SUPPLEMENT. 703 



the field as a rule, unless they are to be fattened and killed young; and in that case the 

 soiling system is most successfully applied, as it is in the case of growing pigs, which 

 are not a veiy desirable kind of stock to ramble in the fields, and are very properly fed 

 in yards. In the case of small farming, the soiling system is specially adapted to the 

 circumstances that usually obtain on small farms, and therefore in many parts of France 

 and other continental countries it prevails. In the wine districts you will find it uni- 

 versal, and very properly so. The manure goes chiefly into the vineyards, and it is pro- 

 duced under the soiling system by cattle bedded with the straw of the grain crops. A 

 poor, nnmauured pasture would only maintain about one cow per acre, but the green 

 forage produced on a single acre of the several grain crops will sufBce for three cows. 



Both on small and large farms animals are fed on this system through the summer 

 with obvious advantage in several respects. They are kept in the cool, and are spared 

 the annoyance of flies, which in some districts are particularly harassing. Their food 

 is used with economy; and instead of having to wander for miles to and fro, as they do 

 sometimes on poor pastures, to obtain half a bellyful, the nourishing and bulky succu- 

 lents which they love are brought to them and they take their fill in comfort. Then, 

 the crops they are fed on are of the most productive kind. They are grown with the 

 greatest economy of land, and there is no tramping under foot of the herbage in its con- 

 sumption nor fouling it with excrements. In most situations from two to five times 

 more cattle can be kept by soiling than by depasturing; and it is a point worth notice 

 that much second-rate pasturage can only be grazed in summer by lean stock, owing to 

 the annoyance of flies in some districts, and that corn would be thrown away if it were 

 given to the animals under such circumstances. This refers especially to the drier and 

 hotter parts of the country which are least adapted to natural pasturage; and these are 

 the districts where soiling offers most advantage. 



The soiling system is practiced more generally than in any other country, and there 

 cut grass is brought to the cows all the summer — mowing often extending over four and 

 even five times — but it is regularly followed with liquid manure. In England, as a 

 rule, the holdings do not permit of such heavy manuring of grass land, but where it 

 is conducted there is saving of time and better crops, especially on heavy soils which 

 drain better without the weight of cattle continually upon them. Hedges and ditches 

 and drains are also much less troublesome, but against this there is the labor of extra 

 mowing. 



MIXED FOOD FOR CATTLE. 



BEPOBT PREPARED FOB CONSUL SHAW, OF MANCHE8TEB, BY MB. JAMES LONG, OF 



HETCHIN. ENGLAND. 



The following specimens of mixed foods for fattening bullocks were last year collected 

 from the Highland and Agricultural Society's members. A number of my correspond- 

 ents have kindly supplied me with a statement of the diet on which they are accustomed 

 to feed their cattle — both feeding animals and stores — ^and we proceed' to give specimens 

 of these. It will be seen that in every instance very much less weight of turnips is al- 

 lowed than the beasts would consume if an unlimited supply of bulbs were placed be- 

 fore them. 



Mr. Buttar, Coupar- Angus, gives his feeding cattle the following mixture, costing 10 



pence, or thereby, daily: 



Pence. 



15 pounds cut straw — 



56 pounds (J cwt.) turnips (pulped) at 6rf. per cwt. 3 



2 pounds linseed meal at IJd. per pound 3 



4 pounds cotton-cake (decorticated) at %d. per pound 3 



1 pound treacle (diluted) aAld. per pound 1 



10 



The above is given in three feeds, and after a time the richness of the mixture is in- 

 creased by adding cut grain, such as oats, beans, and maize, to the extent of about 3 

 pounds, costing about 2 pence a day extra, bringing up the cost of feeding to a shil- 

 ling peir day exclusive of straw but inclusive of roots. Mr. Buttar thinks that 2 cwt. 

 of turnips would be consumed by a fair-sized bullock, if getting nothing else except 

 straw, which at 6 pence per cwt. costs the same as the richer of the above diets. He 

 adds that even with all this quantity of turnips it is difficult to turn out a well- finished 



