376 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XXXIII. 



of Norfolk and Suffolk a singular practice prevails of tying up cattle on the 

 wheat or barley stubbles, without house or shed to cover them. With a 

 few rails, planks, or any rough contrivance, they form something to 

 answer the purpose of a manger ; and small posts, to which the cattle 

 are tied, are driven into the ground 3 feet to 3 feet 6 inches wide, in 

 front of a thick hedge, as a screen. There they are regularly billeted, 

 turnips or cabbages being carted to them, and their dung is piled up 

 in a wall behind them ; a slight trench near their heels being dug just 

 sufKciently deep to conduct away the urine, while only some farmers use the 

 precaution of digging a hole for its reception. This method is by many 

 preferred to litter or covering, as the warmth of lying so near to each other 

 is considered as sufiicient, and the air more healthful ; while the economy of 

 labour, in having the manure upon the land on which it is usually laid, is 

 another advantage *. AVith every deference, however, to the Norfolk 

 farmers, we cannot but view the plan of yards, with dry sheds, which are 

 cool in the summer and warm in the winter, as vastly better ; in which we 

 liave the opinion of a very experienced man of their own number, who 

 stales that experiments on the same farm, with the same kind and sized 

 bullocks, and from the same field of turnips, have induced him to give a 

 decided preference to them. He indeed adds, that bullocks fed in the 

 house were sent to market in the month of February, while those kept in 

 the former manner were not ready until the middle of April •}•. 



In some districts of Scotland, and many parts of Ireland, they also 

 tether tJie stock upon the land. This is in many places a necessary prac- 

 tice, as from the want of inclosures, as well as the small holdings of the 

 farmers, the cattle cannot be attended, and therefore must otherwise be 

 housed, or run over the ground of their neighbours. The want of servants 

 also prevents the catting of the grass; and, besides all this, it has been re- 

 marked, that when cattle have a fresh bite of grass given to them, they feed 

 faster and thrive better than when they are permitted to wander over the 

 whole field. It, indeed, answers in some respects like soiling, with the 

 superior advantage of fresh air, and some exercise ; and many experienced 

 agriculturists have practised the system on a large scale, having found by 

 its adoption that the cattle were rendered not only more docile, but throve 

 better than in any other mode of feeding, while the grass-land was more 

 improved, and could maintain at least one-third more stock than under 

 indiscriminate pasture J. 



The plan of tethering cannot, however, be considered equal to soiling ; 

 and is, in fact, very little better, if at all superior, to the common 

 practice of hurdling off a poriio7i of the land, either with natural or 

 artificial grass, by wtiich mode either cattle or sheep being confined 

 to a certain space until the crop is consumed, the pen is then changed 

 to a fresh phice until the whole field is fed oil'. The grass is thus 

 more economically consumed than upon a wide range, while the stock have 

 almost daily a fresh bite §. The plan of both hurdling and tethering 

 lias also this advantage over the common pasture: that when either the 



* Young's Annals of Agric, vol. v., p. 201. Suffolk Rep., Srd edit,, p, 203. 



f Drew's Norfolk Husbandry, p. 166. 



J The most eli'ectual tethers are made of iron chains, with short links, and two swivels 

 to prevent them from twistinj^. They should be five yards lon<j, with a strong' leather 

 strap and buckle, to fasten to th^j fore-lejj; of the animal, near the houf. The tether is 

 secured by a large iron pin, on the head of which is a swivel, which should play round 

 the pin freely, in order to prevent it from becomine; entangled. Sinclair's Code of 

 Agric, 3id Klit., p. 49], 



Burroughs on the Cultivation and Advantages of Green Crops, p. 7. 



