10 Bulletin 827, U. S. Dept of Agriculture. 
scrubs is not true, so far as heredity is concerned, for they will 
transmit the power to respond to feed and will far surpass the 
scrub if given proper feed and care. In other words, the pure- 
bred animal has been developed through long-continued breeding 
and selection to intensify the quality of responding to plentiful feed 
and converting it into meat of the most value, and that quality has 
become a fixed characteristic. 
If a pure-bred or grade animal is kept under the same conditions 
to which the native cattle have been subjected, all the inherent 
advantage of responding to feed will be lost in that individual for 
the time being, as it will be subjected to an environment to which 
it is entirely unsuited and to which the native cattle have adapted 
themselves through generation after generation of natural selection 
and the " survival of the fittest." It is necessary that the native 
cattle should be hardy animals, and were it not for the powerful 
influence exerted by heredity to maintain the offspring true to the 
ancestors and not to the individual, the strain of native cattle would 
have run out long ago because of the ravages of the cattle tick, 
lack of feed, breeding immature animals, and inbreeding. 
Prior to the Civil War large plantation owners took pride in their 
cattle and brought in pure-bred bulls, mostly Devons and Short- 
horns. The steers with Devon blood were prized as work oxen, 
on account of their endurance and easy-keeping qualities. Traces 
of the Devon blood may still be seen in man} T of the native cattle. 
Brahman blood was also introduced along the coast, and some native 
cows are found showing Brahman characteristics. For a good many 
years very little improved beef blood was introduced. Considerable 
numbers of Jersey bulls were brought in, however, and when crossed 
with the native cows produced animals inferior to the native for 
beef purposes. 
The. cattle tick has had a far-reaching effect on the native cattle. 
Cattle heavily infested with ticks have been lowered in vigor and 
vitality to such an extent that they have not been able fully to 
utilize the grazing. When infested with ticks through the summer 
the cattle are in poor condition to stand the hard period of the 
winter months when grazing is scarce. This is especially true of 
young animals which are badly handicapped during the first 2 
years of growth. It is not uncommon in a ticky country to see a 
yearling calf so emaciated from ticks as to go down when driven 
and be unable to stand even when assisted to its feet. 
Further, with no provisions for winter feed, native cattle are 
forced to go through a period of semistarvation each year and dur- 
ing that time they lose a large part of the gains made in the more 
favorable grazing season. This system is particularly hard on 
