CATTLE IN GRASS. [MAT. 



and fresh. And each of these parties assert, that 

 they know themselves to be right from experience. 

 But that is impossible ; one must, undoubtedly, be 

 wrong. Let us consider the point from reason : it 

 is one that will never be decided fairly from expe- 

 riment ; for two pieces of grass, each of eighty or 

 an hundred acres, contiguous and perfectly alike, 

 are not to be met with in the king's dominions ; 

 and, if they were, .two sets of stock, exactly simi- 

 lar, would not be found. The divisions into field* 

 by hedges and ditches, for the purposes of draining 

 and shelter, is not the inquiry, the comparison 

 not being fair ; as such divisions may be fed at 

 once, by setting all the gates open, as well as one 

 field. The inquiry is, whether the cattle will spoil 

 the grass more in one way than in the other ? and 

 whether the grass will go as far in one as in the 

 other, by fatting or feeding the beasts as well ? 

 The argument of giving the grass fresh and fresh, 

 appears to he rather vague ; for it supposes that 

 the cattle will not eat it fresh, if they have the 

 whole range at once, which may be a mistake : 

 they will not be seen in the evening where they 

 were feeding in the morning, but vary their food 

 in the manner most agreeable to themselves; 

 and we may in general observe, that the sagacious 

 animals, when left to their own conducl, manage 

 such points better than we can for them. As to 

 the treading and spoiling, it is an equal objection. 

 >th methods; the legs of the beasts are not 

 tied in small closes, any more than in large ones, 



In 



