On the Management of Breeding Cattle. 511 



the limits of profit ; at the same time they are not kept low ; 

 indeed it would be shortsighted to do this ; and as they are in- 

 tended for early maturity, great care is bestowed upon them 

 from their birth, in order that they may make steady progress, 

 and it is seldom if ever that any disappointment occurs unless 

 when there is disease to contend with. I have had extraordinary 

 instances of early maturity: last summer a steer of a year old 

 showed all the development of muscle, bone, and flesh of a 

 two-year old. This bullock had been suckled for three months, 

 and had thereby " kept its calf-flesh," and gained a step in 

 advance which it did not lose. Allusion is made to this case of 

 precocity, in order to show what a profitable investment a 

 wellbred, well-fed, and well-attended calf may be made. The 

 weight of this bullock, when in the field at a year old, was 

 estimated at 50 stones of 14 lbs., whicli, at the then market- 

 able price of beef, 85. 9f/. per stone, gave 21/. 17a-. 6f/. as its 

 value. This fact is submitted for the consideration of those 

 farmers who think of bringing up their calves on old milk, or 

 who otherwise stunt them in their growth : and I would ask them 

 on which side lies the profit? 



The use of phosphate of lime as manure on a farm where the 

 breeding of cattle is the chief object is of great importance, for 

 not only do the old but the young cattle prosper when a free use 

 of bones is supplied either to grass or root-crops. For many years 

 the dairy farmers of Cheshire have been greatly benefited by 

 the use of bone-dust, and I have found that, after such a dressing 

 has been given to the grass-land, the cattle have been remark- 

 ably vigorous and healthy. Wherever impoverished ill-looking 

 animals are found there is probably a want of this invaluable 

 ingredient in the herbage. A dressing of ground bones, bone- 

 ash, or superphosphate, is a necessary and important part ot 

 good and successful management. The quality of the hay or 

 clover grown on land so dressed is much more valuable to the 

 cattle than that grown with ordinary manure. This has been 

 realised in a great degree on the Wold farms in this neigh- 

 bourliood, on which large flocks of sheep are sustained where 

 the land was before nearly useless ; and on old sward lands 

 which seldom receive any manure except what the animals 

 drop during the summer, the addition of a top-dressing of bones 

 Avould be equally beneficial. A field of grass-land which had 

 been exhausted, and which I found almost useless (the stock 

 put into it hardly holding their own), after a dressing of 7 cwt. 

 of ground bones per acre, carried one half more stock, combined 

 with great improvement in the state of the stock themselves 

 at the end of the summer. This outlay a tenant farmer may 

 safely make, as the return with profit is immediately before 



