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TJie Country Gentleman^ s Magazine 



now it is difficult to buy them at all, and 

 they cost from 60s. to 70s, per head, as poor 

 as may be, or about is. 2d. to is. 4d. per lb. 

 In numberless instances they are worth no 

 more when fat than they cost when very 

 lean ; and the consequence is that many 

 thousands of acres of land which should and 

 would have been under turnips if sheep 

 could be purchased advantageously to eat 

 them, are now bare fallow, or sown with 

 a green crop, to plough in as a manure, and 

 thousands of acres of growing clover are also 

 unconsumed for the same reason. This state 

 of things does not afford m.uch prospect of an 

 early reduction in the present high price of 

 meat. 



The drought of the years 1868-1870 com- 

 pelled the large breeders of sheep to lessen, 

 and in many cases entirely to dispose of 

 their flocks, which were sold to be fatted 

 the following year, or killed as they were. 

 The effect of ' these seasons to reduce the 

 numbers of stock in a country, coming so 

 near to the cattle plague also — was much 

 greater than is generally supposed. I may, 

 however, assure your readers that the evil, 

 in time, will cure itself \ for breeding is now 

 more profitable than feeding — and is, there- 

 fore, largely on the increase. The notable 



change in the habits of the agricultural 

 community is another cause which conduces 

 to increase the price of mutton and beef. 

 I very well remember the time when pork 

 was always quoted at a higher price per 

 stone than the former, and was almost the 

 only meat eaten by working men ; now they 

 eat it very daintily, if at all, although it is 

 generally from is. to 2s. per stone lower in 

 price. The annually increasing consumption 

 of veal and lamb, as you have remarked? 

 conduces toward the same result; but for 

 this the public has itself to blame — certainly 

 not the butchers. They are often obliged 

 to pay lod. per lb. for a living sheep — and 

 not unfrequently more — where, then, is the 

 use of blaming them, as many do ? I take 

 it that, however hard the very high price of 

 meat may be upon the working community 

 and the " Middle-class Householder," it is 

 quite useless to complain. The causes are 

 natural, and the consequence must be borne. 

 There appears to me more reason to com- 

 plain about the increasing price of coal — 

 for that is advanced by a labour strike — 

 while meat is advanced by a strike of the 

 seasons. If rinderpest is again allowed to 

 enter our herds, we shall have to be vege- 

 tarians all. 



BREEDING AND REARING SUSSEX STOCK. 



AT a recent meeting of the Tunbridge 

 Wells Farmers' Club, Mr G. N. Roper, 

 of Frant, read a paper on " Sussex Cattle,' 

 from which we make the following extracts : — 

 It was both safe and wise to assume that 

 the breed of stock generally found in a dis- 

 trict was the best fitted for its soil, and this 

 was the object sought by the farmer. Although 

 aware that the present state of stock farming 

 in this neighbourhood was greatly changed 

 by the fact of the railways putting them into 

 easy communication with the great towns and 

 the metropolis, he must, in consideration of 

 this subject, take them back in thought to at 



least fifteen years, when Sussex stock was 

 alone prominent with breeders, and justly so, 

 as they grew and thrived on their native land, 

 and on what he might not inaptly call the 

 hard treatment then customary, as no other 

 breed could. Their size, too, fitted them for 

 work, and the ox teams on many farms were 

 very useful, especially in clearing the wood- 

 lands, while they were kept very cheaply on 

 poor pastures during the grazing season. At 

 that time many herds of Sussex stock were 

 found in this neighbourhood, and these, with 

 care and judgment, reached great excellence, 

 and had since contributed to the high posi- 



