28 
Relative Profits to the Farmer from 
On arable farms, in regular rotation as practised in Scotland, sheep exclu- 
sively are not suitable stock, nor will they be found at all equal to well-bred 
cattle as a source of profit. On a purely grazing farm, sheep will certainly 
pay better tlian any description of cattle will. And on farms where a 
moderate extent of pasture land is held in connection with arable land, sheep 
will also pay well, and here a farmer may also breed and fatten his own sheep. 
But he must not debit his cattle-stock with all the extra cost of maintenance 
and care, compared with that of the sheep-stock ; because with a sheep-stock 
alone the fertility of his farm could not be maintained without much more 
heavy outlays in manures than would be required with a well-managed 
cattle-stock. 
I consider a moderately-sized Clydesdale horse by far the most suitable for 
general farm purposes of any horse known in the nortli of Scotland, whether 
estimated by his docility and durability, or by his action, style, and appear- 
ance, or even by his cost of maintenance. 
In cattle, I would say that for early maturity, symmetry, fat, and weight, 
nothing will, in my opinion, come up to the cross by a Shorthorn bull and a 
Blackpolled cow ; and if these characteristics are to be looked for in any pure 
breed, I would say they will be most readily found in the Shorthorn. 
James Mollisos. 
16, Weston Park, Shipston-on-Stour. ' 
Well-managed farms, whether devoted to breeding or feeding, in England 
or Scotland, very generally carry considerably more live stock than the 
average of their district, and demonstrate what extra capital and enterprise 
can still accomplish in this important matter. In most localities the animals 
of the farm, and especially the cattle, sheep, and pigs, might profitably be 
bred and kept in larger jiroportion to the acre by selecting varieties coming to 
earlier maturity, and making the best use of the lood supplied to them by 
keeping the lambs, calves, and yearlings more liberally ; by using more con- 
centrated and jiurchasL'd ibods ; and by economising fodder and roots, by chalf- 
cutting and pulping. 
Local circumstances, the taste of the breeders, and the natural disposition 
to do what is done successfully by their neighbours, liave made certain locali- 
ties the strongholds of particular breeds of horses : Kenfrew, Dumbarton, and 
Lanark produce the biggest and most powerful Clydesdales ; Cambridge and 
Lincolnshire have long been equally famous for their jX)nderous dra}--teams; 
Norfolk and Sufi'olk stand pre-eminent for trotting-horses ; the Yorkshire 
Eidings still produce many of the most handsome and stylish carriag«-horses. 
Throughout the midland counties of England not many horses of the 
lighter descriptions are bred. For many years the good returns from cattle 
and sheep have seriously discouraged this department of horse-breeding. The 
midland counties have no special breed of cai t-horses ; the best of them may 
be described as intermediate between the active, clean-legged, stout, serviceable 
Welsh and Herefordshire liorse, and the heavier, hairy-limbed, slower di-ay- 
horse of Leicester or Cambridgeshire. Good brood-mares are scarce. Stallions, 
although sufiiciently numerous, generally lack size, quality, and action, and 
receive inadequate encouragement from the usual service fee of 20s. per mare. 
The Duke of Marlborough at lUenheini, Sir G. \\. Philips at Weston Park, 
Warwickshire, adopting the i)lan j)ursued at Her Majesty's Shaw Farm at 
Windsor, have brought south a succession of good Clydesdale horses, which 
have mixed well with the slow, heavy, rather rough mares of tne country, and 
considerably improved tlie action, style, and constitution of the breed. 
