226 ON THE COMPARATIA'E ADVANTAGES OF GEAZING 



ON THE COMPARATIVE ADYAKTAGES OF GEAZING CATTLE 

 AND SHEEP TOGETHER OR SEPARATELY UPON PER- 

 MANENT PASTURES. 



By DuxcAN Clerk, Writer, Oban. 



[Premium — Ten Sovereigns. ] 



According to the Board of Trade returns for the year 1879, 

 the number of cattle in Scotland amounted to 1,083,601, and 

 the number of sheep to 6,838,098. 



There is an immense amount of capital invested in all this 

 live stock, and still it is not too much. The well-beins^ of the 

 population generally, more especially of the working classes, 

 depends greatly on their ha\'ing a sufficient supply of butcher- 

 meat; and that being so, the question as to the production of the 

 greatest quantity of beef and mutton in our land, concerns all 

 classes of the community, and comes to be of deep national im- 

 portance. This is the case at all times ; but at present, when 

 foreign competition is doing so much, and threatens to do more 

 and more, to render the production of food for the people 

 altogether unprofitable in our country, it is of the last impor- 

 tance that the produce of our soil should be turned to the best 

 account. 



As regards grain, it is abundantly evident that there are other 

 countries more favoured in soil and climate which can more 

 than compete with this country. In eastern Europe and in 

 North America, crops can be produced in large quantities at 

 little expense, far beyond any quantity that can be raised in 

 Scotland, even on the best soil and under the best management. 

 It is also found that grain produced in dry sunny climates is 

 superior in quality to the best that can be raised in the moist 

 climate of Scotland. 



The rich prairies of America, besides the production of grain, 

 can ahbid grazing for cattle almost to an unlimited extent, so 

 that American beef threateiis to swamp the trade in home 

 produce. There is, however, one kind of crop in which no 

 foreign country has yet been able to compete with the British 

 isles, namely, the soft grass and greensward by which the plains, 

 valleys, and hillsides are covered. It has often been remarkedr 

 and deserves to be repeated, that it is to the soft and steadily 

 soaking rains, and the prolonged drippings of the November and 

 winter moisture in Great Britain, that its inhabitants are mainly 

 indebted for their unfailing supply of succulent vegetables and 

 roots, but especially for their rich, soft, juicy grasses, wTiich 

 carpet the British isles with a lovely green unknown to any 

 other part of the world except a few very limited areas. These 



