58 
Relative Profits to the Farmer from 
wise home-bred cattle will be found to be easier fed, and make a better return 
to the farmer. 
On some farms young sheep do not do well ; on wet heavy clays, they are 
subject to foot-rot and dropsy ; on exposed land with hard cold subsoil they 
are apt to pine and die of consumption ; on old pastures where there are coarse 
grasses, braxey and other inflammatory diseases (which young sheep are 
subject to) i^revail amongst them more or less. Under these circumstances it 
would be mure profitable for the farmer to buy in old sheep to feed-off his 
roots ; but wherever it can be done, to breed and feed what the farm can hold 
is the most jjiofitable system the faimer can adof)t. 
On cold marshy soil, where cattle and sheep cannot be reared, the breeding 
of horses is more profitable, but not otherwise. 
In my experience I have found that, where the land is dry enough to admit of 
sheeiJ eating the roots off in winter, sheep will pay the farmer better than cattle ; 
but at the same time, as many cattle should be kept and fed as will make the 
straw and litter into good manure. This can be done by drawing as many 
roots as they require, the sheep feeding-off what is left ; but on clay and heavy 
soils cattle will pay best. 
I do not know of any person who has given up extensive breeding of horses 
and taken to breeding cattle and sheep alone. Of late years there have not 
been so many horses bred by the farmers as formerly, but now when the price 
is so high I have no doubt they will breed more, especially for their own use. 
1 do not know of any farmer having given up cattle and sheep breeding largely 
and turned to horse rearing as yielding a better return. 
The breed of agricultural horses best adapted for this part of the country, 
and, indeed, for the United Kingdom, is the Clydesdale bree(J, both fordocihty 
and durability. The Shorthorn breed of cattle has no equal for early ma- 
turity, symmetry, fat, and weight ; they can be kept with more profit to the 
farmer than any other cattle. Of course, on the cold east coast of Scotland and 
the Highlands, the polled and West Highland cattle are more suitable and 
profitable to the farmer ; but in England, Ireland, and south of Scotland, the 
Shorthorn will be found the most profitable. 
I consider the Leicester sheep, as a pure-bred animal, to be the best for early 
maturity, symmetry, fat, and weight ; the Shropshire and Oxford Downs are 
also very symmetrical, easily fattened, and good weights ; but on difl'erent 
districts and farms the difl'erent breeds of sheep found upon them are often the 
best and most profitable for the farmer. In this district very few sheep are 
bred ; the farmers buy Hampshire Downs to feed-off their roots. They are 
large hardy sheep, and are said to pay better than any others. 
Henry Tait. 
44. St. John's Wells, Aberdeenshire. 
Breeding nearly as many cattle as can be fed-off on an extensive farm 
involves no ordinary amount of labour, skill, and attention at all seasons; and 
after all, it can only be jirosccuted successfully in sheltered situations and with 
a first-class stock, for it is an established fact that brecduig secondary animals 
is always a losing concern ; whereas feeding may be carried on to advantage 
on tlie largest and most exposed farms with greater profit and infinitely less 
trouble and risk. 
For several years one-half of the stock fed-off on this farm were bred upon 
it, till pleuro-pneumonia broke out in the herd about five years ago, which proved 
exceedingly ruinous amongst cows, calves, and yearlings ; since that time 1 have 
merely kept as many cows as will supply the modicum of milk for domestic 
