season. The cattle of the first lot continuing to receive the same sort of food they had been accustomed to, throve more rapidly at first than those in the other lots, but afterwards lost their superiority; thereby corroborating the usual experience of stock not gaining an advantage immediately on a change of food, even of a better description, such as from turnips to grass.

1327. Pollard or bran has been often recommended to be given to feeding cattle. Mr Dobito gave, in the early part of the season of feeding with white turnips, half a stone of bran to each beast a-day, with an equal quantity of oat-hay or straw, and no oil-cake. "Some persons," observes Mr Dobito, "may fancy this food is of too loosening a nature; but I can assure them, from several years' experience, that although pollard is loosening by itself, it has the effect of preventing the watery white turnips from purging too much. Although the bullocks do not gain much in weight during this time, yet I am satisfied they go on faster afterwards, the reason of which, I suspect, is, that their bodies are more prepared for the artificial state they have to live in for the next few months." In November swedes are given 1 bushel, cut with a slicer, for the day's consumption; then a dry bait, consisting of 2 lbs. of oil-cake, 3 lbs. of bran, and a little hay-chaff; and turnips again. The bran can be purchased for £4, 15s. a ton.* Would not oilcake answer all the purposes of bran as to preparing the bodies of the cattle for the feeding they are afterwards to receive? I think it would.

1328. At one time it was a question whether cattle would thrive better on food prepared or cooked for them by means of fire. It was well understood that horses and pigs both fattened and continued healthy upon prepared food; and the experience of dairymen in large towns established the fact, that cows gave a much greater quantity of milk on prepared than on raw food. Still it was believed that cattle would not fatten well on boiled or steamed food, from the opinion, that food given in a comminuted state to cattle, which are ruminating animals, the cud would be prevented being chewed. Be that as it may, the Highland and Agricultural Society, by premium, induced several farmers to put the matter to the test of experiment, and independent of the supposed effect of prepared food upon the system of ruminating animals, it was desirable to ascertain whether, even should cattle be found to thrive equally well on prepared as on raw food, the trouble incurred in preparing it would be repaid by the superior condition of the cattle, for unless this was decidedly the case, there would be no use of undertaking the trouble.

1329. The results of the experiments undertaken in consequence of the Society's premium were, that no profit attends the feeding of cattle on prepared food. The first instance I shall notice, in support of this conclusion, are the experiments of Mr Walker, Ferrygate, East Lothian. He selected, in February 1833, 6

heifers of a cross between country cows and a short-horn bull, that had been on turnips, and were advancing in condition, and divided them into 2 lots of 3 heifers each, and put one lot on steamed food, and fed them three times a-day, at daybreak, noon, and an hour before sunset. The food consisted of as many swedes as they could eat, with 3 lbs. of bruised beans and 20 lbs. of potatoes, with stone of straw and 2 ounces of salt to each beast. The three principal ingredients were mixed together in a tub placed over a boiler of water, and cooked by steaming. The lot on raw food also got as many swedes as they could eat, and bruised beans were given them at noon, and one-half of the potatoes in the morning and another half in the afternoon. It was soon discovered that the lot on the cooked food consumed more turnips than the other, the consumption being exactly 37 cwt. 16 lbs., whilst, when eaten raw, it was only 25 cwt. 1 qr. 14 lbs., the difference being 55 lbs. every day, which continued during the progress of the experiment for 3 months.

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But it is worthy of remark, that the difference in the consumption of food arises on the turnips alone. We would therefore recommend every person wishing to feed cattle on steamed food to use potatoes, or any other food that would not lose bulk and weight in the steaming process; as there is no question that, in doing so, they would be brought much nearer to each other in the article of expense of keep. Upon the whole, we freely give it as our opinion, that steaming food for cattle will never be attended with beneficial results under any circumstances whatever; because it requires a more watchful and vigilant superintendence during the whole process, than can ever be delegated to the common run of servants, to bring the cattle on steamed food even upon a footing of equality, far less a superiority, to those fed on raw food." *

1337. One of the steers fed on raw, and another on steamed food, were kept and put to grass. In their external condition, no one could have said how they had been fed. They were put to excellent grass on the 20th May, and the steer on raw food gained condition until 20th July, when, perhaps, the pasture may have begun to fail. That on steamed food lost to that time 3 stones live-weight. On 20th August both were put on cut grass, and both improved, especially the one that had been on steamed food, until the 18th October, when both were put on turnips, and both gained alike by the 10th November--that is, the steer on raw food increased from 108 to 120 stones, and the other from 106 to 118 stones, live-weight.

1338. One instance in a question of this nature will not suffice. Similar results as to profit were obtained by the experiments of Mr Howden, Lawhead, East Lothian. "To me," he says, "it has been most decidedly shown that preparing food in this way [by steaming] is any thing but profitable. Local advantages-such as fuel and water being at hand-may enable some others to steam at less expense; but in such a situation as mine, I am satisfied that there will be an expense of more than 10s. a-head upon cattle incurred by the practice. A single horse-load of coals, carriage included, costs me 10s. ; and exactly 6 cart-loads were required and used in preparing the food for the cattle, equal to 6s. 8d. each, and probably as much more would not be an over-estimate for the additional labour in the 3 months." A few facts, worthy of attention, have been brought to light by Mr Howden's experiment, and we shall attend to these without going into details. It seems that raw potatoes and water will make cattle fat,-a point which has been questioned by some of our best farmers. Potatoes, beans, and oats, taken together, will feed cheaper, in reference to time, than turnips or potatoes separately; and from this fact may be deduced these others, namely, that potatoes, when used alone, to pay their expense, would require the beef fed by them to fetch 4d. per lb.; turnips alone 34d.; while potatoes and corn together would require 3d., and the beef of finer

quality. This is a curious fact. Of 6 heifers, 1 in a lot of 3 weighed 1022 lbs. ; and another, in another lot of 3, weighed also 1022 lbs., on 5th March, when both were put up to be experimented on, the one on raw and the other prepared food; and on the 5th June following, after both had consumed 140 lbs. of turnips a day, they were of the same weight, namely, 1176 lbs., exactly showing an increase of 154 lbs. This is a remarkable coincidence; but here it ends, and the superiority of cooked food becomes apparent; for the beef of the heifer fed on raw turnips weighed 43 stones, and its tallow 5 stones 10 lbs.; whereas that of the one fed on steamed turnips was 44 stones 4 lbs., and its tallow 6 stones 12 lbs. How is this to be accounted for? Partly, no doubt, on the food being cooked, but partly, I should suppose, from the superior state of the animal, indicated by its thinner hide, being 8 lbs. lighter, imparting a greater disposition to fatten. Mr Howden, however, mentions this fact. The turnips for the experiment were stored against a wall, one store having a northern and another a western aspect; but whether from aspect, or dampness, or other cause, those intended to be eaten raw had fermented in the store a while before being observed, and thus, becoming unpalatable, of the 18 tons 15 cwt. stored, about 24 tons were left unconsumed; so that, in fact, the heifers upon the raw turnips did not receive their food in so palatable a state as those on the steamed. Steaming renders tainted turnips palatable as well as musty hay, while it has a contrary effect on tainted potatoes, the cattle preferring the raw. Turnips require a longer time to steam, and, according to Mr Howden's experience, they lose or more of their weight than potatoes.+ You may observe, from the state of the turnips in the store, the injudiciousness of storing them against a wall, as I have before observed (831.)

1339. Mr Boswell of Kingcausie, in Kincardineshire, comes to the same conclusion as to the unprofitableness of feeding cattle on cooked food. He observes, "that it is not worth the trouble and expense of preparation to feed cattle on boiled or steamed food; as, although there is a saving in food, it is counterbalanced by the cost of fuel and labour, and could only be gone into profitably where food is very high in price and coal very low." His experiments were made on 10 dun Aberdeenshire horned cattle, very like one another, and their food consisted of the Aberdeen yellow bullock turnips and Perthshire red potatoes. The 5 put on raw food weighed alive 228 stones 11 lbs., and the other 5 on cooked, 224 stones 6 lbs. imperial. When slaughtered, the butcher considered both beef and tallow "to be perfectly alike." Those fed on raw food cost £32, 2s. Id., on cooked £34, 5s. 10d., leaving a balance of £2, 3s. 9d. in favour of the former. Circumstances attending the feeding of cattle are not alike in all cases. Thus, Mr Boswell found, "That the lot on raw consumed much more food than those on steamed," a result directly the opposite of that stated by Mr Walker, (1329.) "Twice a-week, on fixed days," he

1342. Before leaving this subject, I shall mention some interesting conclusions arrived at by Mr Robert Stephenson, Whitelaw, East Lothian, while experimenting on the feeding of cattle. He put up three lots of 6 each, one fed on oilcake, bruised beans, bruised oats, with whatever turnips they could eat, and potatoes on the last few days of the experiment: another lot received the same sort of food, with the exception of the oil-cake; and the third had turnips entirely. The live-weights of the lots varied from 346 to 486 imperial stones. The experiment was conducted for 17 weeks, from November 1834 to March 1835.

results. What the circumstances are which regulate the tendencies of cattle to fatten, are yet unknown. The fact is, cattle consume very different quantities of turnips in different states of condition, consuming more when lean, in proportion to their weight, than when fat. A lean beast will eat twice, or perhaps thrice, as many turnips as a fat one, and will devour as much as

part of his own weight every day, while a very fat one will not consume . Some steers of Mr Stephenson's, in November ate 27 lb. for every stone of live-weight they weighed; the year after the quantity decreased to 1% lb., and after the experiment was concluded, when their liveweights were nearly doubled, they consumed only 1 lb. I had a striking example of this one year, when I bought for £6, in April, a very lean 2-year-old steer, a cross betwixt a short-horn bull and Angus cow; a large-boned thriving animal, but his bones were cutting the skin. He was immediately put on Swedish turnips; and the few weeks he had them, before being turned to grass, he could hardly be satisfied, eating three times as much as the fat beasts in the same hammel. He was grazed in summer, and fed off on turnips and sold in April following for 17 guineas.

1348. The results of these experiments were, that oil-cake is an unprofitable food for cattle, that corn yields a small profit, that turnips are profitable, and that when potatoes can be sold at 1s. 6d. per cwt. they are also unprofitable. "When any other food than turnips," observes Mr Stephenson, "is desired for feeding cattle, we would recommend bruised beans, as being the most efficient and least expensive: on this account we would prefer bruised beans alone to distillery offal. As regards linseed-cake, or even potatoes, they are not to be compared to beans. We give it as our opinion, that whoever feeds cattle on turnips alone will have no reason, on the score of profit, to regret their not having employed more expensive auxiliaries to hasten the fattening process. This opinion has not been rashly adopted, but has been confirmed by a more extended and varied experience in the feeding of cattle than has fallen to the lot of most men.

1349. Whether cattle consume food in proportion to their weights, Mr Stephenson observes, "that cattle consume food something nearly in proportion to their weights, we have very little doubt,provided they have previously been fed in the same manner, and are nearly alike in condition. Age, sex, and kind, have little influence in this respect, as the quantity of food consumed depends much on the length of time the animal has been fed, and the degree of maturity it has arrived at, -hence the great difficulty of selecting animals to be experimented upon. To explain our meaning by an example, we would say that 2 cattle of the same weight, and which had been previously kept for a considerable time on similar food, would consume about the same quantity. But, on the contrary, should 2 beasts of the same

weight be taken, the one fat and the other lean, the lean beast would perhaps eat twice, or perhaps thrice, as much as the fat one; more especially if the fat one had been for some time previously fed on the same food, as cattle eat gradually less food until they arrive at maturity, when they become stationary in their appetite."

1350. "We shall conclude," he says, "by relating a singular fact"-and a remarkable one it is, and worth remembering,-" that sheep on turnips will consume nearly in proportion to cattle, weight for weight; that is, 10 sheep of 14 lbs. aquarter, or 40 stones in all, will eat nearly the same quantity of turnips as an ox of 40 stones; but turn the ox to grass, and 6 sheep will be found to consume an equal quantity. This great difference may perhaps," says Mr Stephenson, and I think truly, "be accounted for by the practice of sheep cropping the grass much closer and oftener than cattle, and which, of course, prevents its growing so rapidly with them as with cattle."*

1351. Notwithstanding these results, which were undoubtedly obtained from carefully conducted experiments, instances are not awanting in which cattle have been very profitably fattened upon prepared food. Mr Warnes, for example, has fattened bullocks on his compound of linseed, with barley and beans, or any other of the substances I have enumerated in describing the method of making it for cattle. (1307.) It will be necessary to quote a few instances of Mr Warnes' success. "The last of my experimental bullocks for 1841," he observes, was disposed of at Christmas, at 8s. 6d. per stone. He weighed 60 st. 5 lbs. imperial; cost £7, 17s. 6d. thirteen months previously; so that he paid £17, 10s. for little more than one year's keeping. His common food was turnips and grass: 14 lbs. a-day of barley or pease compound were given him for 48 weeks, and an unlimited quantity the last five weeks; when, considering the shortness of that time, his progress was perfectly astonishing, not only to myself, a constant observer, but to many graziers and butchers who had had occasional opportunities of seeing him. Altogether, the weight of compound consumed did not exceed 2 tons 4 cwt., at the cost of only £3, 16s. per ton." "A few bullocks were shown by Mr Warnes as proofs of the fattening properties of the compound; and, as much difference of opinion was expressed respecting the weight, 2 were killed on the spot, viz., a Devon steer, and a young home-bred heifer. The following are the particulars of the cattle slaughtered:-the Devon bullock, purchased on the 8th of January, at £9, 15s., killed on the 28th October following, weighed 58 st. 10 lbs., loose fat 8 st. 7 lbs., value of the carcass at 8s. per stone, £23, 10s. ; which, after deducting the cost price, and £8, 11s. for compound, leaves a balance of £5, 4s., with the manure for turnips and grass, the real value of which was trifling, on account of the small quantity consumed. The home-bred was

VOL. I.

only 11 months old, and was purchased in May at £3. It weighed 29 st. 12 lbs., loose fat 4 st. 2 lbs., value of the carcass at 8s. per stone, £12, leaving a balance of £9 for compound and grass; latterly it had a few turnips and potatoes, but no milk or any other food whatever." The lowest priced beasts always pay the best when fed on compound. Two small bullocks purchased by Mr Warnes, and one bred on the farm, were worth £4, £3, 3s., and £4, 10s. respectively. "Two of them were Durham heifers, the other Norfolk bred; their ages 18 months each when killed. The first weighed 46 st. 7 lbs.; the second 41 st. 2 lbs.; the third 35 st. imperial, making 122 st. 9 lbs., which, at 6d. per lb. the current price of beef in the neighbourhood, amounts to £42, 18s. 6d. ; and had I sold them by weight," observes Mr Warnes, "would have afforded a balance of £31, 5s. 6d., and a profit unexampled in the agricultural history of this county-unexampled on account of the shortness of time, the size of the animals, the smallness of the outlay, and the food being entirely a home production. Should it be asked, what was their condition when purchased? I refer to the cost price."

1352. These instances are, perhaps, sufficient to establish the intrinsic value of the compound as a fattener of cattle; but it is of importance to establish its superiority over oil-cake, and if it be not, there is little likelihood of people taking the trouble of making compound, for it must be admitted, on all hands, that its use is attended with considerable trouble. To make the comparison, 6 beasts selected to be fed on compound weighed 602 st., and 6 beasts on oil-cake, 590 st., the former 6 having the advantage of weight to neat cattle of 12 st. When fat, the former weighed 725 st. and the latter 705 st., giving a balance in favour of the former of 20 st.; from which falls to be deducted the 12 st. originally possessed by them, thus leaving still a balance in their favour of 8 st. But a greater difference than this was shown by the dead-weight; which, of beef, loose fat, and hides, was 38 st. 6 lbs. more of the compound-fed than of the oil-cake-fed beasts. Nor would the mere value of the beef and fat show the superiority of the compound-fed, as these consumed a smaller quantity of turnips, and their compound only cost £19, 68. 14d., while the oil-cake was £21, 14s. 9d.†

1353. This, however, does not exhaust the subject of feeding cattle on linseed. Mr Joseph Marshall, Holme Lodge, Bedale, Yorkshire, has presented it to the notice of agriculturists in another aspect. On his farm, the food is prepared, and all other work connected with the system performed, by one man, except the grinding of the corn, which is done at the mill. He uses Dean's hand-mill, fig. 97, for crushing the linseed, and Clawdray's chopper to cut the straw.

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