298 
It is said “ they will travel, with a soldier on their back, fifteen or six¬ 
teen hours in a day, at the rate of six miles an hour !” Dr. Davis, of 
South Carolina, whose name has been previously mentioned, has intro¬ 
duced this variety into that State. Crosses have been obtained with the 
cattle of that section, and experiments are going on to test the adaptation 
of the hybrid stock to the country. The Zebu, being a native of a warm 
climate, it is hoped that the cross-bred animals may retain some of the 
qualities of their Asiatic ancestor, especially activity, by which they may 
be rendered more valuable for labor under a southern sun, than the ordi¬ 
nary ox. 
The late Gorham Parsons, Esq., of Brighton, near Boston, imported 
a bull and several cows of the large Zebu, about thirty years ago. He 
bred a small herd of the full-bloods, and reared several cross-bred ani¬ 
mals, some of the males of which were castrated, and at a suitable age 
broken to the yoke. The latter were rather small, very active, quick 
walkers, but of an ungentle disposition, and on the ’whole were considered 
of no particular advantage. The full-bloods were kept merely as a curios¬ 
ity. The dwarf Zebu was for a while kept by J. P. Cushing, Esq., at 
his place in Watertown, Mass., but the stock has been disposed of. 
But it is more particularly of the domestic ox, (Bos taurus ,) in its 
different varieties, that it is the purpose of this essay to speak. Accord¬ 
ing to the census of 1850, there were, in the United States, 18,355,387 
head of neat cattle.* It is computed that in a large/portion of the coun¬ 
try, one-half the labor of the farmer is devo'ted to the maintenance of 
cattle, sheep, and horses. And yet, notwithstanding the immense im¬ 
portance of this interest, it is probably more neglected than any other 
branch of husbandry. It is evident that in the breeding of domestic 
animals there is in general very little observance of system, or applica¬ 
tion of rules. The gross carelessness which prevails on this subject, can 
only be accounted for on the fact, that many farmers are ignorant of the 
principles in which it is involved. 
Perhaps the first point which should be established in the mind of 
every breeder of animals, is, that there are certain constitutional quali- 
* The census returns for 1850, give the live stock as follows:—horses, 4,325,652; 
asses and mules, 559,070 ; neat cattle, 18,355,387 ; sheep, 21,620,462; swine, 30,315,719. 
And their total value is put down at $543,822,711. 
