JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 
OF ENGLAND. 
COVERED CATTLE YARDS. 
When, in the year 1865, I contributed to the Journal a paper 
on Covered Cattle Yards, their number in the country was 
few, and their utility by the vast majority of agriculturists held 
to be very doubtful — indeed, at that time the matter had taken 
so little hold on the agricultural mind, and was fraught with so 
much misconception, that, had a plebiscite been taken for or 
against their use, those old enough to remember the set of 
current opinion will have little doubt as to what the nature of the 
verdict would Lave been. 
But all that is changed now, and within the last quarter of 
a century few matters of agricultural practice can be pointed to 
in which so radical a change of opinion has taken place — -the 
volte face comprising alike the landlord, the tenant, the practical 
man, and the theorist. 
The credit of originating Covered Yards is unquestionably 
due to the sagacity of a few enterprising landowners ; but the 
hundreds of such yards that now exist in the country go to 
show that the apathy of the tenant with respect to them has 
long been thrown aside, whilst a thorough appreciation of their 
usefulness has taken its place, with a demand, both great and 
widespread, for their erection. 
I had much difficulty in carrying the tenant with me in the 
first yard I roofed over, but now, in letting a farm, almost the 
first thing asked is, " Will you cover the yards ? " And doubtless 
, VOL. I. t. s.— 3 H 
