Breeding, Rearing, and Feeding Horses, Cattle, and Sheep. 103 
more cheerless spectacles could be contemplated than the appear- 
ance of a lot of good cross-bred cattle standing in the open air, 
amongst frost and snow, nibbling away at a handful of hay, with 
their four feet gfathered below them as if in a bonnet. This is 
not a very rare sight. Not many weeks ago^ in the Midland 
counties of England, I saw hundreds of cattle picking away at a 
little hay or straw, and standing ankle-deep in snow. Such treat- 
ment as this would do for Scotch Highland cattle or Black-faced 
sheep, but to extend it to improved Shorthorn crosses is simply 
ridiculous. By the way, before advocating universal attention to 
the selection of pure-bred bulls, I should have recommended the 
abolition of the indefensible practice of open-air feeding in 
winter. So long as farmers are foolish enough to winter their 
cross-bred cattle little, if any, better than a Highland farmer 
does his Black-faced sheep, it is immaterial what sort of bull 
is used. The stock from any sire are too good for such treat- 
ment. It cannot be that so many of the English and Irish 
farmers are ignorant of the fact that comfortable house-accom- 
modation is part food. They surely must know what has been 
so often laid before them in one form or other by high authorities, 
that when an animal is exposed to intense cold the bulk of the 
food is required to keep up the natural animal heat. Indeed, all the 
food supplied to exposed animals in severe weather is not capable 
of maintaining the natural temperature. Hence it is that cattle 
thus wintered, instead' of taking on flesh and fat, lose a deal of 
what they had previously accumulated. Owing to the radical 
nature of the farm-improvements, such as more buildings, &c., 
necessary to completely supersede the objectionable feeding system 
alluded to, the change must take some time to effect. But any one 
who has seen, as I have, the great benefits of house-feeding over 
open-air feeding in winter proved to demonstration, can have no 
doubt both as to the propriety and great necessity of making 
the change as speedily as possible. 
It is claimed as an advantage of the buying- in-store-stock 
system that you need only purchase what your supply of food, 
which is well known to vary in different years, can keep ; 
whereas if you have a large breeding stock, you occasionally 
must part with some of them at a sacrifice, or purchase food at 
exorbitant prices. Well, this is a point in favour of buying, but 
only one, and it is trivial compared with so many on the other 
side. A specially good judge of store stock frequently does well 
purchasing, feeding for a few months, and then selling, but that 
requires faculties which are not possessed by nearly every 
farmer, and, unfortunately, are not getting more common. From 
almost every point of view the weight of argument is in favour 
of more breeding where at all possible on the respective farms. 
