has the following entry: 25 Aug. 1694, sold the nine oxen at 527.; the money to be paid into the Exchequer within a month.'

"The price was therefore five guineas and a half each; and they were probably sold fat in London. Since that date, the size of oxen has doubtless increased very considerably, and the price has also advanced in at least a sixfold proportion."

The Reporter and his friend then venture out into the general subject of English cattle, and speak familiarly, if not prophanely, of the Leicestershire, or Bakewellian breed.

After laying down the law of good breeding, in a masterlike manner, we are favored with the following instructive information.-P. 118. "The Leicestershire cow, such as it is at present, will never breed a rival to the Herefordshire ox. The whole attention of the Leicestershire breeder has been directed to the improvement of his cow; and for the use of the grazier, he has made her an excellent animal. The Herefordshire breeder on the contrary, has sacrificed the qualities of the cow to those of the ox: he does not value his cow according to the price which the grazier would give for it, but in proportion as it possesses that form and character, which experience has taught him to be conducive to the excellence of the future ox. Hence the cow of Herefordshire is comparatively small, extremely delicate, and very feminine in its character."

Admirable doctrine! What an opportunity, this, for Mr. Knight (whose communication, we are told, in a note, this is) to exercise his talent at controversy. The present fashionable dictation among scientific breeders, is (or a few months ago was) that the female (throughout all nature) ought to be larger than the male; forasmuch as nothing of symmetry, strength, or power of great exertion, can be produced by any other means. any other means. Yet, according to the newer doctrine, (it would seem) here laid down, the Herefordshire ox-the most powerful of the Bovian race—is to be bred from a female comparatively small,-extremely delicate, and very feminine in its character."-In what light, airy, pleasant times we live!-when the spirit of opposition is the life, not only of politics, but of science!!

Let but a "modern philosopher" assert, no matter how absurd his assertion,--and he will have thousands to follow him-until another literary Charlatan asserts the opposite; when the credulous flock of followers are seen to move in

the

the contrary direction;-truth, which lies in the midway, being thus trodden underfoot,

How could Mr. K. imagine that "the whole attention of the Leicestershire breeder has been directed to the improvement of his cow." -When it is well known, to those who really know any thing of the principles of the Leicestershire breeders, that their main object was, is, and must be, that of producing males-bulls-of extraordinary excellence; as, on these, their profits principally depend. In doing this, it is true, they, as a natural consequence, have bred females of extraordinary beauty. As to oxen! the leading breeders never reared any, unless for shows.

Had I not understood that Mr. Knight has acquired a name among men of science, I should not have impeded my direct pursuit, by these animadversions.

"Fatting Cattle.-P. 73. "Grazing and feeding cattle are seldom pursued in Herefordshire, except for the purpose of provincial consumption, and that almost invariably confined to heifers (and cows. Smithfield, however, has often been supplied immediately from hence, with the fattest and most valuable oxen in the market; but from the impracticability of driving them so many miles in that condition without injury, it is much more usual to dispose of them at the Michaelmas fair in Hereford, when five or six years old in a thriving condition, to the graziers of Buckinghamshire and other adjacent counties, where they are prepared for the London markets.

"In fattening cows and heifers for provincial use, they are generally brought forwards by grass, and sometimes fattened with it altogether; in other cases, hay and turnips are added in stalls, and occasionally oil-cake."

DAIRY.-In the chapter, " Grass," we find the following remarks (apparently by the ostensible Reporter) on"the Dairy of Herefordshire."-P. 68, “Herefordshire has no pretensions to rank amongst the dairy counties. It is supplied from Wales with excellent butter in tubs, for winter use; and from Shropshire and Gloucestershire with cheese; for although very good cheese is made in various parts of this county, it has generally been confined to private consumption, including all the demands of the farm-house. Of late, the improved modes of other counties have been adopted with some success; and the vicinity of Bromyard produces cheese, which in the market of Hereford rivals the best of Shropshire in quality and price."

Yet,

Yet, here, I am again retarded in my progress, by the broad assertion of Mr. Knight,-or his admiring friend,--in the passage which succeeds the above,-"The general soil, however, of Herefordshire appears to be unfavourable to the making of cheese. Mr. Knight, with that accuracy and skill which he is known to possess on all subjects connected with agriculture" (!)" and natural history in general, has proved by experiments, that equal quantities of milk in Herefordshire and Cheshire, will produce unequal quantities of curd, highly to the advantage of Cheshire and further, that better cheese has been produced in that county, from milk, half of which had been previ ously skimmed, than is produced in this, from milk altogether unskimmed. The want therefore of complete success in this valuable branch of rural economy, is not solely to be attributed to a want of skill in our dairy-maids; and the cause of failure is rendered more difficult of dis covery, and consequently more difficult to be remedied, from an observation that the plants were nearly the same in the Herefordshire and Cheshire pastures, on which the above experiments were made: white clover abounded in each, with the crested dog-tail grass, and rye-grass mixed with others in small quantities,"

"Proved by experiments"! What description of experiments? How conducted? or how often repeated? and by whom! does not appear. It would require some years of attentive experience by well educated dairywomen, to prove the fact above asserted *.

SHEEP.-P. 120. "The provincial breed of sheep is termed the Ryeland; the district so named is in the vicinity of Ross, and often alluded to in the course of this survey; being particularly favourable to them from the dryness of the soil, and the sweetness of the herbage.

"They are small, white-faced, and hornless, the ewes weighing from nine to twelve and fourteen pounds the quarter; the wethers, or wedders, from twelve to sixteen and eighteen pounds. In symmetry of shape, and in the flavour of their meat, they are superior to most flocks in England; in the quality of their wool, they are wholly unrivalled. They lamb in February and March; but during winter, and particularly in time of lambing, the store flocks are generally confined by night in a covered building

* Let the reader wait to hear what Mr. DAVIS (a man of mature experience, in "all subjects connected with agriculture") has to say on this point,-in the district NORTH WILTSHIRE, ensuing,

building provincially termed a cot, in which they are sometimes fed with hay and barley straw, but much more frequently with peas-halm. Some breeders accustom them to the cot only in very severe weather, and in lambing time..

"The manure made from the peas-halm is excellent, and in large quantity; whilst the cotting materially contributes to the health of the animal, and the fineness of its fleece. The quantity shorn from each of the small original breed does not average more than two pounds, but the quality is such as almost to rival that imported from Spain. The price has often been as high as thirty-three shillings the stone of twelve pounds and a half untrinded, when coarse wool has brought but ten or twelve shillings. A cross has been made between the Rye-lands and the new Leicester sorts, to the advantage perhaps of the breeder, who is situated on good land, but certainly to the detriment of the wool.

"The preservation of the original fineness of this great staple commodity, or its improvement, are perhaps objects worthy of national attention

"A cross between the Rye-land and real Spanish seems the most probable mode of adding to the fineness and value of the wool, and amongst many spirited breeders who are now making the experiment, Colonel Scudamore of Kentchurch, sold the fleeces of a flock so crossed at forty shillings per stone, in the fair at Ross, in the course of last year. The first stage of the cross materially detracts from the beauty of the Rye-land's form: but by continued attention, this objection will probably be removed; and the flavour of the mutton is uninjured."

On this occasion, too, Mr. Knight steps forward to combat the Leicestershire breeders, and to appreciate their stock. I insert the following passage, without comment. It is merely Knight versus Bakewell,-"and his followers." -P. 123. "The quality of Mr. Bakewell's wool is inferior to most sorts in the island, nor does it appear that the quantity shorn from each is remarkably great; whilst, according to the modern system, the sheep being brought to market before it is two years old, the wool is of small value, if compared with that of the ground which the animal has occupied.

"The quantity of animal food, however, which is thus produced for the market is very considerable, but according to Mr. Knight's experience, it is far short of what the same weight or value of herbage would supply, if given as

formerly

formerly to the labouring ox or cow. A well-bred heifer of three years and a half old, after supplying the market with a calf, if moderately kept and fattened, will not weigh less than six hundred pounds when slaughtered. This weight is equal to that of six sheep of twenty-five pounds the quarter; and I am of opinion that four sheep of that weight cannot be brought to market at the same expense to the community as a single heifer. A very coarse and indifferent pasture will suffice for the heifer in the summer, and it will be fed with straw and a few turnips in the winter. The food of the large sheep is of a much more expensive kind; and the calf and hide of the one will be found an ample equivalent for the wool and skins of the others. My pasture only will not fatten the new Leicester, and I have always been able, in rearing cattle for stock, to give my crop of turnips to the Herefordshire cow and ox, with much greater advantages than to sheep of any kind; and I have not yet found a sheep of one or two years, which would fatten in the same number of weeks, with a heifer of that breed. It is said by the admirers of Mr. Bakewell's sheep, that they consume less food than any other breeds: but I observe, that they are always kept in pasture where they have the power of eating much; and I can safely attest, that those which I have fattened had remarkably good appetites*.'"

The Southdown breed is next compared with that of Herefordshire. Little however, is to be learnt from the discussion. The following period (by Mr. Knight) I copy, for my own satisfaction.-P. 125. The experience and opinions of some of my acquaintance who have made similar experiments, induce ine to think the South-down much inferior to the Rye-lands, or fine-wooled breed of Herefordshire, which, till lately, has but little attracted the public attention."

It would have been but civil in the writer to have told his readers to whom his favorite breed, the Rylanders, are. indebted for their present celebrity; if not for their existence. It is acknowledged by their greatest admirer, and patron, that the breed would probably have been lost,--nothing but its name would, now perhaps, have remained, had it not been for my representations.-See the RURAL ECONOMY

"These observations were obligingly communicated by Mr. Knight, in answer to queries submitted to him, on the occasion of making this Survey."