MODERN FARRIER. 369 



As the grains employed in feeding cattle cannot 

 always be procured fresh as they are wanted, it be- 

 comes a desirable object to preserve them for a 

 length of time. They are preserved in some places 

 by putting them into pits dug in the earth, into 

 which they are trodden down, and afterwards cover- 

 ed to a moderate depth with dry earth. In this 

 way being defended from the action of the air, and 

 thus prevented from fermenting, they may be kept 

 for a considerable time during the months of sum- 

 mer, when brewing is not carrying on; they may 

 also be kept by pressing them down into casks 

 placed upon stands, so as to elevate them a little 

 from the ground, and having their bottoms pierced 

 with holes, to carry off the superabundant moisture. 



Mr. Curwen of Workington was the first who 

 demonstrated, by actual extensive experiment, the 

 utility of stall feeding dairy cows. He combined 

 steamed chaff and oil-cake with different sorts of 

 green food, and found that, by giving a middle-sized 

 cow two stones of green food and two of boiled 

 chaff, with tw^o pounds of ground oil-cake and eight 

 pounds of straw, the daily expence of her keep was 

 only 5\d. The oil-cake he found to be much more 

 productive of milk when given with steamed chaff, 

 than when employed without it. Varying their 

 food from time to time is found to be of much ad- 

 vantage to cows, and this may probably arise from 

 the additional relish with which the animal eats, or 

 from the superior excitement of a new stimulus on 

 the different secretions. 



In some parts of the kingdom, the whole atten- 

 tion of the farmer is dedicated to suckling, or, in 

 other words, to feeding calves, for supplying the 

 market with veal. In Essex, this plan is reckoned 

 more profitable than the dairy, and next to grazing. 

 But the profit there must depend much upon the 

 immediate neighbourhood of that country to so 

 great and certain a market as London. 



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