Farming of South Wales. 



161 



stock fed on them. But provided there are, unfortunately, no 

 buildings, that only increases the necessity of growing turnips. If 

 cattle cannot be warmly kept they must be well fed, or they will 

 make no progress, as is often the case now throughout the winter. 

 Turnips may be thrown on a pasture, and the young stock will 

 thrive well there. Convenient farm- buildings would much im- 

 prove the grass lands of the country. Many meadows are now 

 poached and puddled, to their great detriment, throughout the 

 winter ; and by the cattle continually gnawing every young blade 

 of grass the moment it appears, the spring feed is made so late 

 ■ — backwarder than in England. In the selection of breeding- 

 stock it should be remembered that a bull ought to possess other 

 qualities as well as that of a sure stock-getter ; and that although 

 it is very desirable for a cow to be a good milker, there are other 

 most important characteristics to be considered. By endeavour- 

 ing to remedy those points where the breed is naturally deficient, 

 the Pembroke cattle will, in an eminent degree, display the 

 valuable combination of milking and feeding qualities. Giving 

 the young stock proper exercise, warmth, and nourishing food, will 

 soon show that they are not such slow feeders at an early age as is 

 generally supposed. 



Sheep when very young may be successfully house-fed on 

 turnips and hay, and of course the addition of oil-cake and corn 

 will greatly assist. All long-woolled lambs are best shorn ; 

 and those that are intended for the house should be taken in 

 about October, separated into small lots, and kept clean and 

 well ventilated. From March to May, when good mutton is 

 generally scarce, house- fed sheep will sell with profit. Sheep 

 will not progress so rapidly when exposed to the incessant rains 

 of the winter, neither will they bear in this climate the hard 

 folding that is practised in England. The farmer of the enclosed 

 lands might gradually supplant his present mixed bred ewes with 

 good hardy Downs, and advantageously cross them with a Leices- 

 ter or Cotswold ram. The produce would be admirably adapted 

 for early feeding; and there is ample opportunity to purchase 

 Downs from those gentlemen and farmers who, with much trouble 

 and expense, have imported from England flocks of the very best 

 description. Nothing can exceed the profit of selling all stock 

 reared on the farm, fat. Thus a gentleman and practical farmer, 

 whose occupation rests upon a barren tract of the Pembroke coal 

 measures, stall-feeds all his cattle at two years old ; his sheep 

 (which are house-fed) are sold at thirteen or fourteen months, and 

 pigs at six or nine months old. No artificial food is consumed ; 

 the stock is the ordinary produce of the country, yet the amount 

 of meat and dairy produce that is returned on a small invested 

 capital is astonishing. It will be replied to this, that the markets - 



VOL. x. M 



