162 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK i. 



extent, frequently impedes their thriving. Neither at other times are 

 they injured by chilling blasts or drenched by rains, causes which 

 retard their thriving. Under proper management, and in well-con- 

 structed stalls, all these evils will be removed, and the animals kept in 

 a uniform state of coolness and tranquillity; and thus the same quantity 

 of food which one beast would devour or destroy while grazing will 

 suffice for the soiling of two, if not of three. 



Lastly, by judiciously mingling green and succulent vegetables with 

 dry and nourishing food as circumstances may require, and by varying 

 the different articles so as to provoke an appetite, not only the health 

 but also the thriving of the stock will be greatly augmented beyond 

 what could have been done by any other mode of treatment. On the 

 whole, the superior condition of the cattle, and the absence of accidents, 

 and many diseases consequent on their exposure to our variable climate, 

 are strong arguments for the practice of soiling, at least so far as the 

 health and comfort of the animals are concerned. 



The period of soiling usually commences after the animals have 

 passed their first year. It is not at all improbable that they would 

 retain their health as well as when they were allowed to pasture at 

 large, and would attain a greater weight of carcass and aptitude to 

 fatten, if they were soiled from the period of their being calves ; but, 

 as exercise and libertj' seem to be natural to cattle during the first 

 year, it may, at least in the present state of our knowledge upon the 

 subject, be advisable for the farmer to suffer his young stock to run 

 at large during that period, if he has the necessary facilities for so 

 doing. 1 



IV. The increase of manure obtained by soiling and stall-feeding 

 further evidences the superiority of these systems over pasturing. 

 Manure is the very life and soul of husbandry, and, where tillage is 

 an object of attention, there can be no comparison between the 

 advantages of the two modes of consumption ; expecially if we regard 

 the manure obtained by soiling live stock with green food during 

 summer, for the ' increased discharge of fsces and urine during that 

 season speedily converts any species of the litter into manure. There 

 is little doubt but that the quantity of manure made during the 

 summer can, by constructing proper reservoirs for the reception of 

 the stale, and by throwing this at leisure times over the litter, be 

 made to equal, if not exceed, the amount of the dung accumulated 

 during the winter. The quality must depend on the nature of the 

 food. 



V. With regard to the quantity of herbage afforded from the same field, 

 under the cutting and grazing systems respectively, the balance will be 

 found equally in favour of the former. All animals delight more to feed on 

 the young and fresh shoots of grass than on such as are older. Hence 



attacks of warble-flies is not confined to the retarding of fattening, or to the lessening of 

 the flow of milk, but the hides of cattle are greatly depreciated for tanning purposes. 

 Whoever has seen a warbled hide will understand this, and Miss Ormcrod calculates that 

 the national loss from this pest, amounts annually to several millions sterling (see page 561). 

 1 Lewis's "Observations on an Experimental Farm." 



