cattle may also be beneficial, as it may show the different gradations in the progress which they make in different periods of time, and various sorts of pastures, as well as what the effects are of different kinds of food or keep upon them; what sort of changes may be necessary and proper in them; and when it may be most desirable and proper to sell, if markets suit. It likewise may be thus ascertained what is the cost, and consequently what the profit on each of them for their keep. By this method of proceeding a sort of confidence is gained, which cannot be easily acquired in any other way

The contrivance of the weighing-cage will readily and conveniently determine the living weight in fattening, suckling, or other calves, and may be necessary to the suckling-house.

SOILINGS, OR SUMMER FEEDING and Keeping Neat CATTLE IN THE HOUSES AND YARDS FORMED FOR SUCH SORTS OF STOCK.

This is the practice of keeping and supporting neat cattle of all sorts in the spring and summer months on different kinds of green food, cut from the ground daily, or oftener, and given to them fresh in the houses and yards where such stock are kept in such places as are constructed entirely for the purpose, which is probably the best method. The plants of the grass and other kinds which are capable of being used in this way with advantage are very numerous, as being all such as have a quick luxuriant growth, and full nourishing properties, such as lucerne, winter and spring tares, rye-grass, red clover, cow-grass, trefoil, white clover, sain-foin, natural rich grass,

and several other kinds. There are likewise many plants of the root and top sorts that might be employed in the same way with great economy and benefit, as there would be little or no waste, while the beasts would be supported in the best manner, such as those of the carrot and parsnip kind, the several sorts of beets, and perhaps some of the cabbage-plant tribe, as well as others. Less attention has, however, been bestowed upon this practice of giving such cattle stock their keep in the hotter months of the year than its superiority in economy and utility appears to demand. For without attending sufficiently to these points, it has been the common and usual practice in almost every part of the country, to suffer all kinds of this sort of stock to be grazed or fed in the pasture-fields or enclosures, never supposing that there was any other way in which they could be better and more cheaply kept under many circumstances.

ADVANTAGES WHICH RECOMMEND THE PRACTIce, and GROUNDS ON WHICH IT HAS BEEN OBJECTED TO, AND DISREGARDED.

The chief points and circumstances which recommend and enforce this mode of practice, in preference to that which has been in more general use, in many cases, are those of a larger number of what have hitherto been considered useless plants and grasses, as well as such as are well known to be useful, being employed; such food being made use of and consumed with far less destruction and waste; which, of course, makes it go very considerably further in keeping the stock, than when it is eaten off on the land; the support of the cattle being more regular, being attended

to, and more perfect in consequence of their feeding in a less interrupted and inconvenient manner; and their being shaded more fully and effectually from the too great heat of the sun, as well as their being better protected and more free from the attacks of insects and flies. On all these accounts, there can be no doubt, it has a great superiority over the common mode of letting the stock range in all directions upon the pastures. It has been well noticed, that if the food or plants and the consumption of them in this practice be a matter of much regard, it is plain that the benefits and advantages to be thence derived will be of very great and material importance. Since long experience has proved, in the most clear and satisfactory manner, that such sorts of cattle will eat with much avidity many grasses and plants when cut by the scythe, and given to them in such places that they never would touch while growing in the field or pasture; and that whatever may be the cause of it, they eat them, not only without showing any signs of dislike, even if they are not presssed by hunger, but they frequently devour with much greediness, such food and plants, as soon as they have been brought in from the field or pasture where they were feeding, and before they could possibly have had time to become hungry. It is well known, too, that some of the finer grasses and other plants, which, when young, are most palatable, as the food of such cattle are, if once suffered to get into ear, so much disliked by them, that they will never taste them unless forced by extreme hunger; consequently, as in most pastures many of such grasses and plants get into ear from different causes, their produce in such cattle food must be inevitably lost; whereas, if they be cut down by the scythe in proper time, not a single plant of such grasses will be

suffered to get into such a disgusting or nauseating state, and of course no loss or waste will be sustained on such account. Besides, it may be further noticed, that the few such plants and grasses as may be wholly disregarded and loathed by one set or sort of animal, so as to be even rejected by them in the house or yard, will not on that account become less acceptable or desirable to others; but often the contrary. So grass or other such food which has been blown or much breathed upon by any animals becomes unpleasant and disgusting to any other beast of the same sort, but not so to stock of another kind or variety. Nay, even greater states of taint and injury done to such matters by one sort of animal appear to render the food afforded by such substances more desirable to others; thus, such straw as in the clean state has been refused by neat cattle, if used as litter in stables, acquire such a relish that they seek and eat it with much greediness. In consequence of this, the matters swept up, collected, and cleaned out, from the places where one sort of animals have been kept, in this practice may supply, in some cases, those of another kind with an agreeable sort of fodder, as they can be easily removed from the feeding-place of one to that of another, but which in the field or pasture-method of being fed must be in a great measure lost or wasted.

Several objections have, however, been brought against this practice of foddering and keeping this sort of stock, but probably by those only who have had but little if any experience in this mode, as facts and the results of the most correct and exact trials are uniformly against them. Some persons have supposed that a great objection to it lies in the expense of conducting the business, which they consider a great deal too much. But all the trials which have been made

on the subject with sufficient accuracy, and in a sufficient extensive manner, have clearly shown and proved that, when properly practised, it is capable of being executed at a charge so trifling in proportion to the value of the beasts individually, that no real or solid grounds of objection to this sort of management in such cases can be found.

The practice has been opposed by others on the supposition that the beasts or stock do not thrive so well in it as in pasture-feeding. But as it is well ascertained, that the more quiet, easy, and free from all sorts of annoyance and disturbance, neat cattle are kept, the better and more readily they thrive and improve in their flesh and condition; it is, consequently, not very probable, that fresh-cut green or grassy food when eaten in the sheds or other parts of cattle-yards, will be less beneficial in forwarding the growth and condition of such stock, than when eaten off from the pasture-field. It must be recollected too, that in the pasture-fields the beasts are exposed to the great heat of the sun, and to perpetual attacks of various sorts of stinging and biting animals of the fly or other kinds, and of course are kept in a continual state of irritation and restlessness. The extensive and most minute and correct trials that have been made in actual practice in this way, have, however, proved that the cattle have always thriven better, and fattened more expeditiously, than others of the same kind, size, and age, fed in the pastures, even in the most favourable years and seasons for the purpose. Facts do not, therefore, support such supposition, which appears to have been wholly taken up on conjectural grounds, while every fact and circumstance strongly contradicts it.

There are some others who contend, that cows in milk do not afford that fluid in so abundant a manner