34 , Relative Profits to the Farmer from 
spring (in April or May), and after suckling their produce till Christmas, they 
may "be fattened off that winter. This system insures strong and healthy 
calves ; besides, little or no risk is run of introducing anj^ prevailing epidemic 
on to the l';iim, and the young stock arc much easier cairied on than hand- 
reared animals, as they never lose their condition, and arrive much sooner at 
maturity. 
There are some circumstances which render the purchase of lean sheep abso- 
lutely necessary, such as on a fann which may be termed entirely arable and 
under the four-course system. In this case very few breeding-sheep can be . 
kept, consequently, if the land is light, sheep must be bought to consume the 
turnips on the ground. " Eating on," as it is called, is so beneficial to chalk, 
gravel, or sandy land, that many instances have been known of farmers allowing 
their roots to be so consumed without any money-paj'ment, but stipulating 
that the sheep must consume at the same time on the land a certain amount 
of cotton- or linseed-cake. Where there is a projKirtion of permanent pasture, 
and the tenant is not bound to a particular rotation of crops, but can allow the 
land to remain three or four years in grass, and then, after applying lime, take 
crops of corn and roots alternately, a gi-eat many sheep may be bred and fed on 
a small acreage. 
Under no circumstances have I known the breeding and rearing of horses 
more profitable than the breeding and feeding of cattle and sheep. In my 
experience, sheei>breeding is more profitable than that of cattle. They can be 
bred and reared under almost any circumstances, on poor land as well as on 
good ; and, though the more personal attention that is given to them the better, 
they are more self-dependent than cattle. As a rule, they are less subject to 
disease, and less affected by any prevailing epidemic ; they are also less liable 
to the latter during transit to market, while they are not nearly so much affected 
by railway conveyance. 
I have known several farmers who, under favourable circumstances, reared 
ten or twelve colts every year, but gave up the practice entirely because it did 
not paj'. I do not know of any one who gave up cattle and sheep for horse- 
rearing. I know of some who, on mixed-tillage farms of a strong or good body 
of soil, have given up sheep, and, instead, buy in every year a large stock 
of lean cattle to feed. During summer the animals get artificial food, with 
grass ; and what remain unfattened off grass are finished during winter in the 
folds on roots and artificial food. Others I know who, on hilly and light-land 
farms, have given up keeping a greater stock of cattle than was necessary to 
convert the straw grown on the farm into manure, and have in consequence 
greatly increased their sheep-stock. The advocates of both systems of stocking 
are satisfied that they have changed for the better. 
The most useful agricultural horse in the north of England is the produce 
of the clean-legged Bakewell mare and the Clj'desdale sire; while almost 
every county in England has a breed of sheep which long experience has proved 
to be the best adapted to its soil, climate, and requirements, such as the 
" Border Leicester" on the generality of farms in Northumberland, and the 
" Cheviot " on the hills in the same county ; the large " Lincoln " in the mid- 
land counties, and the various breeds of " Downs" on the fine herbage of the 
chalks. The Shorthorn breed of cattle is found to thrive in every coimty. 
The Shorthorn is not only of itself the most valuable breed in existence, but 
it alone will cross with and improve all other breeds for fattening purposes. 
L. C. Chbisp. 
20. Cluny Castle, Aberdeen. 
Farmers could not, with profit, until the recent great rise in price, be ex- 
pected to breed horses, considering the great cxiicnse and risk which they run 
