Report on some featxircs of Scottish Agriculture. 
20;") 
and late c;rass it would be almost impossible to carry on the 
stock In a thrivino; condition. No cattle are sold off g^rass, as 
Mr. M'Combie's experience shows that beasts do not pay unless 
they get at least two months' turnip feeding. The interval 
between the failure of the seeds and the maturing of the early 
turnips is therefore a critical period ; and there can be little 
doubt that Mr. M'Combie's success as a grazier is, to a great 
extent, due to the manner in which he has kept his cattle supplied 
with nutritious food at this time of the year. 
Part of the cattle are sent to the old pastures in the middle or 
end of July, and by the middle of August some of the best are 
put in the straw-yards, and receive clover, tares, &c. ; thus 
reducing the number on the pastures, and giving more chance to 
those that remain, by reserving the second bite of the early- 
fed first-year's seeds until that time. As the seeds contain plenty 
of red clover, they form a most valuable food, and enable cattle 
to be kept on in thriving condition until the turnips are ready. 
The forward bullocks are tied up very early ; and, at the time of 
my first visit to Tillyfour (August 30th), no less than 125 beasts 
were under cover. Sixty of these were three-year-old bullocks, 
in straw-yards, getting food consisting of tares (three-fourths 
ripe), and clover, mixed with oats, white peas and beans, and 3 lbs. 
of linseed cake each per diem. In about a week's time they 
would be entirely on turnips and cake with straw. They were 
in good condition when bought from the Morayshire straw- 
yards, where they had got some of the finest swedes grown in 
Scotland, and they had been kept during the summer on capital 
grass in Aberdeenshire, so that they were in high condition when 
turned in. By giving them as many turnips as they could eat, it 
was expected to turn most of them off quite " ripe," without any 
addition to their allowance of cake, by the first or second week 
in October. 
Tlie remaining sixty-five — the largest and bestof Mr. M'Combie's 
feeding stock — were intended for the Islington Christmas market, 
Liverpool, and Edinburgh. At the end of August they were 
feeding on yellow turnips, remarkably well matured for so early 
a period in the season — and such a season ! — with a proportion 
of partially ripened tares, but without cake or corn. Cake is 
never given to "commercial beasts" until within six weeks of 
the date when they are destined to go to market, when they get 
from 3 to 4 lbs. per day to give them the " last dip " when neces- 
sary. A great many of the beasts sent to London by Mr. 
M'Comble never taste cake or corn, but only those pushed early 
to market, and the sluggish feeders amongst the lots that come 
afterwards. Indeed some of those sent to the Christmas market 
are not unfrequently considered too fat by certain butchers. 
