152 SOILING OF STOCK. 



c. As to the animals thriving better, that is a point 

 which I consider as not yet fully decided. It is a 

 question if, in our extremely hot climate, animals do 

 so well during the warm weather of summer, when con- 

 fined in close sheds, pining for liberty and green fields. 

 I think that we require extended experience, and many 

 comparative experiments, before this question can be 

 regarded as finally settled. 



A modification of the system would without doubt 

 be successful in certain situations, such as where the 

 ordinary pasture would admit of being partly culti- 

 vated, or had some arable field close at hand, in which 

 might be grown indian corn sown thick, heavy crops 

 of clover, or some other form of green fodder. A 

 portion of this, cut twice a day, and fed out upon the 

 pasture, would have an excellent effect, both on the 

 condition of the animals, and in the improvement of 

 the pasture. Green food given in this way, keeps 

 working cattle in good order, and dairy cows in rich 

 milk, through the hot months. All of the crop is 

 available, no part of it being lost by the trampling 

 of stock. One man with a scythe can cut enough in 

 a few minutes, morning and evening, to supply a very 

 considerable herd. 



SECTION II. ON THE KEEPING OF STOCK DURING WINTER 



The place in which stock is kept during winter has 

 a much more important effect, not only upon their 

 condition, but upon the quantity of food that they eat, 

 than is usually imagined. Suppose it to be in an un- 

 sheltered yard, or on a hill-side, open to cold winds 

 and driving storms; from what has been already said, 

 we know that in such a situation, the action of the 

 lungs will be increased as the temperature of the body 

 decreases. This will call for an augmented supply 

 of carbon from the food, using up the starch, sugar, 



