I have weighed my fattening cattle for a number of years, and my milch cows for more than two years. This practice enables me at once to detect any deficiency in the performance of the animals; it gives also a stimulus to the feeders, who attend at the weighings, and who are desirous that the cattle intrusted to their care should bear a comparison with their rivals. Another obvious advantage is in avoiding all cavils respecting the weight by my purchasers, who, having satisfied themselves as to the quality of the animal, now ask and obtain the most recent weighing. The usual computation for a well-fed but not over fat beast is, live to dead weight, as 21 to 12, or 100 to 59¹⁄₇ with such modifications as suggest themselves by appearances. Though many discussions have taken place on the fattening of cattle, the not less important branch of dairy treatment has hitherto been comparatively neglected. I therefore venture to call attention to considerations which have arisen from observations in my own practice affecting the chemistry and physiology, or, in other words, the science of feeding. That I am seeking aid from its guidance will be apparent, and I have no hesitation in admitting that, beyond the satisfaction from the better understanding of my business, I have latterly derived more benefit or profit from examination of the chemical composition of materials of food than from the treatment or feeding experiments of others which have come under my notice. So persuaded am I of the advantage of this, that I do not feel satisfied to continue the use of any material, with the composition of which I am not acquainted, without resorting to the society’s laboratory for an analysis. _To one leading feature of my practice I attach the greatest importance--the maintenance of the condition of my cows giving a large yield of milk._ I am enabled, by the addition of bean-meal in proportion to the greater yield of milk, to avert the loss of condition in those giving sixteen to eighteen quarts per day; whilst on those giving a less yield, and in health, I invariably effect an improvement. When we take into consideration the disposition of a cow to apply her food rather to her milk than to her maintenance and improvement, it seems fair to infer that the milk of a cow gaining flesh will not be deficient either in caseine or butter.