SECRETARY'S REPORT. 219 



inexhaustible store-house, in carbonic acid and other gases that con- 

 tribute to build up its structure ; the growth of the roots keeping 

 pace with that of the stalk and leaves. Cattle will eat without waste 

 in the stall, grasses of luxuriant growth that they would reject in 

 the pasture. 



4th. The better condition and greater comfort of the cattle. 

 Quincy says, "The condition of cattle will always depend chiefly 

 upon the quantity and the quality of the food, and regularity of their 

 supply. In all these respects, feeding in the stall has the advantage 

 of pasturing, because, in stall-feeding, all are under the guidance of 

 intelligence and discretion, and nothing is left to accident; whereas, 

 in pasturing, the beasts are left to their own care. When the pas- 

 tures are good, and there is a great surplus of food upon them, the 

 difference is not, in this respect, great ; but as soon as the pastures 

 become affected by drought, the difference is always perceptible. 

 Farmers who pasture their cattle, seldom, if ever, provide a supply 

 of succulent food, to be in readiness in case of any accidental defi- 

 ciency of pasture. Now, as every farmer, where he is able, does 

 and ought to stock his pastures up to their full pasture-power, it 

 follows that even a small drought will affect the condition of the 

 animal something, and a severe one very sensibly ; a fact of which 

 every man may convince himself by observing cattle at pasture in 

 dry seasons. Now, one great benefit resulting from stall-feeding is, 

 that it makes the condition of cattle, in as great a degree as possible, 

 independent of variations of the season ; and although an absolute 

 independence is impossible, yet it is always much greater in stall- 

 feeding than it can be in any mode of pasturing. 



Their greater comfort in this mode of keeping, is one of the essen- 

 tial causes of their better condition. During the heat of the day, 

 they are kept under cover in the shade, secure from flies, from being 

 worried by dogs or one another, from eating any noxious vegetables, 

 and from bad water." 



It should also be observed, that they are then removed from the 

 ill effects of sudden changes of weather. 



In Europe, large numbers of cattle, bred expressly for beef, are 

 kept wholly by soiling. I have before me, some prize essays, pub- 

 lished in the transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society 

 of Scotland ; giving in minute detail, the course of procedure to de- 



