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animal best adapted for the production of milk. After referring 
to the conditions of pasturage and of climate of the new Italian 
Colony, the writer comes to the conclusion that sheep and 
goats, in view of their great adaptability and their special 
resisting powers in regard to changes of climate when moved 
to different pasture grounds, must be considered as the most 
suitable animals for profitably working the steppes of Tripoli. 
ZOOTECHNICAL EXPERIMENTS IN THE BELGIAN CONGO. 
By M. Van Damme, 
Colonial Office, Brussels. 
[ ABSTRACT. ] 
All the races of native domestic animals in the Congo are 
susceptible of improvement. The cattle give a very small 
amount of milk, and their yield of meat is not considerable. 
The goats do not give much milk. fowls are very small. 
On the other hand, certain species of useful animals, such as 
asses and horses, do not exist in the Belgian Congo, and the 
possibility of breeding them has still to be experimentally 
shown. With the object of studying these questions the 
Government has fottinded several experimental breeding- 
stations and has imported into the Colony animals of different 
foreign breeds. The zootechnical researches actually being 
made concern cattle, buffaloes, horses, asses, pigs, goats, and 
poultry. 
(1) CATTLE. 
(a) Belgian-bred Cattle —Belgian bulls have been imported 
and crossed with native cattle. The cross-bred animals are 
far superior to the local breed so far as concerns their con- 
formation and the development of their milking qualities. 
(6) Brittany Cattle.—A herd of small Brittany milch cows are 
being tried for milk production at the experimental station of 
Zambi (Lower Congo). The results so far are very satis- 
factory. 
(c) Dahomey Cattle.—A small herd of the small Dahomey 
cattle has been tried for breeding purposes in the Lower Congo 
bush at Zambi. They are very hardy and seem to do very 
well in their new home. ‘ 
(d) Indian Zebu Cattle-—A dozen Zebu cattle of the Nellore 
breed, bought in India, have been acclimatized in the Congo 
