150 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



the pail, never thrive so well, nor become such fine 

 animals as others that are suckled, even though the 

 quantity of milk allowed be most ample, and to the full 

 satisfaction of the animal. It is wholly useless to search 

 for theory, when the fact is so evident and certain. 



The second essential requisite for the profitable rear- 

 ing and fattening of cattle, is the proper accommodation 

 during summer and winter, during the different periods 

 of their age and growth ; for if an ample supply of 

 nutritious food be necessary to supply the wants of 

 nature, and to advance the healthy maturity, shelter and 

 warmth are not less necessary to promote the develop- 

 ment of the proper effects of the food which the animal 

 consumes. During the period of suckling, the calf is 

 confined in a single apartment of ten feet by four, or 

 thereabouts; which single confinement prevents any 

 annoyance by the animal going and sucking the ears or 

 navel of the other, after sucking the dam. A door from 

 the passage opens into each apartment. The floor is 

 wooden plank, very closely pierced with auger holes, 

 which carry away all moisture, and afford a dry bed for 

 the animal. Short straws or chaff are the best litter. 

 In the grass paddock, whither they are removed from 

 the pens, a shelter-shed is indispensable, and an ample 

 supply of good fresh water. The summer pasturage 

 must be luxuriant ; the fields all well watered and 

 fenced, and provided with a shelter-shed opening to the 

 four quarters of the heavens, and thus affording shelter 

 from every direction. 



The winter accommodation requiries very particular 

 attention. The supply of juicy food must be ample, 

 but not nauseating ; the littering of the yards must be 

 very frequent, in order to keep the yards dry ; and the 

 sheltered shed must be roomy and warm, with the bot- 

 tom sloping outwards, to prevent the water from stand- 

 ing within the shed. It is advantageous that the cattle 

 eat the food under cover, which protects both the ani- 

 mal and the food from the inclemency of the weather. 

 This purpose will be very easily and conveniently 

 effected by roofing over the whole area of a farmery, 

 like the terminus of a railway. It promises to be a 

 valuable improvement of modern times, and places the 

 animals, and every other thing, under cover. It pre- 

 vents the heavy rains from injuring the dung, and the 

 hot scorching suns from dryiug and withering the sur- 

 face of the strawy materials. 



A very important question has been long agitated in 

 the agricultural world, and is yet very far from being 

 settled, whether cattle are best fattened in open yards 

 provided with shelter-sheds, or by being tied in stalls in 

 a roofed house ? In the case of store or keeping cattle 

 the question is very easily solved. A freedom of 

 moving about in the yards is necessary to promote the 

 growth and healthy state of the animal ; and the un- 

 limited contact of fresh air very much advances the 

 fruitful progress of animal life. In the case of fatten- 

 ing animals it is asserted that cattle fatten more quickly 

 when they are confined in a warm temperature, and that 

 the secretion of fat is encouraged by the animal being 

 deprived of the power of any movement by reason of 

 being tied to a stake. But the flesh of animals that 

 live and are fattened in a warm temperature is always 

 found to be loose and flabby, and wanting in the firm- 

 ness and consistency that are imparted by a moderately 

 frigorific quality of the atmosphere. A number of ani- 

 mals tied in confinement are always breathing the con- 

 taminated gases ; and the advantages to health are 

 known to be very great of respiration being performed 

 in a large volume of air. The feet of cattle tied in stalls 

 become soft, and the animals get lame and unable 

 to perform any travel. The feet of cattle fed in yards 

 keep sound, and the flesh is much firmer, and is very 

 easily distinguished by the eye and the touch of experi- 

 ence. The animal is fattened as quickly as when tied 

 in a house, when the proper care is used in erecting the 

 yards and sheds, and when the necessary attention is 

 employed in keeping the yards dry and the animals com- 

 fortable. Less labour is also created than in removing 

 the dung from the feeding houses. But on farms of 

 any considerabls size both methods maybe very usefully 

 employed ; the animals of the more unruly nature may 

 be tied in the house, and the quieter may be put in 

 yards, and not more than two together. The objection 

 to feeding in yards generally arises from putting too 

 many animals together, and then one is disturbed by 

 another goring and pushing it about. When cattle 

 having a thick coat of hair are tied in a house to be fat- 

 tened, an advantage may be obtained by clipping the 

 coats, in order to promote a freer perspiration, and to 

 remove from the skin the itching and uneasiness engen- 

 dered by the close covering of the hairy integument. 



ON GUIDEWAY AGRICULTURE; 

 BEING A SYSTEM ENABLING ALL THE OPERATIONS OF THE FARM [TO BE PERFORMED 



BY STEAM-POWER. 

 THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.-Wednesday, December 8, 1858. 



T. D. Acland, Esq., in the Chair. 

 Mr. P. A. Halkett read the following paper : 

 In bringing the subject for this evening, " Guideway 

 Steam Agriculture," before the members of this dis- 

 tinguished society, I feel that it is incumbent upon me 

 to give as full a description of the plan and machinery 



as possible ; but as the details are numerous, and I shall 

 not, in the space of time allotted to me by your kind- 

 ness, be able to enter into an explanation of all its parts, 

 I hope that I may be permitted to refer members desi- 

 rous of further examination of the subject to that which 

 was published last year, namely, a letter to the Secretary 



