1868.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
13 
Domestication and Crossing of the Buffalo. 
It seems a matter of regret that after the prob¬ 
able, or to say the least, possible value of the 
buffalo and of the buffalo cross in agriculture 
had been demonstrated, as it long since was, 
there should have 
been no systematic 
efforts made for its 
extensive introduc¬ 
tion, or general 
breeding and test¬ 
ing. The fact is, 
however, the value 
of the buffalo has 
never had sufficient 
demonstration, and 
they have been suf¬ 
ficiently domesticat¬ 
ed in but a single 
instance, so far as we 
are aware, to enable 
any one to judge 
well of their excel¬ 
lences. Mr. Robert 
Wield iffe, of Lexing¬ 
ton, Kentucky, some 
40 years ago obtain¬ 
ed from crossing a 
buffalo bull with 
common cows, sev¬ 
eral half-blood cows 
and steers,—as we infer from his rather indefinite 
letter to Audubon, which constitutes the chief 
part of American literature on this subject. 
The cows he bred to common bulls, and to the 
buffalo bull, and after obtaining a fine three- 
quarter-buffalo bull, bred the cows of the herd 
chiefly to him for many years. The results of 
Mr. Wickliffe’s experiments seem to be that the 
buffalo is capable of thorough domestication; 
that the half and quarter-blood steers and cows 
are larger than either 
readily, make excel¬ 
lent beef, are very 
hardy and longlived; 
that the oxen are ad¬ 
mirably adapted to 
the yoke, having im¬ 
mense strength com¬ 
bined with great ac¬ 
tivity. He never tested 
the milk, and judged 
of the milking quali¬ 
ties of the cows only 
from the fact that 
when the cows and 
calves ran in the same 
pastures with com¬ 
mon cows with their 
calves, the grade-buf¬ 
falo calves were al¬ 
ways the fattest. Au¬ 
dubon mentions that 
at the frontier forts, 
where buffalo calves 
were often brought in 
and reared, one calf 
was said to require 
the milk of two common cows. The inference 
drawn was that though she has a small udder, 
the buffalo cow must give a great deal of milk,— 
which, as we shall see, was probably incorrect. 
It appears also that the domestic bull can not 
be used with the buffalo cow. Mr. Wickliffe 
supposes that the male half-breeds are infertile, 
which we doubt. The females, on the contrary, 
are fertile crossed with the bulls of either race. 
The prevalent colors in this herd were dark, 
but occasionally white occurred, especially upon 
the head, and sometimes also striped or brindled 
animals, on which the dark color of the buffalo 
blended with a light dun, “like the stripes of a 
zebra.” Here our knowledge of the buffalo 
parent; that they fat 
Fig. 1.— HALF-BUFFALO COW. 
cross-breeds has rested for a quarter of a centu¬ 
ry, and we are the more happy to contribute a 
little to it which we think is new and important. 
Mr. James P. Swain, of Bronxville, has had 
for some time in his possession a lialf-buffalo 
cow, (fig. 1), which is supposed to be now about 
five years old. She is of very large size, 
weighing 1,330 pounds, in medium flesh, mas¬ 
sive in the fore quarters, light behind, heavy in 
the head and horns, but not coarse in any re¬ 
spect. The legs are long and bony, but move 
Fig. 2.— QUARTER-BREED HEIFER. 
with great precision and grace, such as few 
cows have. She is of a dark brown or black 
walnut color, almost black, the coat being some¬ 
what woolly. She is an exceedingly powerful 
animal, will leap over ordinary fences, and even 
stonewalls, with the most nonchalant ease, and 
mill ponds and rapid streams present not the 
least impediment to her. She is, however, ex¬ 
ceedingly domestic in her nature, will allow a 
lad of fourteen to lead and handle her, and 
stands to be milked as well as any cow in the 
fine herd belonging to her owner. The hump 
is greatly reduced from that of a full-blood 
buffalo, as the reader will see by comparing 
this engraving with that on the first page of the 
September number. 
The face is dishing, 
the eyebrows prom¬ 
inent, and the nose 
has a tendency to 
the Roman curve. 
The bight of the 
spinal processes is 
such that the sides 
are what we would 
call in an ox “ slab- 
sided still we think 
the ribs must spring 
out pretty well, and 
the flatness be due 
to the spine. The tail 
is peculiar, being 
longer than that of 
the buffalo, very ta¬ 
pering,and terminat¬ 
ed by a pointed tuft. 
Mr. Swain has care¬ 
fully tested the milk 
in comparison with 
that of his choicest 
Jerseys, and finds 
that, though the quantity is small, (being prob¬ 
ably about ten quarts per day when fresh,) it 
is, however, astonishingly rich, yielding fully 27 
per cent, ot cream, while the best of the Jerseys 
only marked 25 per cent. A peculiarity of this 
cream is that, though perfectly distinct, it is 
almost colorless, that is, white, like the milk. 
The milk is much sweeter than that of common 
cows, contains little water, and when it curdles 
makes a remarkably tenacious curd, having not 
more than half the usual amount of whey. 
These are exceeding¬ 
ly valuable facts, and 
suggest a problem 
which we hope will be 
thoroughly worked 
out, as it may easily 
be done by some of 
the gentlemen farmers 
of'Westchester Coun¬ 
ty:—What would be 
the result of a small 
admixture of this 
blood with our com¬ 
mon cows, bred in for 
several generations ? 
Mr. Swain is a fan¬ 
cier of the dark Jer¬ 
seys, and has several 
black ones. He sees 
so strong a resem¬ 
blance between the 
Jerseys and a quarter- 
breed buffalo heifer, 
fig. 2, which he has, 
the calf of the half- 
breed cow by a com¬ 
mon bull, that he asks : “Is it not possibles 
that the striking peculiarities of the Jersey may 
be due to an admixture of buffalo blood a long 
time ago ? ” This might easily have occurred, 
for buffaloes were taken to Europe many years 
ago, and, besides, the Bison of Europe is a close¬ 
ly allied animal, and was once not rare as at 
present. The heifer, now about 20 months 
old, has lost the hump almost altogether. It has 
