ON CATTLE-SHEDS AND FOLDS. 35 



this Journal. A few larcli poles, nails, hurdles, and bun- 

 dles of straw, are the materials required ; they are not costly, 

 and certainly they will not exceed in expense sixpence for 

 each of the sheep they shelter. And as regards the foot-rot, 

 we have not suftered fi-om it during- the last two winters, 

 probably owing- to the monthly paring which the sheep's 

 feet received. 



Agricultural Gazette, Oct. 3, 1846. 



Art. XI.— on CATTLE-SHEDS AND FOLDS. 



It is not the intention of the writer to occupy the pages of 

 The Ploufjh with further discussion on the merits of a 

 subject on which two opinions can scarcely exist. The 

 purpose of this paper is to show, that the principal and 

 almost only obstacle to the general adoption of so obviously 

 beneficial a practice as summer-soiling cattle in sheds, or 

 the only objection that can, in any way, be tenable by those 

 who may be inclined to raise arguments against the system, 

 is not of a magnitude but to be easily surmounted. 



The only serious objection to the practice seems to be the 

 expense of providing shelter for a great number of cattle. 

 It certainly must be admitted that the materials commonly 

 used for buildings for such purposes, are not only very con- 

 siderably expensive, but many of them are also liable to 

 objection from want of durability, especially the materials 

 for roofing. The materials most commonly in use for co- 

 vering roofs are tiles and slates. Tiles, from their great 

 weight, require much timber in the roof for their support, 

 and when unglazed they absorb water, thereby rendering- 

 them liable to be crumbled by the action of frost ; they 

 therefore form both an expensive and an imserviceable kind 

 of roof. Slates, although free from the last-named objec- 

 tion in tiles, also require stout timber for support. 



There are, however, some roofing materials, not in com- 

 mon use, of so trifling- a cost, and so admirably adapted for 

 the purpose under consideration, that by their application 

 the expense of the erection of slieds for summer-soiling cattle 

 cannot be an object to proprietors, and scarcely any even to 

 a tenant, when the advantages to be derived from the prac- 



D 3 



