357. The paddock in which the cow is to pasture, and take her exercise, may either be barely sufficient for the latter purpose, or it may be of such an extent as not only to afford pasture for the summer, but hay for winter. In the neighbourhood of London, a small cow, of either the Guernsey or Ayrshire breeds, may be kept on two acres of ground; on the supposition that the soil is good, and that for every crop of hay taken off, a dressing of manure is put on. In ordinary soils, and with less careful treatment, three acres of meadow are necessary. Whatever may be the quantity devoted to the cow, one-half of it requires to be separated from the other by a hurdle, or other fence, and mown for hay; and the portion mown, and the portion pastured, should alternate with each other. Two tons of hay, with little or no pasture or other food, will, it is calculated, keep an ordinary-sized cow a year; and, therefore, if as much mowing-ground be set apart as will produce one ton and a half of hay, there will be no want of food, even if the pasture should not be very abundant Straw for litter, of course, must be purchased.

In the case of residences where a part of the ground is under the plough, or where field crops, such as clover, lucerne, mangold wurtzel, carrots, etc, are raised by spade culture, a small cow may be kept very well on one acre of highly cultivated and thoroughly manured ground; a part of the clover, lucerne, or saint-foin grown on it being used green, and the remainder made into hay. In this case, also, litter must, in general, be purchased, unless the cow be accustomed to do without it; which is practicable, as was proved in the Harleyan dairy at Glasgow, though it is not, in our opinion, congenial to the animal. A substitute lor straw litter may sometimes be found in gardens, in the haulm of peas and beans, and other stems and leaves which have borne crops; and in some kinds of primings, such as the clippings of hedges, which may be dried in the summer time, and stacked for the purpose. In many gentlemen's places in the country, the leaves of the trees in the plantations are swept up when dry, and kept in an open shed for use as litter; and they not only afford a soft and elastic bed for the cow, but the best of all manure for the flower-garden. Market-gardeners and others, who are obliged to be careful of everything, save from the rot-heap all that can be dried and turned into litter, for both their horse and cow, and often do not require to purchase straw at any period of the year.

It sometimes happens that the kitchen-garden belonging to a residence is too large for the present occupant; in which case the ground to spare cannot be more profitably occupied than with lucerne, to be cut green as summer food for the cow, and with carrots or mangold wurtzel for her winter food. Whichever way the food and litter for the cow may be produced, a paddock for her exercise may be considered essential. The size of this enclosure, when exercise is the main object, will depend chiefly on its shape. A square, roundish, or compact form, of limited extent, affords little temptation to the cow to reach the boundary; because it is everywhere near to her, and comparatively equidistant. If the paddock is to be square or round, therefore, it must be large. A long narrow paddock, on the contrary, in which there is a turn, or in which trees are scattered in such a manner as to conceal the farther end, may be small, as the concealment of its termination will induce the cow, every time she is turned out, to find her way thither; and this she will be the more inclined to do, if there should be a pond or a shed at the farther extremity.

358. The toil of the paddock, if not naturally dry, ought to be rendered thoroughly so, by both surface and under draining. Where the surface is flat, and the soil is a strong clay, such as that common in the north of London, underground drains should be introduced at regular distances all over the field; and however extravagant it may seem, they ought not to be farther apart, in many cases, than 5 or 6 feet. These drains need not be either broad or deep; and, if stones or bricks cannot be conveniently procured, they may be filled with faggot-wood from the thorn hedges. No money laid out on a wet clayey soil will pay better than that expended in forming drains. Where the soil is a clay, and not thoroughly drained, the feet of the cow will sink into it during winter, which they do much more deeply than the feet of the horse; not only because they are much smaller in proportion to the site of the animal, but from their being cloven; while the feet of the horse, being entire and larger, rest upon a greater breadth of surface. This treading on a wet surface produces what is called poaching; and, when this is the case, all that part of the surface which sinks down under the animal's feet is rendered unproductive, and the remaining part has its productiveness greatly diminished.

Wherever a cow, therefore, is kept, and the field in which she is turned out to take exercise is not dry, either naturally or artificially, during winter, it is better at that season to exercise the cow by driving her gently along a lane or quiet road; and in warm weather, by allowing her, in addition to this, to remain for some hours every day in the open yard attached to the cowhouse.

359. Manure wilt always repay an occupant, even if he should have only a single crop after it; but in this case he should take care that the manure is thoroughly decomposed, and equally and thinly distributed over the ground, so that the greater part of its nutriment may be imbibed by the plants the first season. Liquid manure is the best for this purpose; and next soot, and those manures or composts which are sold in a state of powder. Wherever a part of a residence is under grass which is to be made into hay, or even pastured by sheep or cattle, there is, in general, no mode in which the possessor can lay out money on his land to such advantage as in thickly coating the surface with stable manure. It rarely happens that the culture of arable land by a proprietor will pay its own expenses; but we know various instances, in the neighbourhood of London, where, by richly manuring grass land, and selling the growing crop every year by auction, the proprietor has obtained a good profit.

360. The paddock may always be harmonised with the pleasure-ground of the place, and rendered ornamental, by scattering a few trees over it; by introducing a shelter for the cow in the form of an open shed, in a proper situation; and by the judicious disposal and planting of the drinking-pond. It sometimes happens that a pond cannot be conveniently formed in a paddock, from the want of springs, or from the porosity of the surface soil being such that the rain-water cannot be collected by gutters in sufficient quantities to fill it. In this case, the usual substitute for a pond is a pump with a cistern, in some convenient part of the paddock, which may be partially concealed by bushes, or rendered ornamental as an architectural object.

361. The trees for a paddock may either be of the ornamental kind, or they may be the more robust-growing fruit-trees. If ornamental trees, they ought to be of such sorts as will grow freely, and soon be in a state not to require fencing; and, whether merely ornamental trees, or fruit-trees, or both are employed, they should neither be introduced in such numbers as to injure the pasture by their shade and drip, nor crowded round the drinking pond in such a manner as to discolour the water in autumn by their falling leaves. A few trees may be considered as advantageous, for affording the cow shelter and shade during rains or very hot sunshine; but, beyond a certain point, they must be considered injurious to the grass, and only allowable on account of their ornamental effect, or of the fruit that they produce. Where good healthy pasturage is the object, from half-a-dozen to a dozen trees per acre ought on no account to be exceeded; because grasses and clovers, like all other plants, to attain their greatest nutrimental value, require to have their foliage fully exposed to the direct influence of the sun, and to the free circulation of the air.