No. 5. 



Soiling, or House-feeding. 



139 



they require it, being kept rather with an 

 appetite, than otherwise. As soon as the 

 animal has eaten its food, all refuse should 

 be immediately taken away, and nothing 

 suffered to remain in the stalls before it. 

 The cattle will know the hour of feeding as 

 correctly as the clock tells it, and will be 

 disappointed and fretted if neglected. This 

 neglect is prejudicial both to milking and 

 fattening. Every farmer who cultivates his 

 land in a proper manner, will have plenty of 

 food for his cows in the house, summer and 

 winter, and of various kinds. Cows, like 

 other animals, are capricious in tlieir appe- 

 tites; they will not agree with being con- 

 stantly confined to the same kind of food. 

 No matter how nutritious in itselfj there 

 ought to be a variety; a change, if possible, 

 for every feed." This is the mode of feed- 

 ing which, he says, he himself has found 

 eligible. "I give si.x feeds in the day, sum- 

 mer and winter, beginning at 6 o'clock in 

 the morning, and ending at 9 in the even- 

 ing, viz., at 6, at 8, at 12, at 3, at 6, at 9. 

 They get water in their stalls at 10 in the 

 morning, and at 5 in the afternoon ; they are 

 likewise turned out one hour, from 10 to 11, 

 where they exercise, and drink if they 

 choose. The kinds of food I use chiefly are 

 the following: In summer, at 6, I feed with 

 perennial or Italian rye grass and clover; at 

 8, with cabbages or leaves; at 12, with cut 

 hay and straw; [this feed is to prevent the 

 action of too much green feed upon them; a 

 cow in health ought never to be purging; if 

 she is, both milk and flesh are running off;] 

 at 3, upon vetches; at 6, upon mangel-wur- 

 zel leaves, rape, cleanings of ditches, or 

 other refuse of the farm or garden ; at 9, 

 clover or grass, or this may again be dried 

 feed, if the state of the bowels requires it. 

 In winter, at 6, first feed with steamed food; 

 at 8, with turnips, raw; at 12, with cut hay 

 and straw; at 3, with mangel-wurzel raw; 

 at 6, with steamed food ; at 9, with hay and 

 straw. Water must be given or offered, 

 and plenty of salt used in the steamed food. 

 This mode, after much experience, I have 

 found highly advantageous for all my cattle." 

 He adds, " I have ascertained that when my 

 present farm was in pasture, it pastured 

 eighteen cows in summer ; but now it feeds 

 sixteen cows and three horses, all the year 

 round, and I have as large a proportion of 

 grain crops on the same land as most other 

 people, besides." 



I have thought that these details, all of 

 which came under my own observation, 

 would be interesting to my readers; and I 

 will refer to some experiments on a small 

 scale, on the estate of Lord Gosford, in the 

 county of Armagh, Ireland, already spoken 



of, under the management of William Black- 

 er, Esq., who may be considered as the au- 

 thor of house-feeding in Ireland. 



I had the gratification of a most instruc- 

 tive visit with this gentleman, among seve- 

 ral of his small tenants, who everywhere 

 greeted him with a warmth of welcome 

 which showed their deep sense of his kind- 

 ness. Indeed, many of tiiem, through his 

 judicious and beneficent agency, had been 

 recovered from a condition of want, discou- 

 ragement, suffering, and debt, and placed in 

 circumstances of independence, comlbrt, con- 

 tentment, and improvement; and I know 

 not who are more to be envied than those 

 persons who have it in their power to confer 

 such benefactions, and who are permitted to 

 see the beneficent fruit of their labours. 



I shall be excused if I interrupt the course 

 of my subject to speak of the means by 

 which these changes, which here meet the 

 eye and warm the heart, and form such an 

 affecting contrast to the indescribably wretch- 

 ed condition of many of the cottiers of Ire- 

 land, have been brought about. 



The numerous tenantry among whom he 

 was placed, and a large proportion of whom 

 were the occupiers of very small holdings, 

 laboured under tw^o great difficulties, — igno- 

 rance of the best mode, and the want of the 

 means, of cultivating their grounds, — diffi- 

 culties which press heavily upon a great 

 portion of the Irish population. The best 

 of all charities is that which helps the un- 

 fortunate to help themselves. To under- 

 stand the condition of Ireland, — unlike, it is 

 said, that which exists in any other part of 

 the civilized world, — it is necessary to go 

 into Ireland. My eye never before rested 

 upon, my imagination could scarcely exag- 

 gerate, the state of destitution and degrada- 

 tion, as far as their condition was concerned, 

 in which I saw millions of these people liv- 

 ing. The whole blame of this condition is 

 not to bo charged, as is too often done, upon 

 the landlords. If, as is well known, there 

 are too many landlords who neglect, there 

 are those who seek to perform, their duty, 

 and to discharge their high responsibilities, 

 and who, actuated by an ardent spirit of 

 philanthropy, are sincerely anxious to ame- 

 liorate the condition of their dependents, 

 and to raise them from their low estate. 

 But what can be done with people who are 

 satisfied to burrow in a mud cabin, or a mere 

 hole in the earth, and to marry, and live, and 

 to bring children into the world, upon pov- 

 erty and potatoes? Mr. Blacker, with the 

 cooperation of the nobleman whose estate 

 he manages, has effected the most beneficial 

 changes among his tenants, by stimulating 

 their pride, by multiplying their wants, by 



