Remarks on the Cattle Procession, 159 



scarcely to be eatable. The same remark la applicable 

 to hogs, some of which, upon the late occasion, uere ab- 

 solutely blind from the projection of fat over their eyes, 

 and required to be raised from their beds of straw to take, 

 food. None of them could walk without difficulty. Let 

 us ask how these operations will improve the breed of 

 cattle ? Did any of these crammed beasts leave their 

 progeny behind them ? The absurdity of naming the 

 object to be effected by this excessive feeding, '' the im- 

 provement of the breed of cattle," is evident. Where, 

 moreover, is the utility of such overfeeding ? If it be said 

 that it furnishes a market for grain and hay, why not 

 apply the extra feed consumed by the show cattle, sheep 

 and hogs, to the fattening thrice the number of head, all 

 of which by it would have been turned off in as excel- 

 lent order, as is required for human stomachs of ordinary 

 powers of digestion. The difficulty is to find lean 

 enough on the cattle and sheep to eat : as to the hogs, 

 nineteen-twentieths of their weight will be consigned to 

 the manufacturers of soap.* 



Any animal however badly shaped, can be made inor- 

 dinately fat, sooner or later, by extra quantities of nou- 

 rishing food ; but this is not the way to improve the 

 farm-stock of a country. Plain reason and sound sense 

 dictate that what we require, is a breed that will soonest 

 furnish the greatest quantity of good meat or milk at the 

 least expense. It is only in this way, that the advances 

 of the grazier will be returned to him ; and it is the quick 



* Other bad effects of such public processions are, the loss of 

 work among every class of mechanics, the interruption to the 

 education of the poor, and the temptation to useless expense 

 for strong drink which they excite, at a time, too, when the 

 means of employment are so greatly circumscribed as at pre- 

 sent. When this paper was read, many facts in proof were 

 given by different members. 



