On  the  Construction  of  Farm- Buildings. 
24  J 
beasts  are  kept,  and  the  implements  for  the  cultivation  of  the  soil 
are  preserved  from  the  deteriorating  effect  of  the  weather,  it  next 
comes  in  course  to  notice  the  same  topics  relating  to  the  conve- 
niences of  the  farm-stead  in  which  the  green  crops  may  be,  by 
consumption  by  fattening  cattle,  converted  with  the  greatest  ad- 
vantage into  aliment  for  mankind,  and  in  which  the  refuse  of  the 
grain  crops  and  the  egesta  of  animals  may  be  best  appropriated  to 
means  of  restoring  exhausted  fertility,  and  of  increasing  the  natu- 
ral productive  powers  of  the  soil. 
In  passing  to  the  more  immediate  subject  of  the  present  section, 
it  may  not  perhaps  be  deemed  as  altogether  out  of  place  to  re- 
mark, that  recent  legislative  measures  will  render  every  improve- 
ment in  agriculture  of  increased  importance,  and,  to  those  most 
interested  in  the  pursuit,  can  any  branch  of  rural  economy  be  of 
more  consequence  than  that  above  alluded  to?  The  generally 
imperfect  management  of  fattening  stock,  and  the  negligent  pre- 
paration of  manure  so  prevalent  in  times  past,  cannot  enable  the 
husbandman  of  Britain  to  meet,  without  diminution  of  capital, 
the  unrestricted  competition  of  foreigners  in  the  British  market 
in  every  kind  of  produce  of  the  soil  which  he  will  henceforth  have 
to  encounter.  The  excrements  of  a few  half- fed  wintering  cattle, 
and  the  litter  of  an  open  yard  exposed  to  the  alternate  effects  of 
rain,  wind,  and  sunshine,  will  do  little  in  raising  such  grain  crops 
as  to  enable  the  British  farmer  to  maintain,  much  less  to  promote, 
a profitable  employment  of  his  capital  and  of  native  industry  in 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  Nor  will  the  estate  of  the  landed 
proprietor  be  supported  in  its  present  value  in  the  absence  of 
accommodation  for  the  fattening  of  cattle  with  the  greatest  eco- 
nomy, and  convenience  for  preparing  manure  without  waste  of  its 
fertilizing  properties. 
The  essential  conditions  on  which  the  fattening  of  cattle  can  be 
attained  with  the  greatest  economy  are,  warmth,  quietude,  whole- 
someness of  atmosphere,  and  cleanliness.  And  of  all  accommoda- 
tions that  have  probably  ever  been  invented  for  the  feeding  of  oxen, 
none  has  so  completely  answered  the  principal  object  of  converting 
the  vegetable  productions  of  the  earth  into  food  for  mankind,  in 
the  shape  of  flesh,  as  the  plan  of  feeding  in  boxes  or  loose  stalls, 
first  suggested  by  Mr.  John  Warnes  of  Trimingham  in  Norfolk  : 
nor  does  any  plan  more  completely  fulfil  a secondary,  but  scarcely 
less  important,  object — the  raising  manure  of  the  best  quality  with 
the  greatest  economy — than  the  accommodation  alluded  to.  There 
cannot  exist  in  the  mind  of  any  individual  who  may  have  wit- 
nessed the  feeding  of  cattle  in  boxes,  properly  carried  out,  a 
doubt  of  its  being  a most  effectual  mode  of  providing  due  shelter, 
perfect  freedom  from  molestation,  and  complete  comfort  to  the 
animals — all  conditions  most  essential  to  rapid  thriving:  nor  can 
VOL.  xr.  r 
