The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-02-04
EXPERIMENTS WITH BUTTER.
What hns been Accomplished i'm Germany
aud What More il Expected.


A new breed of cattle has been pro-
duced in Germany, and correspondent
of the World who visited the stables of
noted breeder, writes as follows NJ.
Van Koppenael went on to state that the
object he set out with was to produce n
hybrid of the genus Bos that would be
superior to the improved OK in health, in
speed, in milking qualities and in beef
ing qualities-a hybrid that would be
able to reproduce its kind and be con-
slant in its adherence to the type from
which it originated. His first expert
ment was that of crossing Shropshire
COW with a bull of the South African
buffalo, and was suggested by SINH
larity in the arrangement of the horns
of the two animals The product was Il
sterile monster of hideous proportions.
He next attempted hybrid between the
Brahminy bull and Dutch COW, the
product again being sterile and worth
less. The same result came from cross
ing the domestic animal with the Indian
buffalo, the gayal, the yak and the
American bison. By lucky accident,
however, he discovered that a cross be-
tween the bison and the Brahmin cow
was fertile, and this led him to expert
ments in the right direction, which
finally had results of the happiest sort.
The result of the experiments was a
bull weighing 1,500 pounds and COW
weighing 1000.
was surprised at what NJ. Van Kop-
penael told me of the milking qualities
of his new hybrid. The cows which he
showed me were yielding an average
per capita of -, 200 pounds of milk per
annum, and this milk is so rich in
butyraceous properties that its average
yield of butter is one pound in nine, thus
equaling the finest strains of Jersey cat
tie.
"Have these precious animals no
fault p L asked.
"They have" replied NJ. Van Kop-
penael, ga very grave fault. They are
very impatient of confinement | shall
have to breed this ont of them before l
can venture to think them perfect, and /
do not know how TO do it, unless / in
troduce another cross of the BOs Iidi-
cUs by breeding the Trisabramak to that.
Another thing, have not room here. l
need your Western prairies OF your blue
grass regions to give my herds a lair
chance, but l am too old to immigrate.
Those who come after NE will develop
the experiment, and bring out its full
results. After the BOs cOn.DOsitus has
been made reasonably perfect, close and
thorough system of in and in breeding
will be needed to mature and round off
all the excellence of the new animal.
That is what / may not hope to
achieve"
Aftel.showing Inc much more of his
menagerie and much and curious talk
which / need not repeat Lere, | returned
to the house with NJ. Van Koppenael.
At lunch had the opportunity to taste
the rich golden butter and cheese made
from the milk of BOs composites, or the
Van Koppenael COW, as it ought to be
called.
M. Van Koppenael informed me that
it was the success of his friend Van
Mons, the great horticulturist of Client,
in producing the new hybid fruits of
such superior quality that set him upon
attempting to improve the race of cat
tie. The known delicacy of constitution
and tendency to sterility of the best
strains of short horns made him think of
going back to the wild blood, Just as
Mr.. Goodrich did with the potato. He
tolls me that its remarkable fecundity is
one of the most valuable traits of the
Bos compositus. Every COW that he has
bred 50 far has fetched him twin calves.
think it probable that in year or
two at least NJ. Van Koppenael will
transfer a portion of his improved stock
to Kentucky. He was very particular in
his inquiries about the blue grass coun-
try, and was charmed with the glowing
description which 1 gave him of those
grand pastures and grassy open woods
with trees of primeval
growth.