152 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



The chicken, at the time it breaks the shell, is heavier than the 

 whole egg; was at first. 



An egg; will not hatch in vacuo. 



The infinite wisdom of the Great Architect of the animal frame 

 is remarkably manifested in its providing the chick with a sharp 

 and hard substance on the tip of the bill, by means of which it is 

 enabled to fracture the shell to liberate itself from its imprison- 

 ment. Its own bill is too soft to enable it to break the shell there- 

 with, and in two days or less this hard and pointed substance dis- 

 appears, the young bird no longer requiring to use it. 



Equally extraordinary and wonderful is the fact that the germ 

 of the chick is provided with the ability to keep itself always on 

 the top of the yolk of the egg, to the end that it may take the 

 heat from the parent bird when setting, to produce incubation. 



[From the Transactions of the Highland Society.] 



REARING CATTLE, WITH A VIEW TO EARLY MATURITY 



The production of beef at the quickest and cheapest rate being 

 the object in view, the first requisite is a stock of cows possessing 

 qualities suitable for this purpose. Accordingly, they should be 

 good milkers, able to keep at the rate of two and a half to three 

 calves each, of a kind known to have a tendency to fatten readily, 

 and to come early to maturity, and of a structure likely to produce 

 a vigorous, well-grown steer. In other w^ords, they must be good 

 short-horns ; only having more regard to their milking properties 

 than is usually done by breeders of bulls. And here it may be 

 well to notice, that it is in general highly inexpedient for the beef 

 grower — the farmer who depends largely on his regular cast of fat 

 cattle — to attempt breeding his own bull. It is only a few indi- 

 viduals in any district who have the taste and skill requisite for 

 this difficult department of the business, not to mention the large 

 capital which must necessarily be invested in it, the precariousness 

 of the return, the greater liability to casualties of such high-bred 

 animals, and the additional expense of their housing and mainte- 

 nance. On Tweed-side, the breeding of bulls is confined to a very 

 limited number of persons, chiefly Northumbrians, w^ho, by devo- 

 ting their whole attention to this department, are able, from year 

 to year, to furnish a class of bulls which are steadily improving 

 the general breed of the district. The contrary practice is at this 

 moment compromising the character of this valuable breed of cat- 

 tle in several districts of Scotland into which they have been more 

 recently introduced. Made wiser on this point by experience, the 



