146 



Choice between Live-StocTi and Grain. 



Vol. V. 



By calculations, proved by experience, and 

 consequently to be relied upon, one would 

 think that the system of stall-feeding and 

 soiling must become general whenever it is 

 known ; but as yet there are few farms where 

 it is practised. But it cannot be expected 

 that this kind of economy, which demands 

 greater exertion and more outlay of capital, 

 ehould soon be introduced in a country where 

 it is believed the perfection of rural economy 

 has already been obtained ; and as a prefer- 

 ence is but reluctantly given to those things 

 that a person does not incline to undertake, 

 objections ten times repeated are again re- 

 peated, to discourage the attempt ; and some 

 isolated cases, in which this system would 

 not answer, for obvious reasons, are sure to 

 be triumphantly referred to, while thousands 

 of others, in which it lias been found to suc- 

 ceed, are purposely unnoticed. And it ap- 

 pears that managers of estates and the people 

 employed thereon, have been averse to the 

 measure, and have united to crush it. Some- 

 times, the first onset orthe, attempt has been 

 missed through parsimony or rashness, or 

 through a want of a sufficiency of hay, or 

 mismanagement in making it — in short, that 

 things had been managed negligently or care- 

 lessly in their progress : but this sort of hus- 

 bandry does not admit of many material er- 

 rors, and suitable preparations ought to be 

 made against every accident that is likely to 

 befall it; for if once the requisite quantity of 

 hay should fail, the cattle, used to abundance 

 of food, will waste away in a manner beyond 

 all possible recovery; and if, on account of 

 deficiency of food, the herds be lessened in 

 number, the lands will be exhausted by the 

 want of manure; and if, to obviate the want 

 of cattle-food, a portion of land is sufi^ered to 

 lie longer, for the purpose of raising that food, 

 than it ought, agreeably to a system which 

 must be adopted for a periodical return to 

 cultivation, there will be a want of straw for 

 litter, and the absence of this is extremely 

 injurious to the health of the cattle, and will 

 still have a worse effect upon the dunghill. 

 So that as in some years, although seldom, 

 the quantity of food produced may be reduced 

 to perhaps one-half, the prudent farmer should 

 endeavour to reserve a portion of food and 

 straw from one year to another, and ought not 

 to sufier himself to be tempted by any price, 

 he it never so high, to sell a particle of either ; 

 thus, great difficulties may be conquered." 



The Dr. proceeds to say, " On a small farm 

 which I occupy in this manner, where 18 or 

 20 head of milk-cows are kept and fed in the 

 stable, none are ever ill, none ever miscarry, 

 nor are there ever any left barren : while the 

 cattle that are left to graze in the fields at 

 random are, on the other hand, exposed to 

 many accidents, as well as to diseases arising 



therefrom. I have dwelt longer upon this 

 system of rural economy, because, although 

 in the English writings on agriculture I have 

 found some remarks on the stall-feeding and 

 soiling of cattle, yet I have seen none on the 

 system of economy built thereon ; it has al- 

 ready produced such beneficial eflfects, that 

 at present you will find six or eight cattle in 

 the stables of many a small farmer, and the 

 grain-fields are much improved by the greater 

 quantity of manure they furnish." 



To the above must be added an extract 

 from a " Gentleman's Portfolio," on the same 

 subject. In giving an account of a visit to 

 Josiah Quincy, Esq., he remarks, "I have 

 taken the liberty of introducing the name of 

 this distinguished individual, because there is 

 a part of his system which was entirely novel 

 to me, and which I think should be more ex- 

 tensively known, as I feel persuaded that 

 many of our agriculturists may profit by it. 

 His farm is extensive, and surrounded by a 

 flourishing hawthorn hedge, but there is not 

 an interior fence on the premises; the whole 

 presents a single field, devoted to all the va- 

 rious purposes of agriculture ; no part of it 

 is allotted to pasture, properly speaking, as 

 his cattle are fed in their stalls, and are never 

 suffered to roam over the fields ; and the ad- 

 vantages of this system are thus given — 

 formerly, there were seven miles of interior 

 fences to be kept in repair, but by keeping 

 the cattle up, the whole of this expense is 

 saved : formerly, sixty acres of this farm 

 were devoted to pasturage, but now, a greater 

 number of cattle by one-third, are kept on 

 the products of 20 acres, and I never saw 

 cattle in better condition. The saving by 

 these means is enormous, and the immense 

 advantages arising from it too apparent to 

 need to be dwelt upon. During the summer, 

 the cattle are fed upon grass, green oats or 

 barley, cut the day before, and suffered to 

 wilt in the sun, and the manure which is thus 

 saved will more than pay for the extra ex- 

 pense and trouble. The farm is most highly 

 cultivated, and every kind of grain and vege- 

 tables grown in the country appeared to have 

 a place ; carrots were found a most profitable 

 crop ; I passed a lot of five acres of these 

 roots ; and adjoining were several acres of cab- 

 bages, ruta-baga, mangelwurzel, millet, &c." 



Near London, it is the custom to sow large 

 quantities of oats, to be cut green for stall- 

 feeding the milk-cows; these are always sown 

 on land most highly manured for the purpose, 

 with four, and sometimes five bushels of seed 

 per acre ; the yield is prodigious, and is found 

 to be one of the most valuable crops that can 

 be grown, coming off the land in time for a 

 full crop of turnips for the winter, or of late 

 potatoes. A Subscriber. 



Nov. 20, 1840. 



