I 141]

ĩt is to be hoped the objection will be done away. We do not, however, recommend conſtant feeding with them in a boiled ſtate; half a feed, at leaſt, ſhould be given raw every day, for the purpoſe of keeping the belly of the animal open.

We cannot therefore preſs the cultivation of this valuable root too ſtrongly upon the minds of all concerned, as it will certainly lead to ad- vantages beyond what moſt people imagine. We have already faid, that they are well calculated either for finiſhing the feeding of cattle that have made fome progreſs upon turnips, or for carrying them on during the in- terval between the end of the turnips and the beginning of the graſs crops. They will alſo be found excellent for feeding work-horſes, and as an article of food for the young ſtock of horſes and cattle of every deſcription: they always eat them readily, and are found to grow and thrive better than when they are fed upon corn in the ufual way. This circumſtance is not only an encouragement to breed more extenſively than is at preſent done upon the arable farms, but will be a very great relief and advantage to the ſtore- farmers in the hilly and upland parts of the country. Their principal de- pendence for winter food, at preſent, is upon the imall quantity of coarſe ſpotted meadow-hay: a ſpecies of fodder, which nothing but the ſtrongeſt neceſſity can bring the cattle to eat; and which, though it does keep them alive, their growth is checked, and any flefh they may have acquired in ſummer, is loſt during the winter; and when the fpring arrives, they are mere ſkeletons.

By this means two-thirds of the ſummer is ſpent before they are again in any ſort of condition; no great quantity of fleſh can be acquired during the remaining part of the fſeaſon(very little progreſs is made in their Frcyeth) and when winter returns they again take a retrograde courſe.

n this way they hardly grow as much in five years as they would in two and an half, if they were well fed, and kept in a growing ſtate during the winter.

In place of this wretched ſyſtem of rearing cattle, if breeding-farmers were to cultivate a few acres of Yams, or any of the coarſe potatoes yearly (and there are few fituations where this may not be done with great advan- tage) and commence feeding their young ſtock with them as ſoon as the paſture becomes ſcanty, this food, in addition to the meadow-hay, would not only preſerve them in good condition, but would alſo keep them in a growing ſtate during the winter. The tender ſucculent herbage in the ſpring would then have a furprizing effect in ſwelling and increaſing their growth

It is truly furprizing what progreſs both young cattle and fheep make when managed in this way. The experiment has been frequently made by judicious breeders; and the reſult is, that both ſheep and cattle that are well fed through the winter, are of a larger ſize, and of more value