 

 considered more economical to sell or consume butter and milk, which 

 are eaten very freely, and buy cheese from Holland and Switzerland. 

 Oheese-making was tried a few years ago at the Eosenau farm, in South- 

 ern Thuringia, but it was soon given up for lack of satisfactory results. 

 The ordinary Swiss cheese retails here at 30 cents a pound. Milk 

 retails at about 4 cents a quart and butter at 30 cents a pound. Tak- 

 ing all cattle together, the average yield of milk is about 2,400 quarts 

 yearly for eleven years. This would represent a money value of about 

 $1,056. Ten quarts of milk are supposed to yield 1 pound of butter, 

 which would represent a money value of $792. 



EESTJLTS OP BEBEDING IMPOETEB STOCK. 



It is generally held that imported breeds, such as Holsteins, Short- 

 horns, and Jerseys are superior in the United States to what they are 

 in their native homes. Such a result is not obtained in this country, 

 but I am convinced that this is owing quite as much to lack of proper 

 location and treatment as to any other cause. Such stock is almost 

 never " trained for condition" here, and the indifferent treatment which 

 it receives, and the hard work to which all grades of cattle are put, do 

 not furnish suitable data for judging what any breed is capable of be- 

 coming. The most that I feel warranted in saying is, that there is no 

 breed here whose present condition, whatever may have been its ante- 

 cedents, would warrant the experiment of importing them into the 

 United States. 



DISTEIBUTIVE STATISTICS. 



The population of the district under consideration is about 1,800,000, 

 and the number of cattle is estimated at 475,000, of which lOJ per cent, 

 are of the Allgauer breed, lOJ per cent, of the Heilbronner breed, 31 J 



