374 



On increasing our Supplies of Animal Food. 



immediately connected with our subject, to which the Society has 

 called attention ; and this I shall do by presenting them in the 

 form of questions, and I put them in the order in which the 

 Society has dictated them. 



a. What are the sources from which the supplies of lean 

 stock are derived, and are such supplies on the increase or de- 

 crease ? To the latter part of this question I imagine the 

 proper answer to be that, excepting our altogether foreign sup- 

 plies, these sources will, no doubt, generally diminish in produc- 

 tiveness as the agriculture of their several localities improves. 

 There can be no doubt that this will be more and more true of 

 the more improvable districts, such as Herefordshire, &c, from 

 which we now draw the best of our lean supplies. When each 

 locality fattens its own stock, as in the case of an improved cul- 

 tivation it does, then any extra stock that each may require must, 

 excepting what is reared in uncultivated districts, be brought 

 from abroad. To the former part of the question we may 

 answer : — 



1. That it is an increasing practice, already prevalent in our 

 best counties, to fatten one's own stock, and not look to other 

 districts for lean cattle. But this is the subject of our second 

 question, and need not be discussed here. 



2. That Ireland has been a productive source of lean stock for 

 the English and Scottish farmer, though not much to his benefit, 

 if our own experience of the quality of Irish beasts is any guide ; 

 but that it is a source which, with an improved state of things 

 there, we may expect will gradually dry up. The following are 

 the only returns of importations of live stock from Ireland that 

 I have succeeded in obtaining, and as they include the period 

 of famine, they cannot be considered very instructive. If the 

 quarter ending the 5th of July, 1846 and 1847 respectively, be 

 any guide to a conclusion, it would appear that the supplies have 

 not fallen off as yet: — 



Imported 

 from Ireland during 

 Quarter ending 



Number of 



Oxen, Bulls, 

 Cows. 



Calves. 



Sheep and 

 Lambs. 



Swine. 



5 January, 1846 . 



32,883 



583 



32,576 



104,141 



5 April „ . 



14,859 



183 



11,121 



15284 I 



5 July „ . 



33,850 



1,923 



56,669 



124,762 



10 October „ . 



71,728 



2,909 



123,372 



89,941 



5 January, 1847 . 



66,046 



1,348 



68,095 



113,276 



5 April „ . 



28,672 



329 



25,701 



45,993 



5 July „ 



54,917 



4,423 



88,173 



14,750 



