28 NOTES ON FIELDS AND CATTLE. 



with straw only ; when at work, with hay and 

 a few oats, with leaves of ash, elm, oak, but in 

 small quantities, as excess of such food causes 

 diabetes : 



" Bovemque 

 Disjimctum curas et strictis frondibus exples." 



This theory of feeding may be romantic and delight- 

 ful enough to listen to, but will hardly do in practice. 

 When the red cow took Tom Thumb off the thistle 

 for the sake of his oak-leaf hat, it was an imprudent 

 move, to say the least of it. I have known a fine 

 herd experience considerable loss from their being 

 unhappily left in a field where they had the oppor- 

 tunity of browsing upon the foliage and buds of some 

 oak-trees, felled for barking. What a revolution, 

 then, was turnips ! For, to feed cows through the 

 winter on hay alone, even at only 50s. the ton in his 

 day (which would be about SI. 17s. to us), Arthur 

 Young calculated to swallow half the profit. What 

 would he say now, when hay, and that an inferior 

 sample, has been selling in the rick-yard at 71. the 

 ton? 



The colour of a cow matters little now-a-days, 

 except in the case of pedigree shorthorns, when it is 

 of vast importance ; the roan standing first in value, 

 and then red or white, by a scientific combination of 

 which roan is produced. 



In old time it was certainly considered that the 

 red cow gave the best milk, and the black brought 

 the best calves, but I do not find that any such 

 theory holds to-day. A yellowish tinge upon the 



