u a I

TH 41 IH A Lj

394 On the Fattening of Small Welch Catile.[June

profit, and, at the ſame time, to improve his ſheep paſture. Accordingly, at the December Glouceſter fair, 1799, he pur- chaſed forty extremely ſmall and lean Welch cattle, chiefly heifers riſing three years old, at the very low price of, upon an average, two pounds each. Theſe cattle were kept through the remaining part of the winter, and rather in a thriving ſtate, upon cut ſtraw only. In the ſpring, they were turned, together with the ewes and lambs, into the rye graſs paſture, at the rate of one beaſt to about three acres of land, and it was found that the paſture was effedtually prevented from running to bent ar.d ſeed, and was kept in a fate moſt palatable and nutritious to the ſheep, and the catile, though they were eating only the long graſs, were yet fattenîng with rapidity. This was all clear gain to the farmer, and of courſe to the public likewiſe. To- wards the end of ſummer, theſe cattle were completed in, the aftergraſs of the water meadows,(which are here to be ſeen in great perfe&ion), and were ſold to neighbouring butchers on terms extremely profitable to the feeder. In the month of Oc=- tober, fifteen of theſe ſmall beaſts were fold, in one lot, for more than nine pounds each: and in the two following months, the remainder, excepting one that died, were diſpoſed of ata profit too great to be made public, at this time eſpecially, when every induſtrious farmer is ſo undeſervedly expoſed to the envious and malignant aſſaults of every claſs of men. Such a pratice as this, ſurely, is well worthy of the imitation of every huſbandman who has it in his power to adopt it, and with this view only have I mentioned it; and the proſperous exeftions of ſuch a man as the above, ought rather to excite a general ad- miration and gratitude, than the unmanly feelings of jealouſy or envy.

The perſon that I am here ſpeaking of is not of the ſame opi- nion with one of your correſpondents who ſo decidedly prefers the labour of the horſe in huſbandry, to chat of the ox. When I aſked this farmer if he kept oxen?“ Yes,” ſays he,“ if I did not, T ſhould ſcarcely be able to keep myſelf.’ Indeed, his working oxen, which are about forty in number, are kept at a very trifling éxpence; during winter, although almoſt daily in harneſs, they never taſte either corn or hay, but are fed entirely and kept in good condition, on cut oat or barley raw, and in ſummer they are turned into ſuch paſtures as are coarſe or unſafe for ſheep.— ‘This cutting of ſtraw the farmer efteems a very profitable pradtice, and’ is efle&ted at the low rate of 12 ſhillings a week, which is paid to three girls, two of which are employed in turning, and the other in feeding the chaff-cutting-machine. Thefſz three girls never fail to cut a ſufficient quantity of chaff to ſupply forty oxen, and every particle ofthe ſtraw is thus turned to the beſt account. To the queſtions which 1 propoſcd reſpeéting the comparative ipecd of a team of horſes and one of oxen, the anſwer which I here