268 MANAGEMENT OF GRASS LANDS. 



we recommend the locust and the sugar-maple; they will 

 answer for both profit and ornament. 



The feeding and fattening of cattle, whether for labour or 

 for sale, is the most important of the whole economy of the 

 grass farm. It therefore follows, that the farmer should pre- 

 viously consider the nature, and fertility of his pastures, and 

 the extent and quality of his other resources and, according 

 to these, he ought to regulate his system of grazing, soiling 

 or stall feeding. Those beasts only should be selected which 

 evince the most thriving disposition to fatten with the least 

 consumption of food, and depasture them upon such lands as 

 are best calculated for the respective breeds.* Cattle ought not 

 to be taken from rich to inferior soils it is desirable to choose 

 them from lands of nearly the same quality as those intended 

 for their reception. It would be well for graziers to choose 

 their purchased stock from an inferior soil. It is also proper 

 in all situations not fully supplied with wholesome water, to 

 avoid selecting cattle from those districts where it abounds in 

 a state of purity. The neglect of this matter has proved highly 

 detrimental to the interests of many graziers. 



Mr. LAWRENCE says that a heifer or cow will make beef 

 earlier than a steer; and that an old cow, or an old sheep, will 

 not fatten near so well with hay as with grass. 



The practice of grazing necessarily differs according to the 

 nature of the land. In stocking lands, as the proportion of 

 beasts must depend upon the fertility of the soil, it will gene- 

 rally be found that local custom, which is generally the result 

 of experience, will afford the surest guide. Instances are re- 

 corded in English works, of fifteen large bullocks and one 

 hundred and fifteen sheep having been fattened on fifteen 

 acres. The sub-divisions of land, kept for the sole purpose of 

 pasturing, should depend as well upon its fertility, as upon the 

 number of different kinds of cattle to be fed upon it.t To 

 render the grazing of cattle profitable, it is necessary to change 

 them from one pasture to another, beginning with the most 

 inferior grass, and gradually removing them into the best. By 

 this expedient, as cattle delight in variety, they will cull the 

 uppermost or choicest parts of the grass, and by filling them- 

 selves quickly, as well as by lying down much, they will 

 rapidly advance towards a proper state of fatness. By this 

 process, enclosures are rendered necessary, but great difference 

 exists as to the most suitable size. 



JOHN NICHOLSON, Esq., in his valuable work, the Farmers' 

 Assistant, says, "If a farmer has but three cows, and has three 



* Complete Grazier, 6th ed. p. 72. t Low's Elements. 



