OF STRAW, ITS VALUE, AND USES. 411 



require more shelter, and even closer houses, than cattle kept 

 on richer food. But there is a medium to be observed in this, 

 as well as in other things. The hair of cattle, kept in a 

 close warm house, naturally grows thin and peels off pre- 

 maturely, which would expose them to much unnecessary 

 hardship, if they were to be turned out to grass in spring.* 

 Whereas, as Baron Hepburn well observes, a bullock, with 

 plenty of good food, despises cold ; hence, where the ob- 

 ject is to fatten to perfection, he should be enabled to 

 live as nearly as possible in the style in which he would 

 live, if he had artificial food at command, and were left 

 at perfect liberty. That is to say, his great object would 

 be, to eat in the open air, and to lie dry. In this way, 

 with abundance of fat, he joins ajirmness of carcase, which 

 no stall-fed bullock ever possesses, whose fat, in the pot, 

 melts into oil, and whose flesh, from the spit, comes lean, 

 dry, and tasteless to the table. 



Marshall assigns another reason for preferring stalls to 

 the fold-yard, namely, that the straw being given in small 

 quantities, is eaten with an appetite, whereas in a farm- 

 yard, they go loose, and have it in too much abundance.*}- 

 Another reason is, that in all the grazing districts, straw 

 is so scarce an article, that it is necessary to use it in the 

 most economical way. 



2. An ample description of hammels, or cattle-sheds, has 

 been already given. (See p. 25.) The only objection to 

 this mode of feeding cattle is the expence; but even that 

 objection, in regard to horses, is compensated, by the su- 

 perior healthiness which results from that system. 



3. Lord Kames strongly objects to fold-yards for feed- 



* Marshall's Rural Economy of Yorkshire, vol. i. p. 403, 

 f Marshall's Gloucestenhire, voL ii. p. 50. 



