Mode of Rearing Cattle in Spain. a7 
management of the man underwhosecaretheyare. Andthus 
it is only when there is abundance of food in the fields that 
they are not supplied with it in their stalls. The cattle 
thus brought up are, of course, many fewer in number than 
under the first detailed system ; they suffer fewer privations 
and are much finer looking; but most ofthe cattle in Spain 
ave born under the wilder system of perpetual open air pas- 
ture. I think that the second system is brought to most 
perfection in the provinces in Gallicia and the Asturias. 
There they are also housed carefully during the heats of 
summer so as to avoid distress from flies and insects. The 
cattle are cleaned carefully, and groomed; and are also 
clothed during the rigourous nights of cold winter. They 
are more prolific than in Andalusia; their milk is more 
abundant and nourishing, and their flesh is esteemed even 
in England, and at Madrid.* 
Experiments made occasionally to cross the Spanish 
breed of cattle with the Durham, have not hitherto been 
successful. But, in my opinion, improvements in obtaining 
a variety of breeds of cattle are greatly to be desired. 
Rinderpest in Spain—The dreadful cattle plague which 
is ravaging England and Germany has not attacked the 
large herds of these animals in Spain. It never has done 
so in its present rinderpest form, for on consulting the nu- 
merous essays of our old Spanish veterinary surgeons, we 
find that though intimately acquainted with all the Spanish 
cattle diseases, they do not either directly or indirectly tell 
of it, showing that they did not know it; but our modern 
veterinary authors have given good translations from Ger- 
man and Russian medical works on the subject, therefore, 
we quite understand what it is, and can safely assert that 
the rinderpest has never yet been seen in any part of the 
Iberian peninsula. The cattle epidemics, which have raged 
sometime from 1709 till now, have all assumed quite a dif- 
ferent character, and the absence of the present cattle 
plague from Spain is thus a most interesting subject and 
question,—why has it never visited us? 
I fully believe that the chief reason is, that we rarely, 
and in very small numbers, import any foreign cattle into 
Spain. There is comparatively little beef eaten through- 
out the country; moreis produced than isconsumed. Our 
exportation, especially from the north and Gallicia, is con- 
siderable, and in truth, our cattle importation is zz/. The 
No “artificial” food, such as pelea roots or oil-cakes, is ever 
given to cattle in Spain. 
NEW SERIES.—VOL. I. A A 
