162 
Early Fattening of Cattle, 
This letter from an experienced farmer in the North completes 
the subject of feeding. But a few words are required on shelter, 
and the building of the necessary sheds. Cattle cannot bear 
exposure. Sir John Sinclair, who introduced the Cheviot sheep 
into the north of Scotland, says of sheep and cattle in mountain 
districts, " For every pound of beef that can be produced in a 
hilly district, 3 lbs. of mutton can be obtained." Elsewhere the 
disparity is not so great ; still bullocks require an amount of 
shelter, first and last, which the well-clothed sheep can dispense 
with. The cost of shelter, probably, and the want of the necessary 
buildings on most farms, have diverted attention from the early 
feeding of young bullocks. The question of buildings, therefore, 
is of prime importance. It may seem somewhat out of place to 
recommend home-made and cheap buildings in the 'Journal' 
of a great and national Society, which must properly desire to 
encourage the best agricultural methods ; and it may be that 
the best built covered homesteads are the most economical in 
the long run. Still, in the absence of such buildings, a tenant 
may well consider whether he cannot erect sheds not unsuited 
to his purpose, and of a less costly description — such sheds, in 
fact, as a lease or covenants for the payment of their value at 
quitting may enable him to erect. 
1 have known farms in Surrey and Sussex with seven, eight, 
or even nine homesteads, and a barn or two at each. And some 
of these barns are now filled with calves and young fatting 
cattle, instead of corn, to the number of seven or eight in each 
large bay. When there is a wall the cost of shedding is reduced. 
If the entire shed has to be erected, the back and sides should 
be of oaken slabs, or, in some districts, they may be formed of 
the warmer materials, which will be presently referred to. The 
roof may be of poles, large enough to be once cut, and it must 
be securely thatched. Village carpenters are not much practised 
in the art of erecting cattle-sheds at the cheap rate that a 
21 years' lease requires. Such a shed must be put up quickly, 
and the materials must be such as the neighbourhood affords — 
slabs, unplaned poles, and straw, heather, " chips " (in a hoop- 
making district), branches, faggots, or furze-bushes. 
A friend of mine became a practical carpenter when thrown 
upon the world fifty years ago. Having risen in fortune 
above his former level — his father was among the best farmers 
in Sussex — he hired a farm for amusement near his native 
place, on a seven years' lease. Ten years since, I found him, 
with one old contemporary carpenter, engaged in the erection 
of some rough-and-ready farm-buildings. What he did for 
the money was surprising. He built an ample cart-shed for 
less than 5/., and a fowl-house and several detached sheds at 
