THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



yeaf3 old, and by Irith Birdcatcher, out of Maltese. His pro- 

 geny, only yearlings, are altogether in the possession of Lord 

 Exeter, and they are considered remarkably promising. He 

 was despatched yesterday in the scrcw-stearaer Novo Scotian, 

 belonging to the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company, who 

 did all in their power to carry out the instructions of Mr. Bell. 



It is .bat right to state that the Knight of St. George is only 

 the forerunner of several other first-claas horses which will 

 soon follow him. The breeding stock export season is just 

 commencing; and it may be interesting to our sporting 

 readers to know that within the last few weeks a pack of fox- 

 hounds was shipped by Mr. Bell for the Montreal Hunt. 



WINTER ACCOMMODATION FOR STOCK. 



At the last meeting of the Kingscote Agricultural 

 Association Mr. J. T. Harrison read the following 

 paper : — 



Gentlemen, — The subject which I have the honour 

 of introducing for your consideration this evening — 

 the winter accommodation for stock — is one of the most 

 important that can engage the attention of those in- 

 terested in agriculture, whether as owners or occupiers 

 of the soil. I shall endeavour to point out to you 

 wherein this importance lies, namely, as influencing the 

 health and improvement of the stock, the economy of 

 food, and the manufacture and preservation of the 

 manure. We will, then, review the various systems of 

 wintering stock which are adopted, and remark upon 

 their advantages and disadvantages. And I will con- 

 clude by oftering a series of propositions for your adop- 

 tion, some of which you will probably unanimously 

 agree to ; whilst upon others there is sure to be a great 

 variety of opinion, the free and open expression of which 

 by the members will, I have good hope, be of service to 

 the cause of agriculture. In some of the districts in 

 Gloucestershire the accommodation for stock is nearly 

 the same as it was eighty years ago; and the descrip- 

 tion of it given by a very intelligent writer, in 1787, 

 stands true to the present day. He says (" Marshall's 

 Rural Economy of Gloucestershire,") : " The farmeries 

 are very simple, and in general very mean ; a small, 

 old, timber-built dwelling-house, with a calf-stage, a 

 hovel to hold a cow occasionally, and a stable for two 

 or three horses, are considered the only requisites ; if 

 a cow-shed be added, the farmery is complete." The 

 same writer says (pige 18, vol. i ) : " I found nothing 

 strikingly new in the buildings and farm-yards of the 

 Cotswold Hills." There have, however, been many 

 improvements made since then, but they are by no 

 means general ; and so lately as 1850, Mr. C drd,"thus 

 describes a Gloucestershire dairy farm in January :— 

 " An inconvenient road conducted us to the entrance- 

 gate of a dilapidated farm-yard, one side of which was 

 occupied by a large barn and waggon-shed, and the 

 other by the farm-house, dairy, and piggerie?. The 

 farm -yard was divided by a wall, and two lots of milch 

 cows were accommodated ia the separate divisions. On 

 one side of the first division was a temporary shed 

 covered with bushes and straw ; beneath this shed there 

 was a comparatively dry layer for the stock ; the yard 

 itself was wet, dirty, and uncomfortable. The other 

 yard was the exact counterpart of this, except that it 

 wanted even the shelter-shed. In these two yards are 



confined the dairy stock of the farm during the winter 

 months. They are supplied with hay in antique square 

 hay-racks ingeniously capped over, to protect the hay, 

 with a thatched roof very much resembling the 

 pictures of Robinson Crusoe's bat. In each yard two 

 of these are placed, round which the shivering animals 

 station themselves as soon as the feeder gives them their 

 diurnal ration, and then they partially ruminate the 

 scanty contents. A dripping rain fell as we looked at 

 them, from whicli their heads were sheltered by the 

 thatched roof at the hay-rack, only to have it poured in 

 a heavier stream on their necks and shoulders. In the 

 other yard the cows had finished their provender, and 

 showed their dissatisfaction with its meagre character 

 by batting each other round the rack." Probably every 

 one of us could indorse this as a true description of some 

 dairy farms. This state of things is not, however, con- 

 fined to the dairy district of Gloucester, but is in a more 

 or less flagrant degree to be found generally throughout 

 the kingdom; and, as pointed out by Mr. Grey, of 

 Dllston, in a paper on farm-buildings, published by the 

 Royal Agricultural Society in 1843, the consequence is 

 a much greater demand for farms that are well supplied 

 with every convenience for man and beast. The build- 

 ings have been well called " the meat and manure fac- 

 tory of the farm "; and the constant improvements in 

 the other departments of agriculture are forcing atten- 

 tion to this, which admits more than any other of the 

 introduction of systematic and factorylike arrangements. 

 And no more can a farm be called in a proper state for 

 a tenant to turn it to the best account without suitable 

 buildings, than a windmill without vanes or stones would 

 be for its profitable occupation by a miller. It becomes, 

 then, a most important question what description of 

 buildings are most suited for the purpose, and cheapest 

 in their construction ; for I fear that in m-ny cases the 

 outlay expended on the home-farm has deterred land- 

 lords from extending the benefit of suitable and well- 

 arranged buildings to their tenants generally. Let us, 

 then, consider the subject more in detail : And first, as 

 to the health and improvement of the stock, the economy 

 of food, and the manufacture of manure. 1. When 

 the cattle are wintered in the 'open fields : During a 

 winter, such as that now passing away, stock may do 

 very well in the open fields ; and i; can instance one 

 case in v.hich, although the farmer has some accommo- 

 dation in the shape of yards and sheds, he has kept all 

 his stock in the fields. I cannot, however, believe that 

 this is good management, either as regards the stock or 



