and increase the distance, and they come quite fresh out of the trucks at London. What can an owner of cattle expect but that some will go down if he take his cattle six, eight, or ten miles without their ever having left the stall for five or eight months before, and put them on to rail? Many hundreds of good oxen have been lost in this way, or crushed and bruised. Cattle when tied up are kept in an unnatural state; they often take founder when at the stall as a consequence, and sometimes paralysis; but such moderate exercise as I have described tends to bring them back to their natural state. I have often been asked the question by those who had seen my Christmas market cattle"How is it that your beasts are so good upon their legs compared with others?" The first day after the cattle are put out for four hours they will not look so well, and will return to the stalls very much fatigued; but on the second and third days of their exercise they will recover their wonted appearance. They will walk eight or ten miles in a morning and go fresh into the truck, and on reaching their destination will come out and stand well up in the market.

Founder generally yields to bleeding and two or three doses of salts with sulphur and ginger; I never saw this treatment fail. Paralysis is a more serious matter: in that case the firing-iron must be applied, and after the most skilful treatment the results are often very unsatisfactory. Cattle of all ages that are confined are liable to paralysis of the hind quarters; the complaint, however, is most prevalent among young bulls, and although removed, they generally lose from six to twelve months' growth. Cattle that have been confined to the stall, and even straw-yard cattle, are utterly unfit for the road, on account of the softness of their hoofs, and when put to it at once, are very apt to take paralysis if not carefully prepared by previous exercise. A certain season of the year is more especially to be guarded against-viz., from the middle of

March to the middle of May. Cattle that have been two weeks at grass may, however, be safely droved.

Every one who has been in the cattle trade will recollect the losses he has sustained in spring, in the transit of cattle, by the animals throwing their hoofs; and we can all remember how often we have seen our beasts, especially in dry warm weather in spring, lying on the roads, and how we had to cart them home or to the nearest slaughtering shop. If there be a separation of the hoof at the top from the skin, and if a white frothy substance oozes out at this break, it is a sure sign that irreparable injury has been done. The beast will pine on for six months, and at last throw the old hoof when a new one has grown up. This is a more teasing case to the owner than when the hoof is thrown at once. The animal should be slaughtered immediately, if at all in condition, as it will not only lose condition every day till the hoof comes off, but be a bad driver ever after. Five or six miles of bad driving at this season is enough to do the whole business. If cattle should cast their hoofs, or even one hoof, suddenly, if at all in condition, they should also be slaughtered without delay, as they will pine for six months and be a daily grievance to the owner. If it be a young or valuable breeding animal, however, it should be bled, and get two or three doses of cooling medicine to remove the inflammation; then soiled in a loose-box, and his feet well bound up with tow and tar. If animals are not slaughtered, I would recommend soiling in all cases, if possible. But "prevention is better than cure;" and all this can be avoided if we will only take proper precautions. I shall state the method I adopt in my practice, and I have paid dearly for my experience. I generally buy a good many beasts in spring in Morayshire, and sometimes winter a lot or two there. I was the first that rented turnips in Morayshire from this county. I took 22 acres of Swedish turnips from Mr Charles Kay, then at Earnside,

near Forres, for £5, 5s. per acre. There was a premium given the same year for the best field of turnips in Morayshire. When the judges came to inspect Mr Kay's turnips he bade them choose any part of the field of 22 acres they liked. His turnips were found to be 32 tons per Scotch acre (I believe it was the Scotch acre); but Mr Harris, Earnhill, gained the prize, his turnips being 36 tons per acre. A little money could be made in those days; and I rented turnips in Morayshire for seven years. But they gradually advanced in price; and latterly I can take them cheaper in Aberdeenshire, where we are supplied with oat-straw, a great advantage over the wheat and barley straws of Morayshire. There is now such a demand for turnips to be eaten off with sheep in Morayshire that £14 per imperial acre have been given this year.

Until within a few years we had no railway conveyance, and the cattle all came by road. Before the time appointed for lifting the cattle, I sent across three or four able-bodied men who were acquainted with the dressing of the feet. Beginning their operations at the most northern point of the county, and going from one farm to another where the cattle were wintered, they dressed every hoof of every bullock that required it. By dressing, and by the proper training of the cattle before starting, I have brought home thousands of them safe and sound. Keep their feet right and all will go well. Proper attention was no doubt paid to the droving, the men who had charge of them being trained to the occupation. Short stages and plenty of food are indispensable to their safe arrival. It is of great importance, in order to cattle thriving upon grass, to have their feet properly dressed; and many of our careful farmers have their cattle's feet dressed every year before they are put out to grass, even although they are not sent from the farm. The general method adopted in dressing is to take up the leg with a rope run from the couple; this, however, must be a severe strain on the

beasts. The method I adopted when I was in the leancattle trade was different: the bullock was driven to a wall; a man, or two men, secured him by the nose and the back of the neck. The fore-feet were easy to hold up-one man could generally manage them; but the hind-feet were not so easy a matter, and it always required two, and sometimes three, strong men to hold them up. It is done entirely by method: not allowing the beast to stretch out his legs is the whole secret. The bullock has no power if his legs are kept close to his hind-quarters; but if he is allowed to stretch them out, he will throw off any number of men. Two men,

one on each side, put their backs close to the hindquarters of the bullock, and keep in his leg, not allowing him to strike it out. There he is fixed; and the topsman, who is generally an adept at the business, dresses the foot.

Before the introduction of railways shoeing was sometimes required, but more frequently in autumn than in spring. In bad weather many of the cattle had to be shod, else they never could have performed their journeys. In wet weather their hoofs wore through to the sensitive parts, and they got lame; but when properly shod, they immediately recovered and took the front of the drove. The following may appear incredible, but it will show the proficiency some men attained in the art. Robert Gall of Kennethmont on one occasion shod seventy cattle to me in one day, near Perth, and no rope ever touched them in the field. It should, however, be remembered that cattle, after being driven a distance, get more easily handled. I should explain,

for the sake of the general reader, that the inside hoof of the fore-foot is generally the first to wear through. Many of the cattle had only one or two hoofs shod, others perhaps three or four, and an exceptional beast would have every one of the eight done. The shoes were made at the Crossgates of Fife; they were sent by coach to different cattle-stations, and the men, by

F

rotation, had to carry a supply upon their backs. It may seem a strange fact that no other blacksmith could make nails equal to those made at the Crossgates. The men would not hear of any others; they said they would not drive. The Crossgates blacksmith not only supplied the Scotch drovers, but also the English lean-cattle jobbers.

As to fat cattle for market, after they are trained, they should not go a yard except by rail or steamboat. As to trucking store cattle, this must be regulated entirely by the season of the year and the weight of the cattle, &c. I have always had a reluctance to truck store cattle if I could possibly avoid it, not only for the expense, but for the risk incurred from dirty and infected trucks. I would recommend, if the cattle have a distance to travel in March, April, or May, and until they have been fourteen days at grass, that they should be trucked. But I have often been astonished at the recklessness of farmers buying cattle in a fair, going straight to the nearest station, and turning them into any dirty truck they can get―(when are trucks other than dirty?) The danger is great; despite the utmost circumspection, even the most careful may sometimes be caught. If those who act so escape, it is not owing to their good management. I would recommend my friends, when they go to a fair for the purpose of purchasing cattle, to take a confidential servant of their own along with them, or else make it a part of the bargain that the owner keeps the cattle for a certain time, till the buyer can get the trucks properly cleaned which I find no difficulty in getting done so that before they allow their cattle to be trucked they may be satisfied the trucks are thoroughly cleaned. They should be washed over with chloride of lime, or, what is still better, given a fresh coat of paint. Three to four shillings will paint a truck; that is a small matter—say sixpence a-head; but care must be taken that the paint is dry before the cattle are put