20 NOTES ON FIELDS AND CATTLE. 



I am inclined to think that a certain amount of 

 exposure, upon a sheltered pasture, with the fre- 

 quent help of an oaten feed and a lock of hay, is the 

 surest road to the attainment of size in stock. 

 Petting with oil-cake and barley-meal within doors 

 leaves a plump but a little one. 



Surprising is it how nature thickens the coat of 

 the heifer that is left to her fate upon the pastures. 

 If the food be abundant she will wear a wealth of 

 soft shiny hair that would be worth a mint if it could 

 be kept on within doors as well. One is almost sorry 

 to have them in at all, they look so gay and well out, 

 but what a treat one would daily lose in the walks 

 around the yards and boxes if they were left con- 

 tinually in the fields. What a luxurious employment 

 it is to stroll from pen to pen, patting the dear docile 

 pets as they recline on their beds of fresh sweet 

 straw, or daintily partake of their oft-replaced meaL 



Red, white, rich blue-roan, the calves are lovely as 

 a tulip-bed. What hopes, too, centre in them ; they 

 may be the winners of the Royal Show, or the knife 

 may await them instead of the blue rosette. Who 

 knows ? Inheriting such richly-descended blood — 

 the offspring of parents so true in form, so con- 

 formably symmetrical, what shall we not dare to 

 hope ? Anyhow these day-dreams do much to gild 

 the dark despondent hour, when " there is nae luck 

 about the house," and are harmless, anyhow, if, after 

 all, doomed to disappointment. The men, I find, get 

 more attached and attentive to good than to inferior 

 animals. So that from every point of view it pays 

 to keep the best and nothing but the best. 



