THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



279 



from grit (of course the better the hay used the more will be 

 the progress of the stock make) ; aud as I know that iu the past 

 season but very few farmers have gathered up their hay all well, 

 this syatem offers a good chance of making the most of that 

 which is not very sweet. I rarely if ever exceed Slbs. of cake 

 or meal per head per diem, and usually commence with 41b3., 

 gradually increasing as the cattle improve in condition ; and 

 as I had last Cbristmas 20 Hereford oxen that made £30 

 each, having cost ±:16 per head last March, not having been 

 on very good grass all the summer, I am quite satisfied they 

 left some profit, besides the manure, behiud them. 



I generally try to procure either linseed or cake to mix with 

 barley meal, lentils, or Indian corn, using a moiety of each, 

 findiug it makes a better mucilage than either all corn or 

 cake. 



When cattle are first put iu the stalls, the chaff used con- 

 sists of two parts of straw and one of very inferior hay •, this 

 being reversed as they improve in condition ; but it matters 

 not how good the animals, I always use a portion of straw. 



I have at the present time 70 head of cattle fattening and 

 80 as stores that are being fed upon this system. The cattle 

 fattening have 21b. of linseed meal to 41b. of barley and lentils! 

 the stores get lib. of linseed meal and lib. of inferior barley 

 meal. Fattening cattle, 1 bushel of turnips per diem ; stores, 

 \ bushel ; fattening ones, 2 of hay to 1 of straw ; stores, 3 of 

 Btravv to 1 of hay. I can justly say that I never see a parti- 

 cle wasted, but the m&ugera are licked out most scrupulously 

 clean. 



Too much care cannot be taken to have the roots scrupu- 

 lously free from all soil, which ha:: a tendency to scour the 

 cattle, and also makes the food unpalatable. 



I will sum up these remarks, which I am sure have already 

 exceeded the limits of a letter, by saying, with the exercise of 

 proper judgment in the selection of the stock, a watchful eye 

 over them when in the stalls, and a moderate use of artificial 

 food, cattle will, in my opinion, pay for stall-feeding. 



Should any of your friends wish for further information from 

 me on the subject, or thiuk proper to pay me a visit, they will 

 meet with as hearty a welcome as one knows how to give, 

 who from a boy has endeavoured to learn what a good animal 

 is, and how to make the best use of him. 



I am, my dear sir, yours very truly, 



John Coleman. 



The above letter was accompanied by the following note : 

 January 11th, 1861. 



My dear Sir, — I send you a few remarks on the fattening 

 of cattle, and you can make use of them, if you think them 

 of any service to you. 



I shall be glad to hear what your friends think upon the 

 subject, and how they go to work in your neighbourhood to 

 make their stock pay this year ; with cake, corn, and hay so 

 dear, and roots so very scarce, I imagine beef must be very 

 dear before the grass comes. Excuse the hurri- d manner in 

 which this has been indited, as I have other things requiring 

 my attention. Yours truly, 



To Mr. W. Franklin, Huugerford, Berks. J. Coleman. 



OUR OLD AUTHORS ON SHEEP-ROT. 



Although farmers are proverbially a practical portion of the 

 community, yet they are by no means wanting in the theory 

 of their profession. Indeed, there is, perhaps, no class 

 more prone than they are to theorise on the various phenomena 

 of their occupation, for the best of reasons — because no other 

 employment furnishes so fruitful a field for the purpose. 

 They may not always be philosophically correct iu their ex- 

 pressions ; but if they err in this respect, their meaning, 

 generally speaking, involves an exposition of the facts of the 

 case as they are exemplified in the field and homestead, so 

 that one requires to have experimentally a professional know- 

 ledge of their subject to understand them, as well as a know- 

 leJge of the progress science has made on whatever topic is 

 under discussion. 



Before commencing a criticism on what old authors have 

 written on sheep-rot, it was necessary to make some such 

 premises as the above, to prevent the reader hastily arriving 

 at premature conclusions, relative to the exposition of fact 

 advanced by farmers of "the good-olden times," in reference 

 to the dreadful malady so many of the present day experience 

 amongst their flacks. Many of the writers, whose works we 

 shall have occasion in substance to quote, were men of highly 

 philosophical minds — men who occupied a very promiueut 

 place both in science and practice at the time— so that, as the 

 question at issue is one of experimental philosophy, their 

 writings are to be received as a faithful exposition of fact; but 

 which must notv be read in the light of the science of their 

 day, and not iu that of ours. It is only by doing so that we 

 can hope satisfactorily to distinguish between what is thus an 

 exposition of fact, and what may be an erroneous coacluii in 

 deduced therefrom, owing to the imperfect scientific knowledge 

 which then existed on the subject. 



On the contrary, it will be equally prudent to premise that, 

 although medical chemistry has recently made considerable 

 progress — enough to euable us to see many of the short- 

 comicgs of old authors, and even things generally iu a clearer 

 light — yet it must be confessed we are still far behind on this 

 branch of science. And as progress here is matter of dis- 

 covery, many discoveries have yet to be made before we can 

 hope to give a trustworthy exposition, medically and 

 chemically, of the details of our subject. The doings of 

 yesterday we may read in the light of to-day as we best can ; 

 but those of to-morrow must still be left for judgment at the 

 bar of experience, in the hope that further progress will be 

 attained. 



In a large work, " Compleat Body of Agbiculture," 

 published about a century back, we read thus : " This disorder 

 (rot) is contagious like the murrain. Wherever it appears it 

 usually spreads through the whole of the flock, and often over 

 the whole of the neighbouring country. Preservation from it 

 is a point of as much importance as its cure — indeed, of more, 

 because the cure is very uncertain. 



" The causes of the rot are various, but the principal is 

 carelessness iu the owner. Sheep that feed at large upon 

 commons are much more subject to it than such as have shel- 

 ter, and are taken on aud off at nights ; those which feed on 

 the dampest grounds are moat subject to this, as to other 

 diseases, and it frequently arises from a cold season and drib- 

 bliug rains coming on soon after the shearing. These taint 

 the skin and bring on the disorder. Lastly, want of food will 

 occasion the same disease, and the eating such grass as is full 

 of unwholesome plants. These we shall particularize in a 

 succeeding chapter ; such are the causes of this terrible dis- 

 order in its original appearance in many places, but the farmer. 



