510 On the Management of BreediiKj Cattle. 



condition as the others. Care is likewise especially necessary, 

 when the animals are turned out to grass, that they do not eat 

 too much of the fresh grass after living so long on dry food ; 

 and it is better to commence grazing by degrees. I have 

 almost abandoned the use of physic after a cow has calved, as 

 uncalled for unless there are unhealthy symptoms ; for the 

 less nature is tampered with the better, so long as its pro- 

 cesses go forward regularly. During the summer, and while 

 the cattle are out grazing, the}' are much less affected with 

 constipation or indigestion than when indoors and living on a 

 dry diet, and when straw must form one of the principal items 

 of food. When any symptoms of fever appear, it will be found 

 that a dose of half a pound of coarse Epsom salts, w ith a pound 

 of treacle and a table-spoonful of ginger, is a safe and useful 

 medicine, and may be repeated, after a day's interval, as a simple 

 and generally efficacious remedy. A watchful eye in the herds- 

 man will often discover an ailment which, nipped in the bud, 

 prevents the commencement or spread of disease ; and although 

 I by no means wish to convey the idea that this is " a cure-all," 

 or that the services of the intelligent practitioner may be alto- 

 gether dispensed with, yet much may be done to make his 

 visits less frequent than they otherwise would be. As regards 

 diet, I may say, that I have tried almost every known " food for 

 cattle," excepting indeed those kinds so often advertised under 

 this especial title, which I always studiously avoid : and I have 

 judged for myself upon the relative qualities of the different 

 articles used, such as locust-beans, maize, pulse, corn, and cake. 

 A word on linseed-cake may be appropriate here, as the attention 

 of farmers generally cannot be more profitably given than to the 

 procuring of a genuine article — not merely one free from adulte- 

 ration, but which is made from pure linseed. The acrid and 

 deleterious seeds so often imported in linseed are probably the 

 occasion of much injury to the animals, besides destroying or 

 delaying the feeding process. I would therefore urge con- 

 sumers of cake to buy a good article : depend upon it they Avill 

 ultimately find it to be the cheapest and best. Several cele- 

 brated farmers and breeders of stock, viz. the late Mr, Bates of 

 Kirkleavington, the Messrs. Booth, Colonel Towneley, Mr. Ambler, 

 Mr. Torr, of Aylesby, and many others, have always been most 

 particular in their selection of tlie purest quality of linseed-cake, 

 'ilie smallness of the calf of a high-bred short-horn at birth 

 is remarkable. In several instances within my own knowledge 

 they have not been more than half the size of those of coarser 

 breeds ; but their rapid growth soon suj)plies this deficiency 

 at birth. As my herd is not kept up for public exhibition, 

 the calves are not forced or fed Ijeyond what may be considered 



