CATTLE. 69 



"It is sometimes asked," Mr. Colman says, "whether oxen 

 are injured in their growth from being worked. If their 

 strength is prematurely and too severely taxed, or if they are 

 subjected to severe usage, undoubtedly it must prove injurious ; 

 but, if otherwise, if reasonably worked and carefully and kindly 

 attended, there is no doubt that their health and growth are 

 promoted by it. It is often matter of inquiry, whether fatting 

 cattle should be kept in close stalls, or be suffered to lie out- 

 doors. The experience of all the farmers whom I have consult- 

 ed, who have made any trial, is conclusive in this case, in favor 

 of the superior thrift of animals kept constantly in the barn, or 

 turned out only for watering and immediately put up again, 

 over those which are kept in open sheds, or tied up for feeding 

 only, and at other times allowed to lie in the yard. No exact 

 experiments have been made in this country in relation to this 

 subject; but experiments made abroad lead to the conclusion, 

 that cattle thrive best in a high and equable temperature, so 

 warm as to keep them constantly in a state of active perspi- 

 ration, and that their thrift is much hindered by an exposure 

 to severe alternations of heat and cold. It is certain, that in 

 order to thrift, cattle can not be made too comfortable ; their 

 mangers should be kept clean ; their stalls be well littered ; 

 and the cattle protected from currents of air blowing through 

 crevices or holes in the floors or the sides of the stables, which 

 prove often much more uncomfortable than an open exposure. 1 ' 



3. Rearing Calves. Many different opinions prevail on the 

 subject of rearing calves. The following plan, detailed by a 

 Western breeder, we deem an excellent one : 



" I have my cows so managed that they come in early in 

 spring. I wean the calves after they have drawn the milk 

 two or three times, while I milk at the same time, all clean, 

 that which the calf may not be strong enough to draw. Then 

 I allow the calves nearly all the milk the cows give, for four 

 or six weeks, which gives them a good start ; next, I teach 

 them, when two or three weeks old, to eat some little of meal 

 or threshed oats, and lick a little salt ; at the same time I let 



