UNITED STATES OF COLOMBIA. 633 



UNTIED STATES OF COLOMBIA. 



CATTLE ON THE PLAINS OF BOGOTA. 



JtEPOBT BT YIOE-CONSUL BOSMELL. 



The cattle of this conntr.v is uot fit to be exported to theUuited States 

 on account of theii' very inferior quality, and the accompanying form 

 could not be filled, as there are no statistics to be obtained here. 



Cattle brought from the warmer climate to the cooler plains of Bo- 

 gota bring with them a pest called here " ranilla," which they transmit 

 in their saliva to the grass, and which is almost always fatal to the 

 animals raised in the cooler climate. The poison which the hot-coun- 

 try cattle bring with them blights the pastures for at least twelve 

 months, and the grass has to be burnt several times during that period 

 to eradicate the disease. 



The hot-country cattle lose, after being months on this plain, the power 

 of transmitting the above-mentioned disease. 



MAETIN BOSHELL, 



y ice-Consul in Charge. 



United States Consulate, 



Bogota, Deceniher 5, 1883. 



The Criollo is a mixed breed between Spanish, Hertford, and Durham. There is no 

 fixed rule as to color — red, black, white, and yellow. 



The Hertfords have been bred pure since 1856. 



The altitude of the plains of Bogota is 2,560 meters, medium term. The mean 

 temperature is 1.5° centigrade ; same climate all the year round. 



Cattle are not housed here ; they feed all the year round out in the fields. Breed- 

 ing is left free. Products are handled as in primitive time. 



