THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 437 



i860.] 



The bullocks on these open floors are 

 cleaner than those on the straw, although 

 the former are never swept. The heavy 

 pressure forces the liquid to the surface 

 through the layers of straw in the latter, 

 and keeps the animals wet. When the 

 open boards are first tried, there is nothing 

 pleasing to the grazier's eye, especially 

 when compared with the unlimited supply 

 of the ordinary straw sheds. The edges of 

 the boards are new and sharp, and the fre- 

 quent lifting of the foot indicates fear and 

 discomfort. In lying down and rising up, 

 the sharp edges probably give pain, but in 

 two or three weeks all this passes olf, the 

 edges get smooth, and you will find your 

 animals lying in various and easy positions. 



I attach great importance to these open 

 floors; they will enable us to keep almost 

 any quantity of stock. The manure re- 

 quires no turning or fermenting ; there is 

 no expense of littering or frequent remoYal, 

 and no loss of ammonia by fermentation. 

 The comfort is great in every respect. 

 Some of my pigs and sheep have been six 

 w«eeks over my liquid manure-tank without 

 the slightest symptom of ill health, although 

 I feared it when I made the trial. G-yp- 

 sum is strown on tlie boards every morning. 

 Burned earth is an essential auxiliarily 

 to boarded floors. About a peck of gyp- 

 sum to ten bullocks is enough, sprinkled 

 every morning on the boards is highly 

 necessary and beneficial. Every manger 

 should have a large lump of rock salt, and 

 a water-trough always supplied; the ani- 

 mals will not drink more than what is 

 proper. The same remark applies to pigs 

 and sheep. 



There is a very powerful development 

 of the muscles on boards — so much so, that 

 in fattening pigs, not bred on the boards, I 

 have known some of them to get capped 

 hocks. It is surprising how quickly you 

 may fatten young pigs on these boards. 

 They find it inconvenient to run about, and 

 so divide their time between eating and 

 sleeping — a most agreeable operation for 

 the account-book. 



There can be no doubt the animals, are 

 perfectly healthy on these floors. Consid- 

 ering the confinement and heat, this rather 

 surprises me, especially with the pigs fed 

 entirely on meal ; for the effluvia from 

 under them certainly is powerful enough 

 to discolour the paint. 



Another question connected with the 



boards system is the fly question. Where 

 you have a plenty of food, warmth and 

 stock, you will have abundance of flics. 

 My bullocks could never lie down in the 

 day time, owing to their attacks ; and, of 

 course, the continued lifting of their feet 

 prevented fattening. By darkening tho 

 feeding-houses, I entirely removed this nu- 

 isance, and had the gratification of putting 

 my animals in a most profitable state of re- 

 pose ; for if you have ten millions of flies, 

 not one will bite in the dark. 



Mr. Mechi said at Hadleigh, " He had 

 all his animals on boards, and was ex- 

 tending the operation ; and lie assured the 

 society they would succeed, as he had done, 

 in making better manure, more manure, 

 and more meat, by having their animals on 

 boards, instead of putting them on straw 

 and removing that straw after it had been 

 worked into muck, and turning it over and 

 re-carting it after it had lost many of its 

 soluble properties. Instead of that, let 

 them take the pure excrement from the an- 

 imals, carry it on the soil, and plow it in, 

 and he was sure their crops so treated would 

 exceed those grov/n with the primest guano. 

 He should naturally be asked, what he did 

 with his straw ? He replied, " Eat it,'' 

 that wae^, he let the cattle eat it, and he 

 could keep four times as much stock. He 

 could assure them, that if they increased 

 their stock in proportion, taking care to add 

 something better to the straw, they would 

 get more manure, of a better quality, and 

 grow more grain. He thought, also, that 

 they did not manage their cattle well ; that 

 was, that they did not administer their food 

 in the best mode. He was convinced that 

 one-half the food administered in the usual 

 way, passed through the animal undigested. 

 This led to the consideration whether it 

 would pay farmers to administer a smaller 

 amount of food perfectly available to the 

 stomach of the animal. He must think 

 they were making a great mistake in giving 

 so much food to their animals, or so great 

 waste. A bullock would not put on more 

 than two pounds of meat per day, probably 

 not more than one, and the average, very 

 likely, would not be more than one and a 

 half; a stone per week, 10 lbs., would be 

 lOd. a day. If they gave that animal 2s. 

 worth of food, which was often done, he 

 could not pay for it. He might make ma- 

 nure in return for his food, but it was im- 

 possible that he could pay for more than a 



