MAY.] SOILING. 



ncral fact in husbandry which ought to create so 

 much surprize as the general custom, all over the 

 kingdom, of feeding cows, young cattle, oxen, 

 bullocks, &c. in the fields; and the almost <r 

 ral practice of managing the teams in the same 

 . Enlightened farmers have in many districts 

 adopted this system for horses, but still reject it 

 for cattle ; and it will probably take a century to 

 render it as universal as it might be, most profitably. 

 The objections to it are not of any importance, even 

 if started in the strongest manner : it has been ar- 

 gued that the expcnce is an object ; and that cattle 

 will not thrive so well, nor will cows give so much 

 milk as if fed in the field. That the expence is 

 something, cannot be denied, but that it amounts 

 to any thing considerable, is contrary to fact. Mr. 

 Mure fed 240 fatting oxen in sheds through a whole 

 summer by the mowing of one scythe: if the at- 

 tendance upon the beasts be added to this amount, 

 the whole will evidently come to a sum which, 

 when divided either per head or per acre, will be so 

 low as to do entirely away this objection. As to 

 the question of thriving, the assertion has been 

 made, as far as it has come to my knowledge, with- 

 out a trial, and is consequently mere theory. The 

 beasts mentioned above, were all sold fat at Smith- 

 field, and did as well as similar beasts had done fed 

 abroad in the most favourable seasons, and better than 

 in any summer not remarkably favourable. I prac- 

 tised it for sevtral years together w.iy carefully for 

 fatting cattle, weighing alive periodically, both while 



in 



