Breeding, Rearing, and Feeding Horses, Cattle, and Sheep. 13 
portion have sustained irremediable damage from pinching and starving 
during their first winter. Could we get the ear of the breeders, our con- 
stant counsel to them would be, " use better bulls," and " be kinder to your 
yearlings." 
Very important changes in the sheep-husbandry of Berwickshire have also 
taken place in my day. Forty-five years ago every lowland farm had its 
flock of Leicester ewes ; and now, with the exception of a very few kept for 
ram-breeding, there is not such a thing. About the time referred to, a cross- 
breed betwixt Cheviot ewe and Leicester ram was universally substituted for 
the pure Leicester. This change was due in part, and particularly when it 
was first adopted, to the fact that ewes of this cross were found to be hardier 
and more prolific than Leicesters ; but from the first it was due in part, and 
always the more so as years passed, to a change in the taste of our best 
customers — the miners and mechanics of the north of England. At the 
■earlier period named, the largest and fattest mutton pleased them best ; 
whereas now the article that is in demand is a carcase weighing about 20 lbs. 
per quarter, and with a large preponderance of lean flesh. For several years, 
sheep of the first cross betwixt Leicester and Cheviot, or Leicester and Black- 
faced, have been worth Id. per lb. more than those with two or three crosses 
of Leicester blood, and a consequent larger proportion of fat meat. Farmers, 
like other traders, have to consult the taste of their customers ; and hence 
their practice in sheep-breeding is not altogether left to their own choice. 
In southern England, the mutton of Downs and their crosses obtains a similar 
preference to that of the larger and fatter long-wooUed kinds. The most 
important change, however, has been in the earlier age at which nearly the 
whole of the sheep bred in this county are now sent to market. Formerly 
they were either disposed of in autumn, when about 18 months old, to 
be fattened in England, or kept on until two years old, and sold fat after a 
second winter's feeding on turnips. Since the practice of slicing turnips for 
the hoggets, and of giving cake or grain along with roots, was adopted, they 
have gone to market at from 12 to 15 months old. 
Like most Berwickshire farmers, I have always tried to breed as many cart- 
horses as would maintain my own stud in efiiciency ; but I am sorry to say 
that I find it increasingly difficult to accomplish this, although the great 
rise in the price of horses makes it more than ever desirable to do so. The 
difficulty arises 'from the want of good stallions. Of recent yeai's there has 
been a great falling oif both in the number and quality of the stallions that 
travel for hire in this county. The temptation to over-tax the j)rocreative 
power of such animals in the attempt to secure a large revenue from them is 
so great, that, as a rule, a very large proportion of the mares served by them 
are unfruitful. Besides the direct loss of money in the fees paid for such 
useless services, the disappointment is so vexatious, that many farmers have 
given up the attempt at horse-breeding altogether. The effectual remedy for 
this evil would be for a score or so of farmers in every neighbourhood to club 
together and keep a stallion for their own exclusive use. Until some step of 
this kind is taken, we shall fail to breed horses enough to supply our own 
wants, or to have them of the best quality. These remarks, however, have 
reference only to the breeding of horses for home-supply. There are other 
considerations, altogether, that deter men from going into horse-breeding as a 
regular source of fann revenue. In order to send to market an annual cast 
of 4-year-olds, you must have the same number of brood-mares, yearlings, 
2-year-olds, and 3-year-oWs, on hand the year round ; each of them, on the 
average, consuming as much food, requiring more accommodation and attend- 
ance, and involving far greater risk, than the same number of bullocks, or an 
equivalent number of sheep. As a rule, the occupiers of good arable land will 
always prefer the quick and safe returns from sheep and cattle, to the longer 
