Burlington tri-weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1852-1855, 1854-12-26
From Household Words.
REEF. nrUTE On. AND BR FAD.

From Household Words.
BEEF, MUTTON, AND BR FAD.
Considering how much Of our domestic |
happiness anil public prosperity is dependent
on a supply Of prime beef in steaks, sirloins,
and rounds; on chops, legs, and saddles of
mutton: on strcakv rashers, and Yorkshire
and Cumberland hams, II. will not be time
wasted to explain how it comes to pass that
in evory county Of the kingdom there are to
be found rot only wealthy amateurs, but
practical farmers, who devotetheir whole time
to producing prime animals. of pure blood,
not ALWAYS at profit and how the country
gains from stock SO plump, cubical and un-
picturesque; for it is not to be gainsay that
the wild cattle of the Roman Campagna or
the Andalusian pastures are more suited to
figure as moo els for the painter than under
the knit of the carver. "A Yorkshire farmer
remarked, when shown the Toro Farnese. that
sstbere couldn't be many prime cuts sliced
out of him.
By the exertions of only few Jealous ag
riculturists, during the last hundred years,
good meat has been placed within the range
Of the people at large. The roast beef of Old
England, which some fancy to have been the
ordinary fare of our ancestors in the days of
Queen Bess, was really and truly the tough
and tasteless produce of lean, black, worm
out draught oxen, or leathery old cows, and
that only procurable fresh for four months in
the year. Those who have travelled in the
south Of Europe or on the Rhine, have seen
the greyhound-like pigs, the lean gaunt sheep,
the angular and active cows unincumbered
with srlons and almost destitute of lungs.
which pick up miserable existence on the
A ca,
rare exceptions, the ordinary breeds of live
stock in Great Britain were just as lean, i'll
shaped, and slow growing. And to those
who inquire what we have gained by the en-
/ thusiasm with which noblemen and gentlema
have followed cattle breeding, it can be an
swered that the OK, which used to be wi h
difficulty fattened at six years old, is now
/ presentable in superlative condition upon the
Christmas board at three years old. The
sheep which formerly fed in SUNNI aud
starved in winter, until five years old, are
now fit for the butcher in twenty months,
with better and more even fleece. And the
! pig which formerly ran races until two years
| had passed, is now fit for the knife, after
eating and sleeping comfortably and cleanly
rs gentleman should, for nine months only.
This change has been brought about part
ly by the Improvement Of our agriculture, a
closer study OF the habits of animals. and an
increased supply of, food placed witain our
reach by extended commerce, and rational
system of customs duties; and partly by dis
coveries in the art of breeding. Formerly
our cattle and sheep were entirely dependent
90 natural heritage for their food. In sum-
mer they grew fat. in winter they starved and
grew thin; having nothing to depend on but
such hay as could be saved. The first great
step, therefore, towards the Improvement of
cattle was the employment of the turnip and
other roots which could be stored in winter.
An experienced farmer calculates that with
roots, oxen improve nearly one-fourth more
than those fed on hay alone. The use Of
turnips enabled sheep to be fed where nothing
but gorSe Or rushes grew before. Neal, 60. g. e
mechanic, stepped in with achaff- cutter, pre-
pared hay and straw to mix with roots, and,
with turnip-cutter, saved six months in ge-
ting sheep ready for the Kitchen
The use OF a dry, palatable, nutritious food,
called ol-cake, which could be carried into
the field to sheep to help out a short crop,
followed; and further studies proved the use
Of peas, and beans, and fore On pulsa in Civ
ing lambs bone ard muscle. 1t was found
too, By experiment, that warm feeding YARD.
saved food; that, IN short, the best way OF
getting stock into prime condition was to
feed them we'll, to attend to their health, and
never, from their earliest days, to allow them
to get thin. .i5<{ 80 en
But before these discoveries had been made
the breeds Of English livestock were in reg
ular course of Improvement. No kind OF
food can make an iii-brcd, ill-shaped beast
fat in time 10 be profitable. Just as some
men are more INCLINED to get fat than others
! so are some animals; and, by selecting nils-
viduais Of proper sh spa with this ten ency
certain breeds hayesbeen stereotyped into d
neyer-f failing type: that type in an OK and
sheep is one which presents the LARGEST ex-
!, tent Of prime meat, and asst amount Of oflal;
or, as South Down breeder EXPIRE -sed it
ga perfect sheep should be, as nearly as pos
sible, all LEES and Joins of mutton;
To make his improvement, required a cer-
tain talent, enthusiasm, and years of patience
Breeders of pure stock, like mechanical in
ventors, do not, on an average, mike money
On the contrary, for the pleasure of the pur-
suit and the hope of success, they cApend
large fortunes; while u few win great M yes.
But the country gains enormously in result
for now, the same space of ground viii feed
more than twice the quantity of beef and
mutton that it would fifty years ago. Tie
animals not only come to maturity in half
the time but, fed partly in yards or stalls,
they spoil less ground with treading, and re-
turn to the soil highly concentrated and pro-
ductlve manure. E
The first man who made stock breeding a
fashionable pursult-and that is a great thing
in country where fashion rules too much
was Robert Bakewen, of Dishley, in Leiccs
tershire, the son and grandson Of farmers ;
but, if we mistake not himself a barrister.-
With horned Ca tie he aimed at The cardinal
improvements which are now universally es-