Breeding, Rearing, and Feeding Horses, Cattle, and Sheep. 47 
classes breeding would lower the price, and increase the numbers of lean out 
of all proportion to fat cattle. 
The same circumstancesi apply to sheep ; and the extent of feeding neces- 
sarily conforms to the demand for fat stock, and the ability of breeders on lower 
rented land to supply the store-stock required. Sheep when the sole stock, 
as is well known, are too thickly planted on good land to compare favourably 
with those on land where wider scope can be afforded for the same rent. 
A proportion of horses on most arable farms, such as 1 horse to every 10 
cattle or 40 sheep, is considered most profitable ; and in grazing horses, it is a 
known fact that they do badly if there is no mixture of either stock, and that 
^vithout any scarcity of grass. 
On a fine red tnrnip-loam the sheep run away from cattle as a source of 
profit ; while, on the other hand, old grass suitable for fattening cattle, or that 
having a strong tendency to cause rot and foot-rot in sheep, leaves no doubt as 
to the proper stocking. But, as a rule, I consider sheep most profitable. 
I have known farmers change from the breeding of horses to that of cattle 
and sheep, and the change has been considered profitable ; but it is rare indeed 
that horses are even the main stock of a farm. More have changed from cattle 
to sheep than vice versa, and both have in many cases been in consequence of 
a local peculiarity giving rise to some form of disease, rather than the first 
view of profit and loss. 
The Clydesdale, from its combining docility, durability, active movement, 
and power of heavy draught, raidcs the first among British breeds. A good 
hack is got from a thoroughbred sire and a dam of the Cleveland Galloway 
pony or lighter Clydesdale. 
In cattle, the most profitable for feeding in this district are the crosses 
between the Shorthorn ball and Ayrshire and Galloway cows ; but of a pure 
breed, the Shorthorn for the better and low-lying districts, the Galloway for 
almost any, and the Highlander for a very exposed one, is the general alloca- 
tion. The early maturity of the crosses, the symmetry, fat, and weight of the 
Galloways and Shorthorns, and the first-rate quality of the beef of the Gal- 
loway and Highlanders (the London Scot), are the notable characteristics. 
For crossing in Scotland, the Border Leicester gives the quickest fattening- 
powers, the Lincoln the most wool and largest carcase, while the Yorkshires 
blend the foregoing qualities. There is no doubt that the Do^vns and their 
crosses suit the chalky soils of southern England ; and the Leicesters, Cotswolds, 
Lincoln, and other Long-wools the Midlands. 
John McCulloch. 
33. Nettlecombe, Taunton. 
As a rule, good farming predominates in this district ; and where this is 
the case, the land carries a full complement of all sorts of stock; but where 
bad and indifferent farming exists, the laud of course does not produce what it 
should, and therefore less stock, and of an inferior description, is kept. 
At the present time the price of cart-horses is so high that I know of no 
circumstances which' would make the purchasing of them preferable to breed- 
ing. Where the farm contains a good deal of meadow and jiasture land of a 
good qualitj', and adapted for fattening purposes, and where the growing of 
roots is uncertain, it may be advisable to buy in store stock to meet the re- 
quirements of the farm ; also where the farm consists almost wholly of good 
marsh land, but generally the breeding what is required pays best. 
The circumstances which render the purchasing of lean sheep and fattening 
them more profitable than breeding, are where the farm has little or no 
pasture or meadow, and where the arable land produces good crops of roots, or 
