678 Notes on Agriculture Abroad. 



[NOV., 



absence of the heavier draught stallions among those introduced, though 

 Shires and Clydesdales have both been tried. The native horses are 

 undersized but hardy. Hackneys, it appears, have given good results. 

 It would be worth the while of breeders in the United Kingdom to send 

 a commission to study the needs of Brazil with the object of establishing 

 a regular trade. Breeders can easily be put into communication with 

 the proper people, but it is necessary, in addition to this, for them to 

 examine the conditions of the country and offer supplies accordingly. 



Sheep are to some extent successful, chiefly in the State of Rio 

 Grande do Sul. Difficulties are, however, encountered in many parts 

 from their liability to suffer from the rains and the numerous tropical 

 insects which abound, and also from the spoiling of their wool by 

 clinging weeds in the pastures. The breeders of the Plate supply 

 Southdowns and Romney Marsh. 



Pigs do well, and a few are imported of the best British breeds. 

 Poultry are generally a degenerate mixture, but experiments are 

 being made to cross them with better birds, such as Wyandottes, 

 Orpingtons, and Plymouth Rocks, which have so far proved successful. 



In this connection it may be mentioned that it was stated in the 

 Jornal do Commercio (October 10th, 1909) that Dr. H. Racquet, 

 Director of the Zootechnical Bureau, was about to visit Europe in 

 order to purchase breeding stock. 



Number of Cattle in Paraguay. — Cattle breeding is one of the most 

 important and best paying industries in Paraguay. No official data 

 as to the number of cattle in the country are available ; but Mr. Consul 

 Griffith gives the following information from a letter published in a 

 semi-official paper at Asunci6n, " El Diario," by Mr. Narciso M. Acuna, 

 who has for many years made a special study of the cattle industry. 

 The census of 1899 showed 2,625,496 head of cattle in Paraguay, and 

 the number had increased to 3,104,453 head by December 31st, 1902. 

 Calculating the increase at 20 per cent, per year, and allowing for 

 decrease by death, losses, and other causes, Mr. Acuna places the 

 number of cattle in Paraguay on December 31st, 1908, at 5,500,000 

 head. — (F.O. Reports, Annual Series, No. 4,362.) 



Reafforestation in France. — Mr. Consul Vicars, in his Report on 

 the Trade of Lyons for 1908 (F.O. Reports, Annual Series, No. 4,356), 

 states that much valuable work in reafforestation is being done by 

 private enterprise, owing in great measure to the influence of the 

 wealthy and powerful Touring Club de France, which has promoted 

 the foundation of Juvenile Foresters' Societies (Societes Scolaires 

 Forestieres) among the schools, every member of which binds himself 

 to plant a tree a year in the commune. By this means 222,515 trees 

 were planted in the Department of the Jura and 110,800 trees in the 

 Doubs in 1907. The importance of this movement can scarcely be over- 

 estimated, for in the reafforestation of waste lands lies a sure source 

 of wealth. The value of forest lands may be illustrated by the case of 

 the small commune of Martignat, in the Jura Mountains, whose forests, 

 at one time almost unproductive, now yield, as the result of assiduous 

 replanting, such a handsome revenue as not only to pay all local rates 

 and taxes, but last year to provide a bonus of 25 fr. a head for every 

 inhabitant. 



