both as to exposure and drainage, as well as the natural fertility of the soil, should determine the kind and quality to be fatted.

MOST PROFITABLE AGE.

The age at which a bullock may be most profitably fatted is, with feeders, still a matter of difference. Many prefer a two-year old, as the gain in growth from two to three years is by them considered greater than at any other period, while the same amount of food will prepare them for the butcher almost as soon as at a more mature age. Others maintain that growth is at the expense of fat, and that the same food cannot produce both growth and fat in the same ratio as the one condition of fat alone. Therefore, more maturity is desirable, as the growth will then so proportionately diminish as not to be an equivalent for longer keeping, and the beef will be in perfection as regards tenderness, juiciness and richWe shall then, also, have the advantage of an early market, as the animal will put on fat more rapidly, and the gain of a month, when the prices are highest, is often equal to one-half the profit of feeding. Another gain will be in the longer rest of the pastures, as the interim will be extended between sale and purchase of new stock.

I shall therefore adopt the age of from from three to four years as the most profitable age at which to begin fattening by grazing. Most graziers purchase their stock in the autumn or early winter, in order to feed to them the rough hay, straw, and corn-fodder, and thus convert it into manure. Others, who lay in no supply of winter provender, purchase in the spring as soon as the young grass starts, and turn the cattle at once upon the pastures, where they remain until finished for the butcher, which requires a period of from four to seven months, according to the season and the aptitude of the bullock to take on fat. The prices of stock cattle range about the same per pound in spring and autumn, the gain in weight and manure being considered an equivalent for the winter's keep.

WINTER, OR STALL-FEEDING ON GRAIN.

In different sections the manner of winter-feeding varies somewhat, particularly as to the time of purchase of the stock and its preparation for the stalls. Our custom is generally to lay in steers four or five years old, of good quality, large size and high condition, in September or October, turning them on the pastures, which have been resting since the grass-fed cattle were driven to market, some six weeks previously, and having them well "started" on the young and sweet grass before confining them on dry feed. A good start is a consideration with practical feeders, and he is deemed unskilful who allows his cattle to retrograde in the least degree, as it requires double time and feed to regain the loss that would suffice to keep the bullock in a continuous thriving condition.

The signs of an unthrifty or retrograding bullock are a dry, staring coat, or hair standing on end instead of inclining in the natural way, sleek and smooth; a propensity to lick-generally to lick the hair against the grain or opposite the natural inclination. The latter, however, is not an infallible evidence of unthriftiness, as any change of condition, either for better or worse, is indicated by the animal licking himself. An experienced eye will readily notice the difference between the thrifty and unthrifty lick, which is difficult to describe without actual demonstration so as to make it plain to the inexperienced.

I have heretofore treated of the management of steers from three to six years old. In regard to oxen, particularly those of large size and mature growth, it is desirable to add as much weight as possible, and all weight must be made by fat after growth has ceased. We therefore take the ox simply as a frame on which to accumulate the greatest amount of weight, without such especial regard to the time of accomplishing it, as in the case of the grass-fed steers. Being of much

greater size, we naturally suppose the time required for fattening will correspond. This is not often the case, yet more time is generally given as the ox is made fatter than the steer proportionately with his size.

A good portion of the summer pasture will further him greatly in his winter feeding, and he is released from the yoke as soon as the warm weather of July and August sets in, so that he may range at will over the rich pastures, drink of the running streams, and recline at ease in the cool shades.

His situation, in contrast with his former life of drudgery, partakes somewhat of the Elysian order, and he seems to appreciate the change by his rapid improvement in condition. By the time we are ready to commence stall-feeding him with grain, he is in fine condition and needs only to be finished to any degree of fatness required. Once in the stalls, we give each ox of fair size (say, by estimate, from 900 to 1,200 lbs.) the allowance of four quarts of Indian meal at each feeding, morning and evening. This amount is gradually increased until in the course of a week or ten days it is doubled, and if desirable to hasten the process, again doubled in two weeks more. This will make one bushel a day, a quantity greater than is generally used, but may, with care, be fed to advantage. Without care, however, the animal is at some period liable to refuse his food altogether, when a change must be resorted to in order to restore the appetite. This disgust for his food generally occurs during continued sultry or wet weather, and the careful feeder will anticipate it by a change, or by decreasing the amount of food in time. The animal will really thrive much better in such weather by a considerable decrease in his allowance of food than on his usual quantity, eaten without appetite.

The preceding rules are based upon the supposition that the animal is furnished with a continual supply of hay or fodder of the best quality, and a handful of salt once in a fortnight, or free access to salt in the yard.

The very old truth that "a beast thrives under the eye of his master" means, simply, that in order to prove a successful feeder one must be influenced by something more than the idea of prospective gain. The feeder who follows the business as a pleasure will, in most cases, be successful in point of profit; for it implies interest to anticipate the requirements of the animal, to provide for his comfort so that his condition will always be one of ease and satisfaction. Any show of uneasiness or anxiety will affect the health of the beast as it will a member of the human family, and tell more plainly on his condition. We should, by kind treatment, an occasional change of food, and by a careful anticipation of his wants, so provide for the comfort of the animal as to leave nothing to be desired by him.

FOOD.

Indian corn has been adopted as the staple cattle food for the middle States, as it furnishes both the carbonaceous or fat-producing element, and the nitrogenous or flesh-forming qualities in a greater degree, compared with its cost, than any other grain, or any combination of articles used as food. There is, however, some difference of opinion on the subject, though our experience has confirmed our original views. The English give decided preference to the oil-cake. But with them it is a choice between the oil-cake, roots and oatmeal or bran, Indian corn being out of the question. Some farmers in this country follow the English plan of oil-cake and roots; the roots or other alternative being necessary to correct such concentrated and heating food. There is also a difference of opinion as to the economy of

COOKING OR STEAMING FOOD

From a series of experiments conducted for the purpose of determining the relative amount of fat or weight produced by raw or cooked food of the same quantity and quality, I conclude that from a fourth to a third less cooked food

will make the same amount of fat, and be eaten with a greater relish. Cooked food is also conducive to the health of the animal, and will soon show in the smoothness and brightness of his hair, the liveliness of his expression and his playful disposition. Much of the coarser food, such as large clover and timothy stems and cornstalks, that would otherwise be wasted, may be cut up, steamed and sprinkled with a little meal or bran and a little salt, and so converted into a palatable and nutritious food. But when the cost of the cutting and steaming machinery, the fuel and the extra labor are taken into the account, unless the business be conducted on a large scale, the economy of the process remains a matter of doubt.

I have now arrived at the point most essential as regards the profit and pleasure of feeding neat cattle. It is the judicious

SELECTION OF STOCK.

In this business it is emphatically true that "nothing pleases without profit ;" for the animal that refuses to thrive generously and kindly under proper treatment is ever an object of solicitude to the owner, and rarely repays the trouble and expense involved in his care. It behooves us therefore to make our selections with a view to the particular manner we adopt in feeding, as well as regards the quality of the food or the pastures for which they are intended. A few general rules may not be amiss, as any healthy beast that accords with them cannot fail to be of high character. In the selection of our cattle for both grazing and stall-feeding we look for the same general characteristics, more mature age being desirable for winter-feeding only. The practiced eye takes in at a glance all the advantages and disadvantages presented in the points of the animal, and at once completes his mental calculations with remarkable accuracy as to the weight of the beef when fatted and slaughtered six months or a year hence. A good judge will select a score of cattle from a drove of 100 head-every bullock, as he points him out, being superior to all others in the herd-in less time than it will require for me to describe the points that go to make up excellence. He first notes the general "make up" or form of the beast; next his hair or coat and skin, and finally his eyes, as indicative of his general disposition. As to color, there is a variety of opinions; a dark red being generally preferred, and a white or black least desired. But since the introduction of short-horns the prejudice against light colors has greatly abated; for there is really nothing in the color of the hair, unless it be indicative of the color of the skin, to affect the fattening qualities. A moderately thin skin, soft or mellow to the touch, with a degree of elasticity, and of a yellow color; hair, soft, long and fine; form, symmetrical and devoid of sharp points; the ribs rounded, springing well from the back, giving the body a cylindric shape; the back, a straight line from the head to the base of the tail; hips round and moderately broad, rising nearly to a level with the back; chest, broad and deep, to allow full play for the vital forces which give constitution and vigor to the beast; the legs short, neat, and the bones of moderate size and well turned, for it is of these we judge of the frame on which we are about to finish our beefy structure; thighs, full and well extended downward; head, clean and devoid of a fleshy appearance; neck tapering sharp to the head, and with little or no appendage of useless skin; tail well set at the base, slender and finished with a good brush; eyes, placid but genial, and horns of a clear color, gradually tapering to a point. These rules might be extended, perhaps, advantageously, but I aim at simplicity, and mention such points only as may be general guides to the inexperienced. The intelligent practical feeder has his own standards founded on his own experience, and is governed in some degree by his conveniences, his resources and the climate. But where these are favorable, and the highest types of cattle are fatted, the business is the most interesting of rural occupations, and, for the labor and care involved, perhaps the most remunerative.

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT.

Plate XXV furnishes a spirited illustration of that rare and beautiful denizen of the Rocky mountain summits, Aplocerus montanus, known as the Rocky mountain goat, although it is not a goat at all, but a goat-antelope, one of two species existing in North America, the other being Antilocapra Americana, or the pronghorn antelope, and both allied to the gazelle and chamois, the antelopes of Europe, and 80 or more varieties in Africa. They belong to the Cavicornia family, or hollow-horns, "ruminants with the horns permanent, hollow, and enelosing a process of the frontal bone," which includes antelopes, goats, sheep, muskoxen, and buffaloes. There is a sheep of the Rocky mountains, the big hom, Ovis montana, but no true goat native to this mountain region or any part of North America. It is worthy of mention that there exists in South America no native member of the Cavicornia family, in any of its numerous branches.

The two goat-antelopes differ much in appearance and in geographical range Both are larger than the domestic sheep, with longer legs, and erect head and neck, that give them greater altitude. But the hair of the prong-horn antelope is coarse, thick, very spongy, and slightly crimped, while the Aplocerus has a white, brittle fleece, intermixed with short, soft, and silky hair. The Antilocapra is of a prevailing yellowish-brown color on the back, with white underneath and on the posterior part of the back. This species is found on the plains from the Rio Grande to the Saskatchewan, and as far west as the Cascade range of California and Oregon; the Rocky mountain goat-antelope only in the higher por tions of the Rocky mountain and Cascade ranges, at a much higher altitude than the habitat of the Ovis montana, or big-horn sheep.

Aplocerus montanus is thus characterized by J. E. Gray, in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London: "Horns small, conical, nearly erect, slightly inclined, and recurved at tip; ringed at the base. Nose, ovine, hairy; muffle, none; tear bag, none; fur short; under fur, woolly; outer, very long, hairy, and dependent; false hoofs present." Professor Baird, of the Smithsonian, says that the horns, which are jet black, polished, slender, and conical, are much like those of the chamois. The hair is very long, covering the body, tail, and upper part of the legs; and a long, goat-like tuft depends from the chin. Dr. Richardson calls the silky under-fleece "a close coat of fine, white wool,” and says the hair on the face and legs is short, but not woolly. The general appearance, erect head, chin-tuft, &c., are goat-like, but the body, as well as the downy under-coat, is more like that of the sheep.

This animal inhabits a region so elevated as to produce only mosses, semiAlpine forms of flowers and shrubs, and a few stunted specimens of the Pinus contorta, with abundance of melting snow in near prospect. In the summer months it reaches a high elevation-sometimes an altitude of ten to fifteen thou sand feet above the sea level-where man seldom ventures-threading with careless ease the labyrinthine way, leaping with safety from rock to rock, the male leading, often followed by several females and their young, all in single file. If frightened or fired at, they gallop along the edges of fearful precipices carelessly as they would traverse a plain, and cross a chasm, one after another, each alighting in turn upon the same spot, with more of the lightness and grace winged creature than is expected in the most graceful and alert of the fourfooted tribes. They are extremely cautious, their senses of smell and hearing very acute, and the difficulty of obtaining specimens is therefore greatly increased. The Indians formerly pursued and captured this goat-antelope for its fleece,

of a