On the Feeding of Stock. 
233 
What light then do those instances of feeding throw upon th;' 
present state of the meat market ? 
One great change in the aspect of the present time, is, that 
whereas of old the bread consumer had to pay in part for tlie 
supply furnished to the consumer of meat, now, each kind of 
produce must in the main defray its cown cost of production. 
The old-fashioned farmer was determined, at all events, to get a 
good crop of wheat to pay his rent with. To this end he must 
have a large heap pf rich manure ; and to supply this, a yard 
well filled with well-gorged fatting stock ; he did not keep 
accounts ; he could hardly tell, even approximately, how much 
he sacrificed in feeding each beast, or the amount of manure 
which it left him ; and the only conclusion which he anived at, 
if money ran short at the end of the year, was, that wheat could 
not be grown under — s. per bushel. 
But now matters are changed ; faith in the wheat crop is 
departed, since it has appeared, that of all our products, this 
least responds in price to the variations of the home supply. 
A new alternative for the large manure heap has arisen in 
guano and superphosphate, which, if applied to soils rich in 
minerals, and to crops which store rather than waste organic 
substances, will open a safer course than wasteful cattle-feeding. 
Indirectly, the railroads which diffuse over a larger area than 
formerly the straw manure made in our increasing towns con- 
tribute to check home production of manure at any cost. In 
the farmer's mind, the dim suspicion of loss by feeding has 
assumed a somewhat better defined outline, though its propor- 
tions are still very ill-determined. The return, if expected, as 
of old, from wheat, is at least a lottery. The risks from disease 
are chronic, not so much regarded as occasional and mysterious 
visitations of Providence, but as an abiding evil, arising more 
probably from want of due precautions in the transmission of 
our supplies of store-stock, than from the ordinary action of 
atmospheric influences on the more delicate constitutions of our 
improved breeds. 
Under these circumstances, a prudent man will not risk money 
on cattle-feeding for the purpose of growing wheat. If he is 
bent on making manure, his object will possibly be, that the 
corn and green food consumed may go to increase his next root, 
rather than his corn crop ; in other words, the production of 
Cr. £. s. d. 
8 beasts sold at 22Z. 10s. each 180 0 0 
Loss on 8 beasts at 8?. 15s. each 70 6 8 
£250 6 8 
The manure made, amounting to 165 loads, was applied to 11 acres of laud, at the 
rate of 15 loads per acre. 
