Americans often suppose that pigs everywhere live on corn. This is true in America, as may be seen by comparing Figs. 106 and 107. In the more progressive countries of Europe, however, the pigs are fed on barley, potatoes, skimmed milk and root crops, while in regions like Servia they are often turned out in the oak forests to fatten on acorns. In Germany before the war about 600,000,000 bushels of potatoes, or one and a half times the ordinary crop of the United States, were fed to the pigs each year. Just as the American farm ers of the cyclonic belt raise millions of bushels of corn in order that they may have plenty of pork, ham, and bacon to eat and to sell, so the Germans raise potatoes, while the Danes raise barley or use the skimmed milk of their cattle after the cream has been taken off for butter.
Cattle.—The distribution of cattle, Fig. 91, affords still another interesting illustration of how differently people utilize their resources. The map shows four chief cattle areas: two are the great cyclonic areas of the United States and western Europe which stand out so prominently in many other lines; a third is on the equatorial border of the southern cyclonic region in the American countries of Uruguay and Argentina: and the fourth is in tropical Java and India.
Why the Cattle of India Yield so Small a Return.—Let us begin with India and see how little the people exert themselves in cattle farming and how little they get from it. Although India has an enormous number of cattle, it has few in proportion to the population. A score of other countries have relatively more. The Indian cattle are used almost entirely for plowing or for drawing carts. Few are used for food. Long ago the number of animals in India was so small that there was great difficulty in getting enough for plowing. Hence it was not considered right to kill them, and finally this became a strict religious prohibition which no Hindu dare break even in the direst need. Only Mohammedans kill and eat them, and most of the cattle therefore live on and on and die of old age. Thus a large per centage of those in India are too old to be of much value except for manure. Most of the cows are not even used for milk. This is partly because the grass is poor. If the cows are milked the yield is so scanty that the missionaries call them "tea cup" cows. More over, the people have so little initiative and energy that they make no effort to see that the animals are better fed, and that the breeds are improved. Even when the cattle of India die many of the hides are not used. Thus the cattle of India yield only a slight return, but this is as much as is warranted by the slight care given them.
Why the Cattle of South America Yield a Moderate Return.—The cattle of southern Brazil, Uruguay, and especially northern Argentina, are of greater use than those of India. To a certain extent they are employed as draft animals, although horses also do this work, but the main use is for food and hides. As soon as they are large enough they are slaughtered for export. Rarely, however, are they used for milk. This is partly because, although their natural food is better than in India so that they would give more milk if properly cared for, the pampas grass is not so good as that of cooler regions. Still more important is the fact that the people believe that it does not pay to care for milch cows, but this is only half true. On many a cattle ranch where there are hundreds of cows that might be milked, high prices are paid for condensed milk brought from the United States. In the more cyclonic parts of Argentina, however, conditions are beginning to be like those in the United States, and butter and casein Are exported.
Why the Cattle of Cyclonic Regions Yield a Large Return.—In the cyclonic regions of western Europe and the United States cattle are far more useful than in any other climatic zone. They do not do much plowing or hauling, to be sure, since they are too slow for that. As a source of food, however, they are vastly more important than elsewhere. Vast numbers are kept as milch cows, and are tended so carefully that farmers are sometimes accused of looking out for their cows better than their children. Such care is well rewarded by abundant supplies of milk, cream, butter, and cheese. Some of the animals that are not needed for milk are killed as calves, but more are allowed to grow up. None of those meant primarily for food, however, are allowed to grow old, but all are fattened and killed while their meat is still tender. Not only are the hides of such animals used, as in parts of India, and the hides, hair, and meat as in South America, but the bones, horns, blood, and internal organs are all used for fer tilizer, glue, and other products. Such great effort in taking care of the cattle for milk, manure, meat, fertilizer, and other purposes, and in improving the breeds, is due to the energy of the people of cyclonic regions, but these regions also have other advantages. The cattle raiser in places like Wisconsin and Holland, for example, is favored with the finest kind of grass and with great markets close at hand. Thus in cattle raising, as in many other respects, the cyclonic regions are blessed with conditions that are favorable for plants and animals as well as for man.