NOTES. 17 



Mr Mason's Letter to Sir Jobn Sinclair, Farmer's Magazine, vol. xv. p. GO. 

 It appears from Columella's description of the best kind of ox, that the advan- 

 tage of a soft skin is not a new discovery, but was perfectly well known to the 

 husbandmen of ancient Italy. 



102 Husbandry of Scotland, vol. ii. Appendix, p. 1 10. This is the technical 

 expression, though, properly speaking, the man is the handler, and the skin of the 

 beast is handled. We are apt to say, in the same manner, that a horse rides 

 well. 



105 See Mr Robert Ceiling's Letter to Sir John Sinclair, Farmer's Maga- 

 zine, vol. xv. p. 61. 



104 The great perfection of an animal is, when the dead weight of all the 

 eatable parts approaches the nearest to the weight of the animal when alive. 

 The following statement of the live and dead weight of a Devonshire ox, aged 

 three years and ten months, will explain the manner in which these accounts 

 are drawn up. 



Stone. 



Live weight, 114 



Offal. Stone. Ib. 



Tallow, 10 6 



Hide, , 6 5 



Head and tongue, 2 9 



Heart, liver, and lungs, 2 7 



Feet, 1 4 



Entrails and blood, 11 13 



55 



Butcher's meat, the carcase or four quarters, 79 



114 



This proved to be a prime ox, as his beef or available food weighed three 

 stone more than two-thirds of his live weight. It likewise appears in this case, 

 that 10 stones of live weight, produced 6 stones 13 Ibs. of dead weight, or but- 

 cher's meat. Durham Report, p. 239. The average of other experiments is, 

 from 6 stone 10 Ibs. to 6 stone 13^ Ibs. of dead weight, to 10 stone of live 

 weight. When an ox is fed for two years in succession, a much higher pro- 

 portion of dead weight is the result, though it hardly ever exceeds three- 

 fourths of the live weight, or as 15 is to 20. 



In sheep, on an average, from 10 Ib. of living weight, to 6 Ib. 7 ounces of 

 dead weight, convertible into food, may be obtained ; Durham Report, p. 25-1 ; 

 consequently, in this respect, cattle are superior to sheep. With the view of 

 increasing the available food, Mr Cline strongly recommends the breeding of 

 sheep and cattle without horns, which, he observes, are useless to the animals 

 themselves, and often a cause of accidents to others. Where a ram is horned, 

 the skull is extremely thick, and with the horns, often weighs five times more 

 than another skull that is hornless. Animals without horns, are, in general, 

 tamer, and less vicious, and would produce more meat, and other valuable sub- 

 stances, if that apparently useless appendage did not exist. 



105 But when the properties essential in forming a perfect breed, are fully 

 ascertained, the separation of occupations, above alluded to, will become useful, 

 as one farm may be better calculated for breeding, another for fattening, &c. 



106 Sir John S. Sebright's Essay on the Art of improving the Breed of Do- 

 mestic Animals, p. 5 and 8. All breeding proceeds on the presumption, that 

 the tendency of any individual animal is, to transmit to its offspring, the form, 

 constitution and qualities which it possesses ; and as two animals are concern- 

 ed in the production of one offspring, that one is expected to inherit a form 

 and constitution compounded of the joint qualities of its two parents. Thus 

 it is found, in numerous breeds of animals, as in deer, in the West Highland 



C 



