CHAP. xi. HAMMEL FEEDING. 171 



manger well cleaned out after every meal. After a month or so feeding 

 on the above, the quantity of cake may be increased, and if more con- 

 venient the swedes may be changed for mangel-wurzel. Never 

 change, says Mr. Dobito, from mangel-wurzel to swedes, or the 

 animal will not get on so fast ; but if mangels are more plentiful than 

 swedes, and you therefore want to begin to use the mangels earlier, 

 you have only to leave them exposed to the air for a week or two to 

 wither, and they may be used as earl} 7 in the season as you require. 



" Cleanliness, warmth, and quiet are what Mr. Dobito insists upon, 

 of course coupled with good feeding ; but he says that very many tons 

 of good oil-cake are wasted through the comfort of the animals not 

 being attended to. He also claims the credit of introducing a cheap 

 food in the form of pollard, or miller's offal, as it is otherwise termed." 



A more recent system, however, is that of box-feeding. This 

 consists in enclosing the cattle in boxes about eight or ten feet square 

 and twelve feet high. The animals are not tied up. These boxes are 

 sunk in the ground from two to three feet, and in the excavation, or 

 tank, thus formed, the manure is suffered to accumulate until it rises 

 to the level of the external soil. Thus a mass of straw saturated with 

 excrementitious matter is obtained and preserved intact until it is 

 required for some portion of land ; all that is necessary is to strew 

 about 18 Ib. of fresh straw over this bed of manure every day, and not 

 a particle of fertilising matter will be lost. The animals, being free to 

 move about, trample the whole into a compact mass, and will lie down 

 on it without appearing inconvenienced by the exhalations from it, and 

 certainty without suffering in appearance or health. Indeed, numerous 

 experiments tend to prove that this is one of the most economical and 

 advantageous ways of feeding cattle for the butcher. It is not, 

 however, adapted for breeding cattle, as they require more air and 

 exercise to develop their powers. 



These objects are attained by the system of " hammel-feediug," as 

 it is termed. A hammel consists of a small shed generally having 

 about 144 or 150 square feet of surface : this opens out to a small 

 court-yard about the same size as the shed, having a gate leading 

 into it through which the hammel is supplied with straw, and 

 the feeding-troughs one in the shed and the other in the 

 court, a water-trough being generally placed in the latter with 

 food. In the hammel, while shelter is given to the animal, it 

 has at the same time the great advantage of air and exercise. 

 The great weight of practical evidence is in favour of the system of 

 hammels as opposed to stall and box-feeding. Thus, to quote from 

 one only of the many reports on the subject, Mr. Templeton of 

 Clanbage, Holywood, Ireland, in a Prize Essay in the " Transactions 

 of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland," on the " Best 

 Modes of Housing, Soiling, and Pasturing Cattle," says, " that the 

 cattle in all cases made the greatest improvements in the hammels, 

 and the lots which had 3 Ib. of linseed-cake per day made a fair return 

 for the cake consumed." The litter used in hammels is moreover less 

 by one-third than that required for stall-feeding. 



