106 FATTENING CATTLE AND SWINE. 



have been inured to hard labor, and our cows that have become 

 too old to be profitable in the dairy. It is desirable that the 

 farmer should have the profit and the honor of selling them for first 

 class beef, and that the consumer should have the comfort of eating 

 the same. 



We have no doubt that proper trial can show how this can be 

 done. For example : our aged cow, whose appearance indicates 

 that she was fit for little else than " crow-bait," has been taken 

 about the first of May, and in the course of a month, by bleeding, 

 nursing, and careful feeding, has been put in a thriving condition. 

 In another month she was made fair looking beef ; and before the 

 month of September, was sold for a good article. If beef that is 

 speedily fattened is better, and if our ordinary grass-fed cattle 

 could be prepared for market in one half the usual time, by daily 

 additional feeding with meal during the summer months, there 

 would evidently be a good gain to the farmer. 



Another important question pertaining to this subject is the fat- 

 tening of swine. We believe, that aside from a careful selection of 

 the best breeds, attention should here be chiefly directed to three 

 points — the health, the comfort, and the disposition of the animal. 

 Much has been said about warm and convenient pens, cleanliness, 

 ventilation, &c., which needs to be put in practice. We should 

 like to have set before us a series of more careful experiments and 

 regular feeding of swine than is usually practiced. We believe 

 some important knowledge may be elicited by experiments in feed- 

 ing the uneasy and troublesome, that are to be fattened, by feeding 

 them regularly four times a day instead of three — the usual 

 method. Respecting the disposition of the animals we would only 

 now say that the feeder must carefully study the habits and char- 

 acter of each. Let the turbulent be provided with a quiet resting- 

 place ; the quarrelsome be separated from each other, and let the 

 excessively greedy have the temptation of a competitor in eating, 

 removed out of sight. On these and numerous other points, we 

 want careful and protracted experiments by our intelligent and 

 enterprising farmers. We hope that another year will find some of 

 them ready to receive not only the liberal premium oifered by the 

 Society, but the thanks of the community for their efforts. 



M. G. J. EMERY, Chairman. 



