34 ox THE AGllICULTUEE OF THE 



by a few clioice cattle drawn from the ordinary winter stock. 

 The remnants are sold in spring and early summer, the whole 

 being cleared out by June. The last consignments in the 'sum- 

 mer of 1876 realised L.35 each. Last year (1875), Mr Davidson 

 tried an experiment with some pasture land purposely left rough 

 in the autumn. He purchased a cheap lot of West Highland 

 stirks at the Falkirk October Tryst for L.6, 5s. per head. They 

 throve amazingly, and with a little help in the spring, made con- 

 siderably over Ij.20 each. The courts at Walton are all covered 

 in, Mr Davidson having little faith in open sheds for feeding 

 purposes. " Loss of heat is loss of meat," he rightly considers, to 

 say nothing of the superior quality of the manure which is made 

 under cover. Mr Davidson also grazes a few stirks upon the 

 pastures, winters them, and feeds off in the following sum- 

 mer. Mr Peter Wilson, Broomieknowes, who has a mixed 

 farm consisting of arable land and hill pasture, grazes cattle 

 upon the hill in summer, and finishes them in the courts upon 

 turnips, straw, and corn or cake in winter. So long as straw 

 commands 4d. to 6d. per stone, Mr Wm. W. Anderson, Norton 

 Mains, Mid-Lothian, thinks it profitable to sell it, and purchase 

 an equivalent in town manure from Edinburgh or Glasgow. 

 AVhen the straw falls short of that price, he buys in cattle to 

 consume it along with the turnips. Mr John Fortune, Inglis- 

 ton feeds cattle in the open courts in summer with cut grass. 

 This system makes good manure, and brings in a return of about 

 L.10 per acre. 



The dairymen in the district lying in and around Edinburgh 

 change their cattle as a rule every year, sometimes oftener. The 

 animals are purchased either on the eve of calving, or soon after 

 the calves are dropped, and are hard fed and milked for eight or 

 ten months, when, by a gradual change in the character of the food, 

 the cows become dry, and are soon good beef. Thus they briug 

 in sometimss as much, and occasionally more than first cost. In 

 other cases they lose a little, and this is more common since the 

 great advance in the price of newly-calved cattle, or those close 

 on profit. In the more remote dairy localities, cattle are milked 

 for one, two, or three seasons, so that there is not so much beef 

 produced as where there is more pressure brought to bear upon 

 the management. Milk being the primary object of the Edin- 

 burgh dairyman, he caters for it in every way, using substances 

 in the forcing which would soon ruin the constitution of the cow. 

 It is therefore to his interest to change his stock often, even if a 

 little loss be experienced. We may here note that of late 

 years large lots of foreign cows in calf are readily bought by city 

 dairymen, at prices ranging from L.7 to L.15 each. These, as a 

 rule, milk v/ell, and are less risk to the owner, owing to their 

 small cost ; while, when fat, they frequently make L.3 to L.5 



