Mcat-I\Iakiii<r 



435 



that others need not hesitate to follow his 

 example, and, literally, " take a leaf out of 

 his book." 



Mr M'Combie begins to put the cattle into 

 the yards from the ist to the middle of 

 August, "drafting first the largest cattle in- 

 tended for the Christmas market." So great 

 are the effects of stormy weather during 

 autumn on catJe, that he has found a diffe- 

 rence of £,^ a-head between cattle put up 

 on the I St of September and others put up 

 exactly a month later, although the animals 

 originally formed one lot, equal in all respects, 

 and those left out were kept " on fine land 

 and beautiful grass." Mr M'Combie prefers 

 yards for his cattle during the months of 

 August, September, and October, but after that 

 time they are tied up in the stall, which he con- 

 siders the best mode of housing, at least where 

 many cattle are kept. While in the yards the 

 cattle are fed on tares, "which mustbe threeparts 

 ripe before being cut," and he mixes the tares 

 Avhen they are sown with a third of white 

 peas and a third of oats. Fresh clover is 

 also given as a mixture along with the 

 tares, &c., and a proportion of early-sown yel- 

 low Aberdeen turnips succeed the tares and 

 clover. Those cattle which are intended for 

 the great Christmas market get each, by the 

 first of November, an allowance of from 2 lb. 

 to 4 lb. of cake daily, which, in a week or 

 two, is increased to at least 4 lb. per day, 

 along with " a feed of bruised oats or barley," 

 and this is continued until the cattle 

 leave for the Christmas market. Along with 

 the cake turnips, of course, are given, Aber- 

 deen yellows first, and latterly swedes. Mr 

 IM'Combie is utterly opposed to the excessive 

 use of cake and com, which some rely on as 

 the chief means of fattening cattle for the 

 butcher. He maintains that if cattle are forced 

 upon cake and corn over two or three months 

 it will be found an unprofitable waste of time 

 and money, and that " to give unlimited 

 quantities for years, and to say it will pay is 

 l)reposterous." Let cattle have cake and 

 corn for six weeks or two months before they 

 are sent to the fat market, and the owners 

 will benefit thereby, more especially, as INIr 



M'Combie says, in the case of " commercial 

 cattle and for commercial purposes," by 

 which he means those beasts which are in- 

 tended as "meat for the million;" and at 

 the same time cattle which will remunerate 

 their feeder, leaving, under ordinary circum- 

 stances, from 25s. to 30s. a month to pay for 

 their keep, &c. Grass, turnips, and straw or 

 hay, Mr M'Combie considers the best and 

 "only healthy food;" the others he only 

 looks upon as auxiliaries, valuable, indeed, in 

 times of scarcity, and to give what he calls- 

 " the finishing dip " to fat cattle. 



Such are some of the deductions drawn 

 from the lengthened and wide experience of 

 one whose name is " a household word" in all 

 that appertains to the " manufacture" of meat. 

 There is one point, however, on which he 

 very justly lays great stress — namely, the 

 qualifications of the men who are placed in 

 charge of beasts which are being fattened 

 lor the butcher. A man may do many 

 things about a farm mthout having any 

 special liking for his work, but cattle must be 

 the hobby of those who tend them, if we 

 are to expect success. If, as Mr M'Combie 

 says, " an inexperienced man amongst 

 a lot of feeding cattle must be a great 

 loss to his employer," an experienced 

 man should be highly prized. " Good 

 cattlemen are invaluable," and he shews 

 wherein their value consists when he adds, 

 " they must not only know what to give the 

 cattle, but the great secret is to know tvhat 

 not to give them" All these are facts which 

 many do not recognize in their practice, and 

 hence the complaints which we have heard 

 from some of the unprofitableness of feeding 

 cattle during winter for the butcher. Those 

 who so complain are not, however, usually 

 fond of trying to acquire additional know- 

 ledge on the subject. Having once formed 

 their conclusions they are quite content to 

 abide by them as indisputable. But what 

 says "Tillyfour?" — "Like everything else, 

 the proper^management of the animals cannot 

 be learned in a day. For myself, I can only 

 say that, long as I have traded in cattle, have 

 studied their treatment, have considered their 



