Breeding, Rearing, and Feeding Horses, Cattle, and Sheep. 61 
neglected. I attribute that to the low prices of horses at that time ; and when 
the railway system was developed through the country, an idea was formed, 
which proved to be an erroneous one, that fewer horses would be required for 
"both town and country. The great increase of trade and wealth in the coxmtry 
is the prime cause of the demand for good horses of all classes just now. 
I know many farmers who are now breeding more horses than they did 
formerly ; but except a very few, who breed stock for show, I am not aware 
of many farmers having given up the breeding of cattle and sheep for horses. 
I am not aware of many extensive sheep-farmers having taken to cattle-rearing, 
or vice versa. I think the soil and climate are the first things to look to in 
the rearing of stock. Sheep-stock being more easily accumulated than horses 
or cattle, are more liable to fluctuation in the markets. I consider the Clydes- 
dale breed of horses the best ; and cross-bred cattle and sheep pay the farmer 
best in this part of the country. 
James Chalmers. 
48. Elfobd Pabk, Tamworth. 
I think that more horses, cattle, and sheep, might be profitably bred. 
Horse-breeding, as a particular or important branch of farming, is not much 
followed in this neighbourhood. A good many horses are bred, but in a 
desultory way. Outlying fields, rough pastures, and hiUs, are not features of 
this part of the county ; and horses (especially young ones) need room and 
shelter, and are often troublesome and dangerous to young stock. 
The principal breeders of horses near here are men who are obliged to keep 
more horses for certain purposes at certain seasons than are usually required, 
so that an extra mare or two help the work, and the foals pay for keep. I 
have no doubt that the late high prices of foals have stimulated breeding ; but 
not manj^ more are brought to market than formerly. 
The entire horses that travel about here are not good, and I think the diffi- 
culty of getting a good one hinders many farmers from breeding. I know of 
no one who has given up cattle- and sheep-breeding for horse-breeding. 
Where a farm consists of rich grass and not much arable land ; where the 
fields are too large to separate the stock into small or desirable numbers ; 
where the standing or steadings are not convenient for wintering stock, either 
in the fields or in the homestead, it is better to buy than breed stock. There 
is no doubt that the high price of store cattle, some two or three years ago, 
stimulated farmers to breed and rear. I have more than once asked the question 
■at a farmer's ordinary, and found that many were rearing twenty or thirty 
calves who had not done so for many years ; and I think that upon ordinary 
mixed, and particularly second-class farms, rearing may be added as a profitable 
branch. The drawbacks are extra trouble, labour being bad and dear. Diseases, 
such as " black leg," hoose, foot-and-mouth, pleuro, &c., are fatally prevalent 
in some districts, even under careful and liberal treatment. 
For some years I have bred and reared about thirty calves, with very 
■different success. The above complaints have killed from 10 to 15 per cent., 
•and in some seasons more. Another incentive to rearing cow-stock is to be 
found in the comparatively new trade of milk-selling. 
Many dairies have given up cheese-making, and now sell their milk to 
large towns or to cheese-factories ; and on many grazing farms, where the turf 
needed considerable help in cake or com, milk-selling is found more remu- 
nerative than feeding ; and as a result, breeding and rearing form a profitable 
and almost necessary part of the business. 
Pure-bred Shorthorn bulls are generally used. Breeding-flocks of sheep from 
2 to 15 scores are common about here, and have been for many years ; and they 
