Live Stock. 101 



suitable ( l38 ). When fed on dry food, and more especially 

 if the quality is coarse, the stock should be well supplied 

 with water, to promote its digestion in the stomach. It is 

 indeed a good plan, previously to moisten any hay given to 

 cattle, and in a less degree even to horses. 



6. In regard to the diseases of stock, it may in general be 

 observed $ that the great object of the farmer ought to be, to 

 ward them off, by obviating their remote causes ; for most 

 of those which affect our domestic animals, when once in- 

 duced, are not easily cured, partly from their obscure nature, 

 and partly from the difficulty of exhibiting remedies to the 

 large numbers which are frequently seized at the same pe- 

 riod, or in the same situation. In particular districts, many 

 herds and flocks are considerably thinned, almost every year, 

 by inflammatory and other disorders, which a little care and 

 good treatment, applied in time, might easily have prevent* 

 ed( 139 ). 



Lastly, the food, whatever it consists of, should not be too 

 suddenly changed. It is seldom profitable, to bring lean 

 animals immediately from coarse to rich pastures; and n 

 change from dry to succulent food, and vice versa, should be 

 gradually effected ( I4 ). A change of pasture, however, of 

 the same quality, tends to produce a greater accumulation 

 of fat C 4 '). 



It may be proper to add, that nature seems to have design- 

 ed different sortsof animals for different purposes. A breed 

 of cattle, equally well adapted to the butcher, to the dairy, 

 and to the plough or cart ( I4a ), is no where to be met with ; 

 and, so far as experience enables us to judge, these proper- 

 ties are hardly consistent with each other, and belong to ani- 

 mals of different forms and proportions. A large Hereford- 

 shire ox, for instance, would starve on a Highland pasture, 

 and heavy Leicestershire sheep were never intended to tra- 

 vel great distances, or to search for their subsistence in a 

 rugged or mountainous country. The judicious breeder, 

 therefore, will fix upon one object to be principally attended 

 to ; and he will endeavour to rear the species of stock best 

 qualified to enable him to attain the object he has in view, 

 or, in other words, the most likely to pay the most money, 

 for the food he gives them. That can only be obtained, by 

 an attention to the principles of breeding in general, to 

 the system best calculated for his own situation in particu- 

 lar, and to the practice of the most eminent farmers who 

 have excelled in the art( 143 ). 



In regard to live stock, in general, it may be observed, 



