THE STOCK ON OUR FARMS. 25 



cattle, and gave to the English poet the subdued and quiet 

 picture, as • 



" The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea," 



and expressed the climax of luxuriant possession in " the cattle 

 upon a thousand hills," — amidst all this we have never yet 

 learned what skill and practical experience produced the foun- 

 dation of such pleasing imagery, nor what rural economies 

 guided the earliest farmers in their rearing of cattle. 



There is, it is true, an old French proverb — " no cattle, no 

 farming — few cattle, poor farming — many cattle, good farming." 

 And we learn that when Cato, the wise and sagacious Roman, 

 was asked " what was the most assured profit raising out of 

 land ? " made the answer — " To feed well." Being asked 

 again, " what was the next?" he answered — "To feed with 

 moderation." And we can easily imagine the contrast which 

 exists between that aboriginal production of food, which the 

 sinewy savage practices as he pursues the still more sinewy 

 cattle across the plain, and even the first dawn of domestica- 

 tion in the management of animals — and the still greater con- 

 trast which exists between the wild and flying drover of the 

 pampas, and that calm and solid and imperturbable specimen 

 of humanity, who winds his placid way from the valley of the 

 Tees to Smithfield market, realizing as he follows his rolling 

 and wallowing Short-horns, the truth of the saying " who 

 drives fat oxen should himself be fat." There is a long inter- 

 A-al between " the five hundred yoke of oxen" of Job, and 

 the stupendous breeds which graze upon the fat pastures of 

 England, bred and reared by rule into an exact estimate of the 

 cost of each " pound of flesh." And to us who are engaged in 

 farming among all the modern improvements, it is a matter of 

 special interest to know the processes by which the present 

 breeds and races of cattle have been brought to their existing 

 perfection, and how they can be preserved in their condition. 

 An Ayrshire cow, and a Short-horn bullock, are by no means 

 the result of accident. They have been produced by the appli- 

 cation of the highest and most intelligent skill, at the hands of 

 the Bakewells and Parkeses and Mickles and Ceilings, under 

 whose treatment, as has been truly said, the " long-legged, slab- 



4 



