lOG Ten Years af East Lutldau Fanviiuj. 



corn, having been convinced that payment for the cake is not 

 obtained, and that manure can be had cheaper in the form of 

 guano." 



It is almost unnecessary to say that this opinion is no longer 

 held. It is, in fact, absolutely reversed. Corn has recently been 

 given to stock in large quantities because it is cheap ; but cake is 

 still more universally a staple article of food, the manure pro- 

 duced by it being more valuable than that resulting from grain. 

 Whilst cattle are now allowed more artificial food than formerly, 

 it is also liberally supplied to sheep, whether folded on turnips 

 during winter or on grass in summer. Several farmers now 

 expend ol. per acre for extra food on grass depastured by sheep. 

 In one recent instance a flock-master fed 11 sheep per acre on 24 

 acres of young grass, at an expense for cake of 80/. The sheep 

 paid for their keep, and he was enabled to continue the field in 

 grass a second year, which without this artificial aid would have 

 been impossible. Foreign oil-cake is more in use than home- 

 made, which is not considered to possess superiority equivalent 

 to its greater price ; whilst we have the authority of Professor 

 Anderson for saying that is more frequently adulterated than 

 sea-borne cake. 



Hardly any cattle are bred in the county, the north of England 

 supplying the great majority of the oxen fed in it. They arc 

 brought by English dealers to our autumnal fairs at all ages, 

 from calves to 3-year olds ; a large proportion of them, and 

 nearly all the heaviest, again cross the border, being carried back 

 fat in spring to the manufacturing districts of Yorkshire and Lan- 

 cashire. It is rather singular that while Scotch farmers look to 

 the south for their supply of lean cattle, the black polled bullocks 

 of Dumfries and Galloway are nearly all sent to England, many 

 going to Norfolk and the Eastern counties. Thus Englishmen 

 and Scots seem mutually to prefer animals bred at a distance, 

 which must add considerably to their respective prices. 



Breeds of Stock. 



Since 1853 a weekly sale by auction for fat stock has been 

 established in Haddington, which is found very convenient both 

 for buyers and sellers and a great boon to local butchers, whilst 

 a fair for store cattle in October has been instituted with great 

 success at Linton, the whole supply of oxen being brought from 

 England. 



In the Lothians, Galloways are thought to be slow feeders, but 

 a cross between the kindred race of Aberdeen and the shorthorn 

 is highly esteemed ; though it can very seldom be got, as the north- 

 eastern counties are unable fully to supply their local wants. 



Much discussion has recently taken place as to whether any of 



