Fatting Bullocks on Arable Farms. 
483 
could Lear testimony to the great comfort wliicli they seemed to 
enjoy, and the striking contrast they presented to the miserable 
beasts he had seen tortured on laths, through which the manure was 
constantly running, as well as a cold current of air, which robbed 
them of the vital warmth so uecessaiy to their well-doing. 
"With regard to the practice of cutting straw into chaff, it struck 
him forcibly that everything w^hich is new is not sound, and some 
things which arc old deserve reconsideration. To use straw to the 
best advantage the better portion of it should be eaten by the stock 
and the inferior part used as litter. The benefit thus gained would 
go far to counterbalance any disadvantages that might be supposed 
to arise from omitting to cut straw into chaff. 
He could s^Deak particularly of the excellence of the plan which 
Mr. Blundell had adopted of giving his cake, reduced to meal, with 
the roots, which are thus prevented from chilling the blood and de- 
priving the animal of the requisite heat.* 
* In this discussion an objection is made to cutting straw into chaff on the 
ground of the labour, and consequently the cost involved. But the fact must not 
be overlooked that this M ork is done at a slack time of year on all farms, parti- 
cularly on those light-land farms not requiring drainage, which are chiefly under 
the plough and grow large crops of straw. It is hard to put any price upon 
■work if the necessary alternative would be to send able-bodied men to the work- 
house. In foreign countries the sight of a small peasant proprietor making* 
improvements at any cost of labour rather than stand still in winter, brings forcibly 
under the Englishman's notice the weak side of our national system of agriculture, 
as conducted by tenants and hired labourers. — P. H. F. 
2 I 2 
