ON THE BREEDING OF CATTLE. 
585 
Thus each individual of that lot had in its fodder 5 oz. of salt 
every day, which appears to be a sufficient quantity for the pur- 
poses of digestion, &c . — Annalen de Chemie, May , 1847. 
It is from such experiments as the above that we are to look 
for useful practical information. The conclusions which are arrived 
at from actual weight or measurement are such as to strike every 
one, and can scarcely admit of contradiction. A few years ago 
farmers were very strongly recommended to use large quantities 
of salt amongst the food supplied to their cattle. If any reliance 
is to be placed on the above experiment, it is unnecessary to do 
so, as Nature has herself furnished a sufficient supply. As we 
have no reason for thinking that the farm on which this experi- 
ment was tried was at all peculiar in this respect, we may con- 
clude that the addition of salt to the food of our cattle is unneces- 
sary. Liebig is of opinion that an excess of salt is injurious to 
the digestive organs of all herbivorous animals. On the other 
hand, it is only right to remark, that the writer is acquainted with 
a very extensive farmer who has, for several years, regularly sup- 
plied his sheep with salt mixed in their food. 
Farmer's Magazine for Sept. 
ON THE BREEDING OF CATTLE. 
[From “The Farmer’s Herald.”] 
The higher breed the parent stock is, independent of being 
more valuable in itself, the more valuable must be the stock it 
produces ; for the better breed an animal is, as a general conse- 
quence, it will be better shaped, and the better shaped it is, the 
less food will be required to keep it in condition. I would venture 
to add, that it would thrive better upon bad food than any cross- 
bred description you can find, however hardy at first sight the 
rough-looking animals may appear to be. 
That which lies at the foundation of the improvement of every 
stock, or the successful management of it, is the fact — the common 
but too much neglected maxim — that “ like produces like this 
is the governing law in every portion of animated nature ; there 
is not a deviation from it in the vegetable world. 
Let it be supposed that the cattle of a certain farmer have some 
excellent qualities about them, but there is a defect which lessens 
their value, and which he is anxious to remove. He remembers 
that “ like produces like,” and he looks about for a bull that p6s- 
