states that
his men, when well clothed, suffered no inconvenience on exposure to the
low temperature of 55 degrees below zero, provided the air was perfectly
calm; but the slightest breeze, when the air was at this temperature,
caused the painful sensation produced by intense cold. I could adduce
the experience of many practical men in favor of the plan of affording
shelter to animals, but more especially to those kept in situations
much exposed to winds. Mr. Nesbit relates a case bearing on this
point:--A farmer in Dorsetshire put up twenty or thirty sheep, under
the protection of a series of upright double hurdles lined with straw,
having as a sort of roof, or lean-to, a single hurdle, also lined with
straw. A like number of sheep, of the same weight, were fed in the open
field, without shelter of any kind. Each set was fed with turnips _ad
libitum_. The result was, that those without shelter increased in weight
1 lb. per week for each sheep, whilst those under shelter, although they
consumed less food, increased respectively 3 lbs. per week.

As a general rule, the latter part of October, or early in November, is
the time for the removal of live stock from the pastures to the shelter
of the farmstead. In England and Scotland the transference is seldom
delayed after these dates; but in Ireland it is no uncommon thing to see
the animals grazing very much later in the year--a circumstance which
the lateness and mildness of our climate account for. But whatever the
date may be, the importance of such shelter is universally recognised,
even by those who most neglect it and are least acquainted with the
principles upon which its necessity depends. The more important of these
principles have already been explained, but they may be here summarised
as follows:--

1. A certain amount of warmth is an indispensable condition for the
maintenance of the life of animals.

2. The internal heat of the bodies of animals is supplied by the
chemical combination which takes place between the oxygen of the
atmospheric air which they inspire and certain of the constituents
(carbon and hydrogen) of the food which they consume, or, to speak more
accurately, of the tissues of their bodies, which are formed out of
their food. It is very much in the same way in which our houses are
heated by the burning of coal, turf, or wood in their fire-places, since
the heat derived in the latter case is obtained from a similar source as
in the former o