130 DOMESTIC ANOIALS. 



of peat and heather, from which he conld in his native fastness smell 

 afar otf his friend or his enemy man ! Tie him by the head and he 

 becomes fretful or furious ; he will pine, and fret, and worry himself', 

 wdiile, in his gregarious state, with a herd of his fellows in open yards, 

 or sheds, he will thrive. Nay, he has a nature which will lay on fat 

 despite the cold and wet, as the rye among plants can assimilate food 

 from the barrenest soil ; so he has a natural shelter in his hair and 

 constitution, for which the owner of more delicate and tender animals 

 will not give him credit, forgetting that the Scotchman has a different 

 animal to deal with in his shed-feeding from the short-horn. 



The short-horn feeder, on the contrary, possesses a tame, quiet, gentle, 

 lethargic animal, which shows that universal mark of good breeding in 

 men and animals — he is always quiet. He will neither pine at never 

 beholding the light, nor feel the want of exercise if he never leaves his 

 stall, provided he has food and comfort in plenty. Nay, he will hardly 

 take the exercise necessary to keep his limbs in healthy action. But 

 keep him from the cold and wet; prevent the blast from passing over 

 him ; he likes protection, and thrives best in boxes. 



Take a Devon, or, if you like, a Sussex ox. He is large and cumb- 

 rous; but he is active. Give him liberty, and he will roam and harass 

 himself; but he is tame enough to keep to his stall without pain or 

 fretting. He requires a stall. 



The Temperature at which it is desirable to keep feeding animals is a 

 matter of more importance than might be inferred from the apparently 

 small amount of investigation bestowed upon it. The question is, are 

 we to run the risk of a wasting expenditure of food by perspiration 

 under excessive heat? or are we to induce them to waste it, to keep up 

 animal heat, by exposure to too much cold ? Nay, will not different 

 classes of feeding animals be subject to different consequences, from the 

 same degree of heat? In the same cow-house there maybe some too 

 hot, and others too cold, from their different constitutions. Oxen 

 generally sweat at a temperature in wdiich heifers thrive admirabh^; this 

 happens at any rate till Christmas, after which they seem to be able to 

 bear the same degree of heat as female animals. 



H. S. Thompson, Esq., tied up two sets of feeding bullocks, eight into 

 a warmer shed than the rest. They had the same quantity and kind 

 of food; but those in the warmer shed made more beef than those in 

 the colder, showing that warm air, as well as warm food, was highly 

 favorable to fattening short-horns ; which breed, we believe, he in- 

 variably fattens. The temperature he aims at is about 55° to 60° of 

 Fahrenheit; an increase of this caused them to get off" their food, and 

 lose their tone and appetite. 



Stillness, with the limitations given in our remarks on shelter, is ne- 

 cessary to successful feeding. This is well known to geese feeders, who 

 even nail them to the boards; and it was shown very strikingly by Mr. 

 Childers, M.P., in his experiments on shed-feeding, and by Lord Bathurst, 

 on stall-feeding sheep. An animal in the very effort of searching and 

 securing his food, expends the principle necessary to make fat ; hence it 

 is necessary that his turnips be brought to him instead of driving hir? 

 to the turnips. They are cut and placed before him, that he may havo 



