476 On Box-feeding with Linseed Compounds. 



tionably the best ; and by extendino^ flax culture, and applying 

 the seed conjointly with other substances raised on the farm to 

 box-feeding, the farmer will, I believe, be enabled to keep thrice 

 the number of cattle, and to fatten them quicker and cheaper 

 than in any other way, whilst he will at the same time secure a 

 proportionably large supply of the very best manure for the pur- 

 poses of his farm. 



Oil-cake has long been extensively used for cattle- feeding by 

 our English farmers, and on an average of the last four years 

 73,000 tons have been annually imported for this purpose.* The 

 largest portion of the oil- cake used in this country, however, is 

 obtained from the imported seed after the oil-pressers have ex- 

 tracted the oil : but in whichever way obtained, there can be no 

 doubt that the use of oil-cake for fattening cattle is highly advan- 

 tageous to the farmer ; and this alone, if other argument were 

 wanting, seems to indicate the expediency of resorting to home- 

 grown seed for a like purpose. If oil-cake, which is merely the 

 residuum, the husk and refuse of the seed after the oil has been 

 expressed, is found thus profitable, can we doubt that the seed 

 itself, before its fattening qualities are reduced by passing through 

 the pressing-mill, will be equally if not more so ? 



It may possibly be said that the seed is too rich, too full of 

 oleaginous matter, too fattening in short ; and that the cake being 

 less oily, less fattening, and more bulky, is not so likely to disagree 

 with or derange the health of the animals. Food may, no doubt, 

 be too rich for cattle, as well as for man ; and bulk is necessary as 

 well as nourishment in what is taken into the stomach ; but wher- 

 ever there is an excess of nourishing properties, how easy the re- 

 medy ! We have only to dilute by mixing other materials less 

 rich, less nourishing. In the present instance, ground linseed in 

 the shape of mucilage is to be mixed with other substances the 

 produce of the farm, namely — grass, clover hay, or pea and bean 

 haulm, cut into chaff, or the chaff of corn and flax, or barley and 

 pea and bean meal, or turnips, mangel-wurzel, carrots, cabbages 

 and potatoes boiled or steamed. These materials compounded 

 with the linseed, give bulk and substance as well as variety, and 

 thus become the medium for imparting the largest amount of 

 nourishment in a form most agreeable, most conducive to the ani- 

 mal's health, and best calculated to ensure its speedy fattening. 



On these views the system of box-feeding established at Tri- 

 mingham is founded. It combines shelter and comfort for the 

 cattle, and a sufficiency of the most nourishing description of food, 

 with the means of obtaining the largest quantity of the most fer- 

 tilizing manure. This system I will now endeavour to explain ; 



* See p. 443. 



