24 
Relative Profits to the Farmer from 
displacing a number of horses on most farms, yet the labour of the residue 
has not decreased. On dairy-farms, and others with a fair proportion of 
secondary grass land, the breeding of a good class of draught-horses is now 
one of the most profitable branches of the farmers' occupation. Good foals 
will now readily make AOl. each. With us the great bar to improvement is f 
the want of good stallions. 
Cattle-breeding would not pay on the fine feeding-pastures of the midland 
counties. It is well known to practical graziers, that using their best feeding- 
grounds for the growth of young stock would deteriorate from their value, 
and in the course of a few years reduce them to ordinary store-pastures. A 
self-supporting farm, that is, one adapted both to breeding and feeding, is now 
the most profitable, as it brings the profits of both breeder and feeder into 
the hands of the same individual. Another point of great importance is 
immunity of risk from imported diseases. A farm sjjecially adapted for 
breeding and feeding requires a combination of circumstances rarely to be 
met with. It is essential that there should be a fair proportion of tillage-land 
for the growth of straw and roots ; a good breadth of store-pastures, and some 
fine grazing-land. I think every dairy-farm should breed and rear a suffi- 
cient number to keep up its stock. The high price of beef is inducing farmers 
to use a greater quantity of artificial food. Improved breed, and high feeding 
from birth, insure early maturity. On many farms with no feeding-land a 
large weight of beef is being produced, and very few lean old bullocks are seen 
in the fairs and markets. 
On large tillage-farms, where the soil and climate are suitable to the growth 
of roots, except under exceptional circumstances, a sufficient number of sheep 
cannot profitably be bred on the farm to consume the root-crops. There 
must either be a considerable area of permanent pasture attached to the farm, 
or a succession of forage crops provided, as is generally practised in the 
southern counties of England. 
The breeding of hacks and hunters is of too speculative a character to be 
indulged in to any extent by ordinary farmers. It requires a man of great 
judgment and experience to succeed. 
Taking the ordinary stock of the farm for the purpose of breeding and 
feeding, I think, just now, sheep are to be preferred to cattle. Dairying, how- 
ever, is more profitable than either; though much is dependent on local 
circumstances. 
In my locality the breeding of hacks and hunters is declining, whilst that 
of heavy-draught horses is on the increase ; but not to such an extent as to 
materially interfere with the breeding of cattle and sheep. Many colts are 
grazed on the rich alluvial valleys of Derbyshire. There are no farmers in the 
district who devote their attention exclusively to the breeding and rearing of 
horses. ^ 
Owing to the difficulties of the labour question, particularly that of obtain- 
ing milkers, I know several farmers, both in Derbyshire and Cheshire, who 
are driven from dairying to breeding and feeding cattle and sheep ; though 
both soil and climate are better adapted for dairying than any other system. 
The kind of draught-horses most popular in these parts is the lethargic, 
hairj'-legged descendant of the old English cart-horse, with his upright 
shoulder, whose snail-like pace ill accords with the requirements of the age. 
I prefer the improved Clydesdale, as being the hcau ideal of a cart-horse. A 
few good stallions of that breed introduced into this county would in a few 
years greatly add to the value of the heavy horses of this district. 
The Yorkshire Shorthorn, or home-bred, is the ])revailing breed of cattle 
here. They are being rapidly improved by a cross with the pedigree Short- 
horn. For the double purpose of producing milk and meat they cannot be 
excelled, and are well adapted to surrounding circumstances. 
