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the difficulty) the greater the amount of animal heat which is thereby 

 generated, thus contributing to the comfort of the animal. I prefer, 

 therefore, to have all kinds of grain for feeding, ground, (the finer the 

 better) ; not merely cracking the kernel, for, if grinding confers any 

 advantage, the finer it is ground the greater is the benefit derived. It 

 also brings in contact with the juices of the stomach, a greater number 

 of particles to become assimilated into nutrition. I would also recom- 

 mend grinding corn with the cob ; or, if rye be used, to mix with it oat- 

 meal or bran ; thus increasing the stimulus of distension, which is very 

 beneficial in the fattening process. 



Cattle, when driven to market, should never be whipped, or driven on 

 a run, as in doing so, there will be as much flesh driven off in a few 

 days as was put on by the last month's feeding. They should be treated 

 with kindness and gentleness from beginning to end. In fact, all of our 

 domestic animals are greatly benefitted by kind and gentle treatment, and 

 their growth and condition improved thereby. 



In regard to the profit and loss of cattle-growing in this State as a 

 leading branch of agricultural pursuits, there may be, and I have no 

 doubt there is, a difference of opinion. That every farmer should raise 

 a few to turn off every year, all will admit. This Avill enable him to 

 dispose of his coarse fodder to an advantage which otherwise would be 

 thrown away. 



To make it a leading business, especially in the prairie portion of our 

 State, must depend in a great measure upon the success attending the 

 cultivation of the tame grasses. The grasses and herbage that grow 

 spontaneously on the prairie make a very nutritious food for cattle in the 

 spring and summer, and they gain flesh faster during that season than 

 they generally do on the best cultivated pastures — but about the first of 

 August, the prairie field begins to die, or dry down, and the first frost 

 completes the destruction, so that it possesses little or no value — as an 

 autumn feed. Cattle begin to shrink, or at best, do not gain any ; the 

 cows fail in their milk, and the best season for fattening cattle is lost ; 

 and the profit of the dairy is very much reduced for the want of good 

 feed in autumn. One of the principal objects in cultivating the tame 

 grasses is to supply this deficiency ; and if the prairie soil will produce 

 the cultivated grasses in such a way as to make a thick, heavy under- 

 growth, this end will be attained. It is not sufficient that it produces 

 merely the stalk ; it must spread out and cover the ground with a thick, 



