90 



the animal should go to market as soon as the gain which he 

 makes ceases to pay the expense of his keeping. I have known 

 an instance in which the gain of a pair of cattle during a 

 whole month, though the feeding was fully continued, was 

 only one pound. (See Example 5, p. 75.) Here then was a 

 loss, which might have been avoided ; and it is exceedingly 

 desirable that the cattle should be weighed from time to time, 

 in order to determine their progress. This is easily done 

 by the improved platform balances, now so common in the 

 country. 



A second question of some importance is, whether it is bet- 

 ter to stall-feed animals of a small or medium size, than those 

 of large frames. In general, the farmers incline to the medium- 

 sized animals. Animals do not consume always according to 

 their size, though in general, animals are kept at an expense in 

 some measure proportionate to their size. The matter resolves 

 itself into this simple question ; whether the same amount of 

 feed will produce more amount of flesh in an animal of moder- 

 ate than in one of large stature. I do not know that any cer- 

 tain rule can be laid down in this case. Small-boned, snug 

 and compactly built animals will be found generally to have a 

 much stronger tendency to fatness, than animals of large and 

 coarse frames. But after all, the main point is the thriftiness 

 of the animal. There is always a much stronger tendency in 

 some animals to grow fat and to keep fat, than in others, and 

 where this disposition predominates, the gain is likely to be in 

 proportion to the size. 



The thriftiness of an animal may be in some measure deter- 

 mined by the eye ; but experienced men, in their judgment on 

 this point, depend more upon the hand, or what is technically 

 called, ihe feel of a beast. "It is," says one competent to 

 speak in these matters, " the nice touch or mellow feel of the 

 hand,' which, in a great measure, constitutes the judge of cat- 

 tle ;" and what you wish to find in an ox, is " a thick, loose 

 skin, floating, as it were, on a layer of soft fat, yielding to the 

 least pressure, and springing back towards the fingers like a 



