Wood County Reporter

TRAINED FOR FIVE YEARS.
How the Fighting Bulls of Spain Are Prepared for the Ring.

The bulls used for fighting purposes are specially selected, specially cared for class, says a writer in the Fortnightly Review. They are all pedigreed. Andalusia is especially the district of the bull. Here, at the age of one year, the young bulls are separated from the heifers, branded with the owner's mark, and turned out loose on the plains to graze with others their own age. When a year older, the young bulls are gathered together in order that their mettle and fighting qualities may be tested. One of them is separated from the herd and chased by a man on horseback, who, by the skillful use of a blunted lance, overthrows the escaping bull, whereupon another rider comes in front of the animal with a sharper lance to withstand the expected attacks. If the bull, on regaining his feet, attacks the rider twice it is passed as a fighting animal, but if it turns tail, and runs off then it is set aside to be killed or to be used in agricultural work. And so with each animal until the whole herd of two-year-olds has been tested.

Each bull that has stood the test successfully is then entered in the herd book with a description of its appearance, and receives a name. The process of careful selection goes on from year to year until the bull is five years old, when, should its mettle still prove true, it is ready for the arena, and flaming posters appear on the walls of Madrid or Seville announcing that Espartero (or whatever his name is) will on such a date make his first appearance.

A good "warrantable" five-year-old bull for the fighting arena costs from $350 to $400.