56 



farmers are annually obliged to fatten some of their cows, it 

 would be well to get what information we can about feeding 

 them. Many farmers let their cows dry up their milk, and 

 then put them to pasture, to fatten. Others, by high feeding, 

 keep up the flow of milk in part, and make them gain, so as 

 to dispose of them to the butchers. "Where milk is in demand 

 and pasturing scarce, this is perhaps the best method, but 

 such cows do not often get fiit enough to compete for a 

 premium. 



In the statements given us we undoubtedly have the truth, 

 so far as it goes ; but " doing all the work upon the fiirm, and 

 working out some by the day," is rather indefinite. On some 

 farms, we think the oxen would not gain much. We can not, 

 in this County, raise cattle exclusively for beef, as they do at 

 the West; but we need oxen, to some extent, to carry on 

 our farms. On many farms the work may be done, and the 

 oxen be continually gaining. 



At the time we awarded the premiums, we were not aware 

 that Mrs. Little's ox took the third premium last year ; but 

 since then we have learned that he did. If we could have 

 known the entire amount of hay and grain consumed by them 

 during the year, it would have been valuable information. 

 Our impression is, that cattle that are in a high condition as 

 these have been the past year, or, as we sometimes express it, 

 " well filled up inside with tallow," do not consume so much 

 fodder as poor cattle of the same size. The philosophy of 

 this, we do not attempt to explain ; but our observation has 

 led us to this conclusion. 



It Avill be seen by the statement of Mr. Reynolds, that his 

 oxen have gained rapidly. We have heard it stated, by those 

 who have had good opportunities to know, that the live weight 

 of an ox at different seasons of the year, is not a true index of 

 his gain. They say an ox will weigh as much alive in March, 

 as he will the first of June, yet be fed so as to keep him gain- 

 ing all the time ; or in other words, the shrinkage is more at 

 some seasons, than at others. The condition of the stomach 



