176 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



farmer. But experience is teaching us a new lesson 

 on this head. Butchers now judge of an animal, not 

 according to its gross weight, but according to its 

 good points, or the value of the meat which it car- 

 ries. Breeders have learned to prefer those which, 

 with a given quantity of food, will lay on the most 

 meat. And the consumer has learned, too, that 

 meat that shows the most solid fat is neither the 

 most healthy, the most savoury, nor the most eco- 

 nomical. It is the due admixture of fat and lean, or 

 the prevalence of what is termed fat-lean (such as 

 is seen in the Devonshire ox and the South Down 

 sheep) that gives the greatest value to butcher's meat. 



It was lately remarked by an eminent breeder in 

 England, Mr. Gray, at an agricultural dinner, that he 

 could feed, on an acre of land, a greater number of 

 pounds of mutton, in carcasses from 18 to 20 Ibs. 

 per quarter, than in carcasses from 28 to 30 Ibs. per 

 quarter ; and that a quarter of mutton from a sheep 

 of 18 to 20 Ibs. weight per quarter is worth more in 

 proportion than from a sheep of 30 Ibs. per quarter ; 

 and, consequently, that the advantage is on the side 

 of the smaller carcasses. And he assigned this 

 among other reasons, that, in case of drought or 

 scarcity, a small animal can collect as much food as 

 a larger one, and, having a smaller carcass, it de- 

 rives more advantage from it ; that, while the larger 

 is losing in condition, the smaller one, if not impro- 

 ving, is remaining stationary ; and when the period 

 arrives at which an abundance of food can be ob- 

 tained, it almost immediately recovers itself, and is 

 fit to go to market sooner than the larger animal. 



These remarks are found to hold good in regard 

 to swine as well as sheep. The same quantum of 

 food that will give 600 Ibs. to hogs of a very large 

 breed, will fatten two hogs of 300 Ibs. each ; and the 

 meat of the latter, though not so fat, will be of the 

 better quality. This and other considerations have 

 giren to what is termed the Berkshires a decided 



