SECTION I._The Stock-Feeder's Manual the chemistry of food in relation to the breeding and feeding of live stock

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THE STOCK-FEEDER'S MANUAL.

THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD IN RELATION TO

THE BREEDING AND FEEDING OF LIVE STOCK.

BY CHARLES A. CAMERON, Ph.D., M.D.,

Licentiate of the King and Queen's College of Physicians

in Ireland; Honorary Corresponding Member of the New York

State Agricultural Society; Member of the Agricultural

Society of Belgium; Professor of Hygiene or Political

Medicine in the Royal College of Surgeons; Professor of

Chemistry and Natural Philosophy in Steevens' Hospital

and Medical College; Lecturer on Chemistry in the Ledwich

School of Medicine; Analyst to the City of Dublin; Chemist

to the County of Kildare Agricultural Society, the Queen's

County Agricultural Society, c.; Member of the International

Jury of the Paris Exhibition, 1867; Editor of the

"Agricultural Review;" one of the Editors of the "Irish

Farmer's Gazette;" Author of the "Chemistry of Agriculture,"

"Sugar and the Sugar Duties," &c. &c.

LONDON AND NEW YORK:

CASSELL, PETTER, AND GALPIN.

1868.

[_All rights reserved._]

LONDON

CASSELL, PETTER, AND GALPIN, BELLE SAUVAGE WORKS,

LUDGATE HILL, E. C.

THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE

Dedicated

THE RIGHT HONORABLE

THE LORD TALBOT DE MALAHIDE, F.R.S.,

_President of the Royal Irish Academy, &c. &c. &c._,

ONE OF THE MOST ENLIGHTENED AND LIBERAL PROMOTERS

OF AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS.

THE AUTHOR IS UNDER MANY OBLIGATIONS TO HIS LORDSHIP, FOR

WHICH HE CAN MAKE NO RETURN SAVE THIS PUBLIC ACKNOWLEDGMENT

OF HIS INDEBTEDNESS.

PREFACE.

Some papers on the Chemistry of Food, read before the Royal Agricultural

Society of Ireland and the Athy Farmers' Club, and a few articles on the

Management of Live Stock, published in the _Weekly Agricultural Review_,

constitute the basis of this Work. It describes the nature of the food

used by the domesticated animals, explains the composition of the animal

tissues, and treats generally upon the important subject of nutrition.

The most recent analyses of all the kinds of food usually consumed by

the animals of the farm are fully stated; and the nutritive values of

those substances are in most instances given. Some information is

afforded relative to the breeds and breeding of live stock; and a

division of the Work is wholly devoted to the consideration of the

economic production of "meat, milk, and butter."

Within the last twenty years the processes of chemical analysis have

been so much improved, that the composition of organic bodies is now

determined with great accuracy. The analyses of foods made from twenty

to fifty years ago, possess now but little value. In this Work the

analyses of vegetables quoted are chiefly those recently performed by the

distinguished Scotch chemist, Dr. Thomas Anderson, and by Dr. Voelcker.

The Author believes that in no other Work of moderate size are there so

many analyses of food substances given, and ventures to hope that the

success of this Work may fully justify the belief that a "handy" book

containing such information as that above mentioned, is much required

by stock feeders.

_102, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin_,

April, 1868.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION: History of Agriculture--Agricultural Statistics--Imports

of Live Stock

PART I. ON THE GROWTH AND COMPOSITION OF ANIMALS.

SECTION I. ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. Functions of Plants. Animal

Life.--SECTION II. COMPOSITION OF ORGANIC SUBSTANCES. Elements of

Organic Bodies. Proximate Composition of Organic Substances.--SECTION III.

USE OF FAT IN THE ANIMAL ECONOMY. Fatty Food necessary in Cold Climates.

Fat Equivalents.--SECTION IV. RELATION BETWEEN THE COMPOSITION OF AN

ANIMAL AND THAT OF ITS FOOD. Tables of Experimental Results.--SECTION V.

RELATION BETWEEN THE QUANTITY OF FOOD CONSUMED BY AN ANIMAL AND

THE INCREASE OF ITS WEIGHT, OR OF THE AMOUNT OF ITS WORK. Weights

of Foods necessary to sustain a Man's Life for twenty-four hours.

Value of Manure.

PART II. ON THE BREEDING AND BREEDS OF STOCK.

SECTION I. THE BREEDING OF STOCK.--SECTION II. THE BREEDS OF STOCK.

The Form of Animals. _Breeds of the Ox._ Shorthorns. Devons.

Herefords. Ayrshires. Polled Cattle. Kyloes. Long-horned.

Kerrys. Alderneys. _Sheep._ The Leicester. Lincoln. Cotswold.

Cheviot. Southdown. Shropshire. Blackfaced. _Breeds of the

Pig._ Berkshire. Yorkshire. _Breeds of the Horse._ Clydesdales.

Suffolk Punch. Hunters and Racers.

PART III. ON THE MANAGEMENT OF LIVE STOCK.

SECTION I. THE OX. Breeding Cows. Wintering of Young Stock. Shelter

of Stock. Milch Cows. Stall Feeding. Cost of Maintaining Animals.

Cooking and Bruising Food. Value for Feeding Purposes of various

Foods. Bedding Cattle.--SECTION II. THE SHEEP. Breeding Ewes.

Yeaning. Rearing of Lambs. Sheep Feeding. Sheep Dips.--SECTION III. THE

PIG. Young Pigs. Store Pigs. Fattening Pigs.--SECTION IV. THE HORSE.

Foals. Dietaries for the Horse.

PART IV. MEAT, MILK, AND BUTTER.

SECTION I. MEAT. Quality of Meat. Is very Fat Meat Unwholesome?

Diseased Meat.--SECTION II. MILK. Composition of Milk of Different

Animals. Yield of Milk. Preserved Milk.--SECTION III. BUTTER. History

of Butter. Irish Butter. Composition of Butter. The Butter

Manufacture.

112

PART V. ON THE COMPOSITION AND VALUE OF VEGETABLE FOODS.

SECTION I. THE MONEY VALUE OF FOOD SUBSTANCES.--SECTION II. PROXIMATE

CONSTITUENTS OF VEGETABLES. Starch. Sugar. Inulin. Gum. Pectin.

Cellulose. Oils and Fats. Stearin. Margarin. Olein. Palmitin.

Albumen. Fibrin. Legumin.--SECTION III. GREEN FOOD. The

Grasses. Schroeder Brome. Tussac Grass. The Clovers. Leguminous

Plants--Vetch, Sainfoin, &c. The Yellow Lupine. Rib Grass Plantain.

Ergot in Grasses. Holcus Saccharatus. Green Rye. Buckwheat. Rape.

Mustard. Comfrey. Chicory. Yarrow. Melons and Marrows. Cabbage.

Furze.--SECTION IV. STRAW AND HAY. _Straw._ Anderson's, Voelcker's,

and Cameron's Analyses of Straws. Feeding Experiments with Straw.

Relative Values of Straw and Oil-cake. _Hay._ Composition of the

Hay of different Grasses. Over-ripening of Hay. Damaged Hay and

Straw.--SECTION V. ROOTS AND TUBERS. _Turnips._ Swedish. White

Globe. Aberdeen Yellow. Purple-top. Norfolk Bell. Greystone.

Turnip Tops. Analyses of Turnips. Mangel Wurtzel. Chemistry of

the Mangel. Stripping Leaves off the Mangel. Beet-root. Parsnip.

Carrot. Kohl-rabi. Analyses of Kohl-rabi. Radish. The Radish as

a Field Crop. Composition of Radish. Jerusalem Artichoke: Advantages

of Cultivating it. Analysis of Jerusalem Artichoke. Potato: Analyses

of six varieties. Feeding Value of Potatoes.--SECTION VI. SEEDS. _Wheat._

Analyses of Wheat, Flour, Bran, and Husks. Over-ripening of

Grain. Wheat a Costly Food. Analyses of Barley, Oat Grain, Indian

Corn, Rye, Rice, Rice-dust, and Buckwheat. Malted Corn. Voelcker's

Analyses of Malt and Barley. Experiments of Thompson, Lawes, &c.,

with Malt. Malt Combings. _Leguminous Seeds._ Beans. Composition

of Common Beans, Foreign Beans, Peas. Lentils and Winter Tares.

_Oil Seeds._ Rape Seeds. Experiments with Rapeseed. Flax Bolls.

Composition of Linseed, Rape-seed, Hemp-seed, and Cotton-seed.

Fenugreek Seed.--SECTION VII. OIL-CAKES AND OTHER ARTIFICIAL FOODS.

Composition of Linseed, Rape-seed, Cotton-seed, and Poppy-seed

Cake. Linseed-cake. Adulteration of Linseed-cake. Rape-cake.

Feeding Experiments with Rape-cake. Adulterations of Rape-cake.

Cotton-seed Cake. Analyses of Decorticated Cotton-seed Cake.

Palm-nut Meal: its Composition and Nutritive Properties. Locust,

or Carob Bean: its Composition. Dates. Brewers' Dregs and

Distillery Wash. Molasses and Treacle.--SECTION VIII. CONDIMENTAL FOOD.

Lawes' Experiments with Thorley's Food. Analyses of Condimental

Food. Formula for a Tonic Food.--SECTION IX. TABLES OF THE ANALYSES

OF THE ASHES OF PLANTS.

147

APPENDIX. AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS. Numbers of Live Stock in the United

Kingdom. Value of the Agriculture Products of Great Britain.

254

THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD.

INTRODUCTION.

When Virgil composed his immortal "Bucolics," and Varro indited his

profound Essays on Agriculture, the inhabitants of the British Islands

were almost completely ignorant of the art of cultivating the soil.

The rude spoils torn from the carcasses of savage animals protected the

bodies of their hardly less savage victors; and the produce of the chase

served almost exclusively to nourish the hardy frames of the ancient

Celtic hunters. In early ages wild beasts abounded in the numerous and

extensive forests of Britain and Ireland; but men were few, for the

conditions under which the maintenance of a dense population is possible

did not then exist. As civilisation progressed, men rapidly multiplied,

and the demand for food increased. The pursuit of game became merely the

pastime of the rich; and tame sheep and oxen furnished meat to the lowly

as well as to the great. Nor were the fruits of the earth neglected; for

during the latter days of the dominion of the Romans, England raised

large quantities of corn. Gradually the food of the people, which at

first was almost purely animal, became chiefly vegetable. The shepherds,

who had supplanted the hunters, became less numerous than the tillers of

land; and the era of tillage husbandry began.

At present the great mass of the rural population of these countries

subsist almost exclusively upon vegetable aliment--a diet which poverty,

and not inclination, prescribes for them. Were the flesh of animals

the staple food of the British peasantry, their numbers would not be

nearly so large as they now are, for a given area of land is capable of

sustaining a far larger number of vegetarians than of meat eaters. The

Chinese are by no means averse to animal food, but they are so numerous,

that they are in general obliged to content themselves on a purely

vegetable diet.

In the manufacturing districts of Great Britain, there are several

millions of people whose condition in relation to food is somewhat

different from that of the small farmer and agricultural laborer. The

artizans employed in our great industries are comparatively well paid

for their toil; and the results of their labor place within their reach

a fair share of animal food. This section of the population is rapidly

increasing, and consequently is daily augmenting the demand for meat.

The rural population is certainly not increasing; rather the reverse.

Less manual labor is now expended in the operations of agriculture, and

even horses are retiring before the advance of the steam plough. The

only great purely vegetable-feeding class is diminishing, and the upper,

the middle, and the artizan classes--the beef and mutton eating sections

of society--are rapidly increasing. It is clear, then, that we are

threatened with a revival of the pastoral age, and that in one way, at

least, we are returning to the condition of our ancestors, whose staple

food consisted of beef, mutton, and pork.

And here two questions arise. How long shall we be able to supply the

increasing demand for meat? How long shall we be able to compete with

the foreign feeders? These are momentous queries for the British farmer,

and I trust they may be solved in a satisfactory manner. At any time

during the present century the foreign or colonial grower of wheat could

have undersold the British producer of that article, were the latter not

protected by a tariff; but cattle could not, as a general rule, be

imported into Great Britain at a cheaper rate than they could be

produced at home. Were there no corn imported, it is certain that the

price of bread would be greater than it is now, even if the grain

harvests had been better than they have been for some years past. A bad

cereal harvest in England raises the price of flour, but only to a small

and strictly limited extent, because, practically, there is no limit

to the amount of bread-stuffs procurable from abroad. When, on the

contrary, the turnip crop fails, or that excessive drought greatly

curtails the yield of grass, the price of meat and butter increases

greatly, and is but slightly modified by the importation of foreign

stock.

Hitherto the difficulty of transit has been so great that we have only

derived supplies of live stock from countries situated at a short

distance, such as Holstein and Holland. Vast herds of cattle are fed

with but little expense in America, and myriads of sheep are maintained

cheaply in Australia; but the immense distances which intervene between

our country and those remote and sparsely populated regions have,

hitherto, prevented the superabundant supply of animal food produced

therein from being available to the teeming population of the British

Isles. Should, however, any cheap mode of conveying live stock, or even

their flesh, from those and similarly circumstanced countries be

devised, it might render the production of meat in Britain a far less

profitable occupation than it is now. That we are increasing the area

from whence we draw our supplies of live stock is evident from the fact,

that within the last two years enormous numbers of horned stock have

been imported from Spain. In that extensive country there are noble

breeds of the ox; and it would appear that very large numbers of animals

could be annually exported, without depriving the inhabitants of a due

supply of bovine meat. As Spain is not very distant, it is likely that

this traffic will be increased, and that in a short time we shall be as

well supplied with Spanish beef as we are now provided with French

flour. Meat is at present dear, and is likely to continue so for some

time; but still it is evident that, sooner or later, the British feeders

will come into keen competition with the foreign producer of meat, and

that the price of their commodity will consequently fall. The mere

probability of such a state of things, were there no other reason,

should induce the feeder to devote increased attention to the

improvement of his stock, and to discover more economical methods of

feeding them. There is still much to be learned relative to the precise

nutritive values of the various feeding stuffs. The proper modes of

cooking, or otherwise preparing, food, are still to be satisfactorily

determined; and there are many very important questions in relation to

the breeding of stock yet unanswered.

It is but fair to admit that the farmer is earnestly endeavouring to

improve his art, and that he is willing, nay anxious, to obtain the

co-operation of scientific men, in order to increase his knowledge of

the theory as well as the practice of his ancient calling. Indeed, he

not only admits the utility of science in agriculture, but often places

an undue degree of value upon the theories of the chemist, of the

botanist, and of the geologist. This is encouraging to the men of

science; but, on the other hand, they must admit that by far the greater

portion of the sum of human knowledge has been derived from the

experience and observation of men utterly unacquainted with science, in

the ordinary signification of that term. This portion of our knowledge

is also, in its practical application, the most valuable. In the most

important branch of industry--agriculture--the labors of the purely

scientific man have as yet borne but scant fruit; whilst the unaided

efforts of the husbandman have reclaimed from sterility extensive

tracts, and caused them to "blossom as the rose." That practical men

should have done so much, and scientific men so little, for agriculture,

may easily be explained. Countless millions of men, during many

thousands of years, have incessantly been occupied in improving the

processes of mechanical agriculture, which, as an _art_, has

consequently been brought to a high degree of perfection: but scientific

agriculture is a creation of almost our own time, and the number of its

cultivators is, and always has been, very small; all its theories cannot,

therefore, justly claim that degree of confidence which, as a rule, is

only reposed in the opinions founded on the experience of practical

workers in the field and in the feeding-house. Still, the farmer has

derived a great amount of useful information from the chemist and

physiologist; and they alone can explain to him the causes of the

various phenomena which the different branches of his art present. There

was a time when it was the fashion of the man of science to look down

with contempt, from the lofty pedestal on which he placed himself, upon

the lessons of practical experience read to him by the cultivator of the

soil; whilst at the same time the farmer treated as foolish visionaries

those who applied the teachings of science to the improvement of their

art. But this time has happily passed away. The scientific man no longer

despises the knowledge of the mere farmers, but turns to good account

the information derivable from their experience; whilst the farmer, on

the other side, has ceased to speak in contemptuous terms of mere "book

learning." It is to this happy combination of the theorist with the

practical man that the recent remarkable advance in agriculture is

chiefly due; and to it we may confidently look for improvement in the

economic production of meat and butter, and for the enlargement of our

knowledge of the relative value of food substances.

STATEMENT OF THE NUMBER OF LIVE STOCK IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

---------+------------------------------------+

| Enumerated, 1866. |

+-----------+------------+-----------+

| Cattle. | Sheep. | Pigs. |

+-----------+------------+----+------+

England | 3,307,034 | 15,124,541 | 2,066,299 |

Wales | 541,401 | 1,668,663 | 191,604 |

Islands | 17,700 | 57,685 | 22,887 |

Scotland | 937,411 | 5,255,077 | 219,716 |

Ireland | 3,493,414 | 3,688,742 | 1,299,893 |

+-----------+------------+-----------+

Total | 8,316,960 | 25,794,708 | 3,800,399 |

---------+-----------+------------+-----------+

---------+------------------------------------+

| Estimated, 1865. |

+-----------+------------+-----------+

| Cattle. | Sheep. | Pigs. |

+-----------+------------+-----------+

England | 3,422,165 | 18,691,088 | 2,363,724 |

Wales | ---- | ---- | ---- |

Islands | ---- | ---- | ---- |

Scotland | 974,437 | 5,683,168 | 146,354 |

Ireland | 3,493,414 | 3,688,742 | 1,299,893 |

+-----------+------------+-----------+

Total | 7,890,016 | 28,062,998 | 3,809,971 |

---------+-----------+------------+-----------+

STATEMENT OF THE POPULATION AND NUMBER OF LIVE STOCK IN THE

UNITED KINGDOM AND VARIOUS FOREIGN COUNTRIES, ACCORDING TO

THE LATEST RETURNS.

+--------------+-------+----------+------------------------------+----------+----------+

+--------------+-------+----------+---------+---------+----------+----------+----------+

|United Kingdom|1865-66|29,070,932|3,286,308|5,030,652| 8,316,960|25,795,708| 3,802,399|

|Russia |1859-63|74,139,394| ... | ... |25,444,000|45,130,800|10,097,000|

|Denmark Proper| 1861 | 1,662,734| 756,834| 361,940| 1,118,774| 1,751,950| 300,928|

|Sleswig | 1861 | 421,486| 217,751| 172,250| 390,001| 362,219| 87,867|

|Holstein | 1861 | 561,831| 198,310| 92,062| 290,372| 165,344| 82,398|

|Sweden | 1860 | 3,859,728|1,112,944| 803,714| 1,916,658| 1,644,156| 457,981|

|Prussia | 1862 |18,491,220|3,382,703|2,251,797| 5,634,500|17,428,017| 2,709,709|

|Hanover | 1861 | 1,880,070| ... | ... | 949,179| 2,211,927| 554,056|

|Saxony | 1861 | 2,225,240| 411,563| 226,897| 638,460| 371,986| 270,462|

|Wurtemburg | 1861 | 1,720,708| 466,758| 490,414| 957,172| 683,842| 216,965|

| of Baden | 1861 | 1,429,199| 348,418| 273,068| 621,486| 177,322| 307,198|

| " Hesse | 1863 | 853,315| 187,442| 129,211| 316,653| 231,787| 195,596|

| " Nassau | 1864 | 468,311| 116,421| 84,224| 200,645| 152,584| 65,979|

| " Schwerin | 1857 | 539,258| 197,622| 69,215| 266,837| 1,198,450| 157,522|

| " Oldenburg | 1852 | 279,637| ... | ... | 219,843| 295,322| 87,336|

|Holland | 1864 | 3,618,459| 943,214| 390,673| 1,333,887| 930,136| 294,636|

|Belgium | 1856 | 4,529,461| ... | ... | 1,257,649| 583,485| 458,418|

|France | 1862 |37,386,313|5,781,465|8,415,895|14,197,360|33,281,592| 5,246,403|

|Spain | 1865 |15,658,531| ... | ... | 2,904,598|22,054,967| 4,264,817|

|Austria | 1863 |36,267,648|6,353,086|7,904,030|14,257,116|16,964,236| 8,151,608|

|Bavaria | 1863 | 4,807,440|1,530,626|1,655,356| 3,185,882| 2,058,638| 926,522|

|United States | 1860 |31,445,080|8,728,862|8,182,813|16,911,475|23,317,756|32,555,267|

+--------------+-------+----------+---------+---------+----------+----------+----------+

NUMBERS OF THE LIVE STOCK IMPORTED INTO GREAT BRITAIN

DURING THE ELEVEN MONTHS ENDED 31st NOVEMBER, 1867.

Bullocks, bulls, and cows 150,518

Calves 20,720

Sheep and lambs 504,514

Pigs 45,566

--------

721,318

AMOUNT OF ANIMAL FOOD IMPORTED DURING SAME PERIOD.

Bacon and hams cwts. 452,132

Salt beef " 163,638

Salt pork " 123,257

Butter " 1,000,095

Lard " 213,599

Cheese " 798,267

Eggs 373,042,000

I am indebted to Professor Ferguson, Chief of the Veterinary Department

of the Irish Privy Council Office, for the following statement:--

RETURN OF HORNED CATTLE EXPORTED FROM THE SEVERAL IRISH

PORTS AT WHICH VETERINARY INSPECTORS HAVE BEEN APPOINTED,

AND CERTIFIED AS FREE FROM DISEASE, FROM THE 18th OF

NOVEMBER, 1866, TO THE 16th OF NOVEMBER, 1867 (52 WEEKS).

Fat Stock 187,483

Store Stock 317,331

Breeding and Dairy Stock 36,599

--------

Total 541,413

========

PART I.

ON THE GROWTH AND COMPOSITION OF ANIMALS.

SECTION I.

ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE.

_Functions of Plants._--It is the primary function of plants to convert

the inorganic matter of the soil and air into organised structures

of a highly complex nature. The food of plants is purely mineral, and

consists chiefly of water, carbonic acid, and ammonia. Water is composed

of the elements oxygen and hydrogen; carbonic acid is a compound of

oxygen and carbon; and ammonia is formed of hydrogen and nitrogen. These

four substances are termed the _organic elements_, because they form by

far the larger portion--sometimes the whole--of organic bodies. The

combustible portion of plants and animals is composed of the organic

elements; the incombustible part is made up of potassium, sodium, and

the various other elements enumerated in another page. The organic

elements are furnished chiefly by the atmosphere, and the incombustible

matters are supplied by the soil.

Water in the state of vapor forms, according to the temperature and

other conditions of the atmosphere, from a half per cent. to four and a

half per cent. of the weight of that fluid--about 1.25 per cent. being

the average; carbonic acid exists in it to the extent of 1/2000th; and

ammonia forms a minute portion of it--according to Dr. Angus Smith, one

grain weight in 412.42 cubic feet of air (of a town), or 0.000453 per

cent. It is remarkable that the most abundant constituents of atmospheric

air--oxygen and nitrogen--are not assimilable by plants, although these

elements enter largely into the composition of vegetable substances. In

the soil, also, the part which ministers to the wants of vegetables is

relatively quite insignificant in amount.

Plants are unendowed with organs of locomotion, their food must

therefore be within easy reach. Every breeze wafts gaseous nutriment to

their expanded leaves, and their rootlets ramify throughout the soil in

search of appropriate mineral aliment. But no matter how abundant, or

however easy of reach may be the food of plants, the vegetable organism

is incapable of partaking of it unless under the influence of light.

Exposed to this potent stimulus, the plant collects the gaseous carbonic

acid and the vaporous water, solidifies them, decomposes them, and

combines their elements into new and organised forms. In effecting these

changes--in conferring vitality upon the atoms of lifeless matter--the

plant acts merely as the _mechanism_, the light is the _force_. As the

work performed by the steam-engine is proportionate to the amount of

force developed by the combustion of the fuel beneath its boiler,

so is the rapidity of the elaboration of organic substances by plants

proportionate to the amount of sunlight to which they are exposed. It is

an axiom that matter is indestructible; we may alter its form as often

as we please, but we cannot destroy a particle of it. It is the same

with _force_: we may convert one kind of it into another--heat into

light, or magnetism into electricity--but our power ends there; we can

only cause force, or _motion_, to pass from one of its conditions to

another, but its _quantity_ can never be diminished by the power of man.

The principle of the Conservation of the Forces gives us a clear

explanation of the fact that animals can obtain their food only through

the medium of the vegetable kingdom. Plants are stationary mechanisms;

they have no need to develop motive power, as animals have, in moving

themselves from place to place. Their temperature is, we may say, the

same as that of the medium in which they exist. Such beings as plants

do not, therefore, require the expenditure of force to maintain their

vitality; on the contrary, their mechanisms are, for a beneficent

purpose, constructed for the _accumulation_ of force. The growing

plant absorbs, together with carbonic acid, water, and ammonia, a

proportionate amount of light, heat, and the various other subtile

forces which have their abiding place in the sun-beam--

"That golden chain,

Whose strong embrace holds heaven and earth and main."

Co-incidentally with the conversion of the mineral constituents of the

food of plants into organised structures--albumen, fibre, and such

like substances--the light, and the heat, and the various other forces

likewise suffer a change. Although the precise nature of the new force

into which they are converted is still a mystery--one, too, which may

never be revealed to us--still we know sufficient of it to satisfy

us that it can only exist in connection with organic or organised

structures. It is owing to its presence that the elements of these

structures (the natural state of which is mineral) are bound together

in what may be aptly designated a constrained state; or, as Liebig

aptly expresses it, like the matter in a bent spring. So long as the

organic structure retains its form, it will be a reservoir of latent

force--which will manifest itself in some form during the recoil of the

atoms of the matter forming the structure to their original mineral, or

statical condition: so the bent spring, when the pressure is removed,

returns to its original straight form.

_Animal Life._--The chief manifestation of the life of a plant is the

accumulation of force; very different are the functions of animal life.

It is only by the continuous _expenditure_ of force that the vitality of

animals is preserved; the heat of a man's body, his power of locomotion,

the performance of his daily toil, even his very faculty of thought, are

all dependent upon, and to a great extent proportionate to, the amount

of organised matter disorganised in his body. It is by the conversion

of this organised matter into its original mineral state of water,

carbonic acid, and ammonia, that the force originally expended in

arranging, through the agency of plants, its atoms, is again restored,

chiefly in the form of heat and animal motive power.

Animals, as a class, are completely dependent upon vegetables for

their existence. There is every reason to believe that the most lowly

organised beings in the scale of animal life, even those of so

simple a structure as to have been long regarded as vegetables or as

plant-animals, are incapable of organising mineral matter. The so-called

vegetative life of animals--for I believe the term to be exceedingly

inexact--is applied to their growth, that is, to the increase in their

weight. This increase takes place by their power of reorganising, or

of assimilating to the nature of their own organisms, certain of the

substances elaborated by plants, and destined to become food for

animals.

SECTION II.

COMPOSITION OF ORGANIC SUBSTANCES.

_Elements of Organic Bodies._--The number of distinct kinds of

substances--each distinguishable from all the others by the peculiarity

of its properties, taken as a whole--is exceedingly great, yet all

these substances are resolvable into a very small number of bodies.

As an illustration, I shall take a well-known substance, common

green copperas, or, as the chemists term it, protosulphate of iron.

By submitting this compound to the process termed chemical analysis,

two other kinds of matter may be obtained from it, namely, oxide of iron

and oil of vitrol, or sulphuric acid. If we continued this process--if

we submitted the acid and the oxide to analysis--we could separate the

former into sulphur and oxygen, and the latter into iron and oxygen.

Now, by these means we could demonstrate the compound nature of

copperas; we could prove that it was _proximately_ composed of sulphuric

acid and oxide of iron; and, _ultimately_, of iron, sulphur, and oxygen.

Iron, sulphur, and oxygen, are elementary, or simple bodies. They cannot

be decomposed; they cannot be analysed. Torture them as we will in our

crucibles; expose them as we please to the highest temperature of a wind

furnace, or to the more intense heat evolved by a powerful galvanic

battery; subject them to the influence of any agent, or force, or

process we may choose, and still they will yield nothing but iron,

sulphur, and oxygen: hence these undecomposable bodies are regarded as

_elements_, or simple substances. So far as our knowledge extends, there

are about sixty-six of these undecomposable bodies, of which about one

half occurs in but exceedingly minute quantities, and a considerable

number of the others exists in comparatively small amounts. As by far

the greater proportion of compounds is made up of two or more of about

a dozen elementary bodies, it would at first sight appear as if the

distinct kinds of compounds which exist, or which may be called into

existence by the chemist, must be limited to, at most, a realisable

number; but the fact is there is no practical limit to the variety of

substances which may be artificially formed. Every difference in the

mode of the arrangement of the constituent atoms of a compound, causes

its metamorphosis into another kind of substance. To prove that the

number of these changes is bounded by no narrow limits, I need but refer

to the rules of Permutation, which demonstrate that twelve letters of

the alphabet may be arranged in no fewer than 479,000,000 different

ways.[1] The elements are the letters of Nature's alphabet, their

compounds are the words of the language of Creation. The combinations

of sounds and of signs which express the ideas and sensations of man may

be limited to millions; but numberless are the hieroglyphs by which the

Divine wisdom and beneficence is inscribed on the pages of the

magnificent volume of Nature.

Of the sixty-six elementary bodies, not more than a dozen occur

commonly in animal and vegetable substances; these are Oxygen, Hydrogen,

Nitrogen, Carbon, Sulphur, Phosphorus, Chlorine, Silicium, Potassium,

Sodium, Calcium, Magnesium, and Iron. In addition to these, Iodine, and

sometimes Bromine, are found in plants which grow in or near the sea;

and the former element has also been detected in some of the lower

animals, and in land plants. Manganese, Lithium, Caesium, Rubidium,

and a few others of the simple bodies, occasionally occur in plants and

animals, but I believe their presence therein is always accidental.

_Proximate Composition of Animal Substances._--The differences between

vegetable and animal substances are often more apparent than real.

Indeed many of the more important of these substances are almost

identical in composition. The albumen which coagulates when the juices

of vegetables are boiled, is identical with the albumen of the white

of eggs; the fibrine of wheat is in no respect chemically different

from the fibrine, or clot, of the blood; and, lastly, the legumine,

or _vegetable caseine_, of peas is almost indistinguishable from the

curd of milk, or _animal caseine_. But not only has chemical research

demonstrated the identity of the albumen, fibrine, and caseine of

vegetables with three of the more important constituents of animals, it

has gone a step further, and proved that they differ from each other in

but a few unimportant respects. They are unquestionably convertible into

each other[2] within the animal organism; and their functions, as elements

of nutrition, are almost, if not quite, identical.

Exclusive of the blood, which contains the elements of every part of

the body, the animal organism is composed of three distinct classes of

substances--namely, _nitrogenous_, _non-nitrogenous_, and _mineral_.

All of these constituents, or substances capable of being converted

into them, must exist in the food. Certain articles, for example, milk,

contains all of them; but in others, for instance, butter, only one of

these substances is found. The nitrogenous part of the body embraces the

muscles, or lean flesh, the gelatine of the bones, and the skin and its

appendages--such as hair and horns; the non-nitrogenous constituents are

its fat and oil; and its mineral matter is found chiefly in the bony

framework. These constituents are not, however, isolated: the mineral

matter, no doubt, accumulates in certain parts, but in small quantities

it is found in every portion of the body; and although the fat forms a

distinct tissue, the muscles of the leanest animal are never free from

a sensible proportion of it.

Albumen, fibrine, and caseine are the principal nitrogenous constituents

of food, and as they are employed in the reparation of the nitrogenous

tissues of the animal body, they have been termed _flesh-formers_.

The fat and oil of animals are derived either from vegetable oil and

fat, or from some such substance as starch or sugar. The constituents

of food which form fat are termed _fat-formers_, and sometimes

_heat-givers_ or _respiratory elements_, from the notion that their

slow combustion in the animal body is the chief cause of its high

temperature.

The mineral elements of the body are furnished principally by the

varieties of food which contain nitrogen. The whey of milk is rich in

them; but they do not exist in pure butter, in starch, or in sugar.

Fat is a much more abundant constituent of the animal body than is

generally supposed, That this substance should constitute the greater

portion of the weight of an obese pig seems probable enough; but few

are aware that even in a lean sheep there is 50 per cent. more fat than

lean.

For a very accurate knowledge of the relative proportions of the fatty,

nitrogenous, and mineral constituents of the carcasses of animals used

as human food, we are indebted to Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert. Before

these investigators turned their attention to this subject, it had

scarcely attracted the notice of scientific men; but a notion appears to

have been current, amongst non-scientific people, at least, that in all,

save the fattest animals, the lean flesh greatly preponderated over the

fat. That this idea was unsustained by a foundation of fact, has been

clearly proved by the results of an investigation[3] undertaken a few

years ago by Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert--an investigation which I cannot

avoid characterising as one of the most laborious and apparently

trustworthy on record. The mere statement of the results of this inquiry

occupies 187 pages of one of the huge volumes of the Transactions of the

Royal Society--a fact which best indicates the immensity of the labour

which these gentlemen imposed upon themselves, and which, independently

of their other and numerous contributions to scientific agriculture,

entitles their names to most honourable mention in the annals of

science.

I shall now briefly advert to a few of the more important facts

established by Lawes and Gilbert. From a large number of oxen, sheep,

and pigs, on which feeding experiments were being conducted, ten

individuals were selected. These were, a fat calf, a half-fat ox, a

moderately fat ox, a fat lamb, a store sheep, a half-fat old sheep, a

fat sheep, a very fat sheep, a store pig, and a fat pig. These animals

were killed, and the different organs and parts of their bodies were

separately weighed and analysed. The results were, that, with the

exception of the calf, all the animals contained, respectively, more fat

than lean. The fat ox and the fat lamb contained each three times as

much fat as lean flesh, and the proportion of the fatty matters to the

nitrogenous constituents of the carcass of the very fat sheep was as 4

to 1. In the pig the fat greatly preponderated over the lean; the store

pig containing three times as much, and the fat pig five times as much

fat as lean.

That part of the animal which is consumed as food by man, is termed the

_carcass_ by the butcher, and contains by far the greater portion of

the fat of the animal. The _offal_, in the language of the butcher,

constitutes those parts which are not commonly consumed as human food,

at least by the well-to-do classes. In calves, oxen, lambs, and sheep,

the offal embraces the skin, the feet, and the head, and all the

internal organs, excepting the kidneys and their fatty envelope. The

offal of the pig is made up of all the internal organs, excepting the

kidneys and kidney fat. It is the relative proportion of fat in the

carcasses analysed by Lawes and Gilbert that I have stated; but as the

nitrogenous matters occur in greatest quantity in the offal, it is

necessary that the relative proportions of the constituents of the body,

taken as a whole, should be considered. On an average, then, it will be

found that a fat fully-grown animal will contain 49 per cent. of water,

33 per cent. of dry fat, 13 per cent. of dry nitrogenous matter--muscles

separated from fat, hide, &c.--and 3 per cent. of mineral matter. In a

lean animal the average proportions of the various constituents will be

54 per cent. of water, 25-1/2 per cent. dry fat, 17 per cent. of dry

nitrogenous substances, and 3-1/2 per cent. of mineral matter. In the

following table these proportions are set forth.

SUMMARY OF THE COMPOSITION OF THE TEN ANIMALS--SHOWING THE

PER-CENTAGES OF MINERAL MATTER, DRY NITROGENOUS COMPOUNDS,

FAT, TOTAL DRY SUBSTANCE, AND WATER.

1st. In Fresh Carcass. 2nd. In Fresh Offal (equal Sum of Parts,

excluding Contents of Stomachs and Intestines). 3rd. In Entire

Animal (Fasted Live-weight, including therefore the weight of

Contents of Stomachs and Intestines).

+-----------------------------------------+

| KEY: |

| A.--Mineral matter. |

| B.--Dry nitrogenous compounds. |

| C.--Fat. |

| D.--Dry substance. |

| E.--Water. |

| F.--Contents of viscera. |

| |

----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+

| Per cent. in Carcass. |

DESCRIPTION +--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+

OF ANIMAL. | A. | B. | C. | D. | E. |

----------------------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+

Fat calf | 4.48 | 16.6 | 16.6 | 37.7 | 62.3 |

Half-fat ox | 5.56 | 17.8 | 22.6 | 46.0 | 54.0 |

Fat ox | 4.56 | 15.0 | 34.8 | 54.4 | 45.6 |

Fat lamb | 3.63 | 10.9 | 36.9 | 51.4 | 48.6 |

Store sheep | 4.36 | 14.5 | 23.8 | 42.7 | 57.3 |

Half-fat old sheep | 4.13 | 14.9 | 31.3 | 50.3 | 49.7 |

Fat sheep | 3.45 | 11.5 | 45.4 | 60.3 | 39.7 |

Extra fat sheep | 2.77 | 9.1 | 55.1 | 67.0 | 33.0 |

Store pig | 2.57 | 14.0 | 28.1 | 44.7 | 55.3 |

Fat pig | 1.40 | 10.5 | 49.5 | 61.4 | 38.6 |

----------------------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+

Means of all | 3.69 | 13.5 | 34.4 | 51.6 | 48.4 |

----------------------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+

fat, and very fat animals | 3.75 | 13.3 | 36.5 | 53.6 | 46.4 |

----------------------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+

and very fat animals | 3.38 | 12.3 | 39.7 | 55.4 | 44.6 |

----------------------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+

----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+

| Per cent. in Offal. |

Description +--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+

of Animal. | A. | B. | C. | D. | E. |

----------------------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+

Fat calf | 3.41 | 17.1 | 14.6 | 35.1 | 64.9 |

Half-fat ox | 4.05 | 20.6 | 15.7 | 40.4 | 59.6 |

Fat ox | 3.40 | 17.5 | 26.3 | 47.2 | 52.8 |

Fat lamb | 2.45 | 18.9 | 20.1 | 41.5 | 58.5 |

Store sheep | 2.19 | 18.0 | 16.1 | 36.3 | 63.7 |

Half-fat old sheep | 2.72 | 17.7 | 18.5 | 38.9 | 61.1 |

Fat sheep | 2.32 | 16.1 | 26.4 | 44.8 | 55.2 |

Extra fat sheep | 3.64 | 16.8 | 34.5 | 54.9 | 45.1 |

Store pig | 3.07 | 14.0 | 15.0 | 32.1 | 67.9 |

Fat pig | 2.97 | 14.8 | 22.8 | 40.6 | 59.4 |

----------------------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+

Means of all | 3.02 | 17.2 | 21.0 | 41.2 | 58.8 |

----------------------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+

fat, and very fat animals | 3.12 | 17.4 | 22.4 | 42.9 | 57.1 |

----------------------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+

and very fat animals | 3.03 | 16.9 | 24.1 | 44.0 | 56.0 |

----------------------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+

----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+

| Per cent. in Entire Animal. |

Description +------+------+------+------+------+------+

of Animal. | A. | B. | C. | D. | F. | E. |

----------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+

Fat calf | 3.80 | 15.2 | 14.8 | 33.8 | 3.17 | 63.8 |

Half-fat ox | 4.66 | 16.6 | 19.1 | 40.3 | 8.19 | 51.5 |

Fat ox | 3.92 | 14.5 | 30.1 | 48.5 | 5.98 | 45.5 |

Fat lamb | 2.94 | 12.3 | 28.5 | 43.7 | 8.54 | 47.8 |

Store sheep | 3.16 | 14.8 | 18.7 | 36.7 | 6.00 | 57.3 |

Half-fat old sheep | 3.17 | 14.0 | 23.5 | 40.7 | 9.05 | 50.2 |

Fat sheep | 2.81 | 12.2 | 35.6 | 50.6 | 6.02 | 43.4 |

Extra fat sheep | 2.90 | 10.9 | 45.8 | 59.6 | 5.18 | 35.2 |

Store pig | 2.67 | 13.7 | 23.3 | 39.7 | 5.22 | 55.1 |

Fat pig | 1.65 | 10.9 | 42.2 | 54.7 | 3.97 | 41.3 |

----------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+

Means of all | 3.17 | 13.5 | 28.2 | 44.9 | 6.13 | 49.0 |

----------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+

fat, and very fat animals | 3.23 | 13.3 | 29.9 | 46.4 | 6.26 | 47.3 |

----------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+

and very fat animals | 3.00 | 12.7 | 32.8 | 48.5 | 5.48 | 46.0 |

----------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+

SECTION III.

USE OF FAT IN THE ANIMAL ECONOMY.

As fat forms so large a portion of the body, it is evident that

the part it plays in the animal economy must be a most important one.

The general opinion which prevails amongst scientific men as to its

physiological functions was originated by the celebrated Liebig.

According to his theory, the food of animals includes two distinct kinds

of substances--_plastic_[4] and _non-plastic_. The plastic materials are

composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and a little sulphur

and phosphorus. Albumen, fibrine, and casein are plastic elements of

nutrition; they form the lean flesh, or muscles, the membranes, and

cartilages, the gelatine of the bones, the skin, the hair, and, in

short, every part of the body which contains nitrogen. The _non-plastic_

elements of nutrition include fat, oil, starch, sugar, gum, and certain

constituents of fruits, such as pectine.

All non-plastic substances--and of each kind there are numerous

varieties--are capable of conversion, in the animal mechanism, into fat

and oil. The non-plastic food substances do not contain nitrogen, hence

they are commonly termed non-nitrogenous elements. The oily and fatty

matters contain a large proportion of carbon, their next most abundant

component is hydrogen, and they contain but little oxygen. Unlike the

plastic elements, they are--except the fats of the brain and nervous

tissue--altogether destitute of sulphur and phosphorus. The starchy,

saccharine, and gummy substances are composed of the same elements as

the fatty bodies, but they contain a higher proportion of oxygen.

According to Liebig, fat is used in the animal economy as a source of

internal heat. We all know that it is a most combustible body, and that

during its inflammation the most intense heat is developed. It is less

evident, but not less true, that heat is evolved during its slow

oxidation, or decay.

The more rapidly a body burns, the greater is the amount of heat evolved

by it in a _given time_; but the total amount of heat developed by a

specific weight of the body is the same, whether the combustion takes

place rapidly or slowly. An experiment performed with phosphorus

illustrates the case perfectly. If we burned two pieces of equal weight,

the one in oxygen, the other in atmospheric air, we should find that the

former would emit a light five times as brilliant as that evolved by the

latter, for the simple reason that its combustion would be five times as

rapid. The white, vapor-like matter into which phosphorus is converted

by its combustion, is termed _phosphoric acid_. It is composed of

phosphorus and oxygen. In forming an ounce of this compound, by the

direct oxidation, or combustion of phosphorus, the amount of force,

either as heat, or as heat and light, evolved is precisely the same,

whether the time expended in the process be a minute or a month.[5] If,

in the experiment I have described, we were to substitute two pieces of

fat for the fragments of phosphorus, the results would be precisely

similar. The fat burned in oxygen gas would emit intense light and heat;

but the total amount of these forces evolved would be neither greater

nor less than that developed during the slower and therefore less

brilliant combustion of the fat in ordinary atmospheric air. Now, as we

can demonstrate that an ounce of fat will emit a certain amount of heat,

if burned within a minute of time, and that neither a larger nor a

smaller amount will be developed if the combustion of the fat extend

over a period of five minutes, I think we may fairly assume that the

amount of heat evolved by the complete oxidation of a specific quantity

of fat is constant under all conditions, except, as I have already

explained, at high temperatures, when a portion of the heat is converted

into light.

In the animal organism fat is burned. The process of combustion no

doubt is a very slow one, but still the total amount of heat evolved

is just the same as if the fat were consumed in a furnace. When the

fat constituting a candle is burned, what becomes of it? Its elements,

carbon and hydrogen (we may disregard its small amount of oxygen)

combine with the oxygen of the air, and form carbonic acid gas and

water. What becomes of the fat consumed within the animal body? It also

is converted into carbonic acid gas and water. It is not difficult

to prove these statements to be facts. A candle will not burn in

atmospheric air which has been deprived of its oxygen, because there is

no substance present with which the elements of the taper can combine,

consequently the process of combustion cannot go on. Now, a man may in

one respect be compared with this taper. He is partly made up of fat;

that fat is consumed by the oxygen of the air, and the heat developed

thereby keeps the body warm. In the process of respiration oxygen is

introduced into the lungs, and from thence, by means of the blood

vessels, is conveyed throughout every part of the body. In some way, at

present not thoroughly understood, the elements of the fat combine with

the oxygen, and are converted into carbonic acid gas and water, which

are exhaled from the lungs and from the surface of the body.

Fat is a constituent of both animals and plants. The animal derives a

portion of its fat directly from the vegetable; but it possesses the

power of forming this substance from other organic bodies, such, for

example, as starch. Plants elaborate fat directly from the

minerals--carbonic acid gas, and water.

I have already explained that the growth of plants is, _caeteris

paribus_, directly proportionate to the amount of sunlight to which

they are exposed. Not less certainly is the force which constitutes the

sun-beam expended in grouping mineral atoms into organic forms, than is

the heat which converts water into steam. But in neither case is the

force destroyed. When the vaporous steam is condensed into the liquid

water, all the heat is restored, and becomes palpable. By the ultimate

decomposition of vegetable substances all the force expended on their

production is liberated, and, in some form, becomes manifest.

When the fat formed in the mechanisms of plants is decomposed in

the animal organism, two results follow:--The atoms of the fat are

re-converted to their original mineral, or statical conditions of

carbonic acid gas and water; and the force which maintained them in

their organic state is set free as heat, and its equivalent, motive

power.

One of the most useful instruments which the ingenuity of man has

devised, is the Thermometer. It is so familiarly known that I need

not describe it. This instrument does not enable us to estimate the

actual quantity of heat contained in a substance, but it indicates

the proportion of that subtile element which is _sensible_--that is

recognisable by the sense of touch. The dusky Hindu, clad in his single

cotton garment, and the Laplander in his suit of fur, are placed under

the most opposite conditions in relation to the heat of the sun--the

Indian is exposed during the whole year to Sol's most ardent beams,

whilst but a scant share of its genial rays goes to warm the body of

the Laplander. Now, if we placed the bulb of a thermometer beneath the

tongue of a Hindu, we would find the mercury to stand at 98 degrees on

Fahrenheit's scale, and if we repeated the experiment on a Laplander,

we would obtain an identical result. Numerous experiments of this

nature have been made on individuals in most parts of the world, and

the results have proved that the temperature of the blood of man is

98 degrees Fahrenheit, whether he be in India or at Nova Zembla, on

the _steppes_ of Russia, or the elevated _plateaus_ of America. This

invariability[6] of the temperature of the bodies of men and of all

other warm-blooded animals, appears the more wonderful when it it is

considered that the range of the temperature of the medium in which

they exist exceeds 200 degrees Fahrenheit. In India, the mercury in the

thermometer has been observed to stand at 145 degrees in the direct

sunlight, and at 120 degrees in the shade. In high latitudes the

temperature is sometimes so low as 100 degrees below zero. A Russian

army, in an expedition to China, in 1839, was exposed for several

successive days to a temperature of 42 degrees below zero, and suffered

severely in consequence.

The facts which I have cited clearly prove that the animal body

possesses the power of generating, or, to speak more correctly,

liberating heat, either from portions of its own mechanism or from

substances placed within that mechanism.

At one time it was the general belief amongst physiologists that one

portion of the food consumed by an animal was employed in repairing

the waste of its body, and the remaining part was burned as fuel,

evolving heat just in the same way as if it had been consumed in a

furnace. It was this theory that led to the classification of food into

flesh-formers, and heat-givers. It is now doubted if any portion of the

food be really burned in this way; and I, for one, think it far more

probable that, before its conversion into carbonic acid gas and water

(whereby, according to this theory, it develops the heat which keeps the

body warm), it first becomes assimilated, that is, becomes an integral

part of the animal body--blood, fat, muscle. Perhaps we would be

nearer the truth if we were to assume that heat is evolved during the

decomposition of both the nitrogenous and fatty constituents of the

body.

The constantly recurring contractions of the muscles must alone be a

source of much heat. The development of animal motive power is said to

be strictly proportionate to the amount of muscular tissue decomposed.

As the nitrogen of the latter is almost completely excreted under the

form of urea, the quantity of the latter daily eliminated from the

body of an animal is a measure of the decomposed muscular tissue, and

consequently of the amount of muscular power generated in the animal

organism.[7] The correspondence between the amount of the motive power

of an animal, and the quantity of effete nitrogen excreted from the

body, is limited to laboring men and to the lower animals. Strange as

it may appear, it is an incontrovertible fact that men whose pursuits

require the constant exercise of the intellectual faculties--lawyers,

writers, statesmen, students, scientific men, and other

brain-workers--excrete more urea than do men engaged in the most

physically laborious occupations. An activity of thoughts and ideas

involves a corresponding destruction of the tissues, and these require,

for their reparation, the consumption of food. Here, then, we have a

physical meaning for the common expression--"food for thought."

That the amount of heat developed in the animal organism, is

proportionate to the quantity of fatty matters (or of substances capable

of forming them) supplied to it in the shape of food, is a proposition

which admits of easy demonstration. The natives of warm regions do not

require the generation of much heat within their bodies, because the

temperature of the medium in which they exist is generally as high as,

or higher than, that of their blood. But as they must consume food for

the purpose of repairing the waste of their nitrogenous tissues, and as

every kind of food contains heat-producing elements, an excess of heat

is developed within their bodies, which, if allowed to accumulate, would

speedily produce fatal results. The means by which nature removes this

superabundant heat are admirably simple, as indeed all its contrivances

are. The skin is permeated with millions of pores, and through these

openings a large quantity of vapor is given off, and carries with it the

surplus heat. The pores are the orifices of minute convoluted tubes

which lie beneath the skin, and when straightened measure each about the

tenth of an inch, or, according to a writer in the _British and Foreign

Medico-Chirurgical Review_ (1859, page 349), the one-fifteenth of an

inch in length. According to Erasmus Wilson, the number of these tubes

which open into every square inch of the surface of the body is 2,800.

The total number of square inches on the surface of an average sized man

is 2,500, consequently the surface of his body is drained by not less

than twenty-eight miles of tubing, furnished with 7,000,000 openings.

The cooling of the body, by the evaporation of water from it, admits of

explanation by well-known natural laws. Water, in the state of vapor,

occupies a space 1,700 fold greater than it does in its liquid

condition. It is heat which causes its vaporous form, but it ceases to

be heat when it has accomplished this change in the condition of the

liquid; for, suffering itself an alteration, it passes into another form

of force--mechanical, or motive power. The heat generated within the

body is absorbed by the liquid water, the conversion of the latter into

vapor follows, and both the heat and the water, in their altered forms,

escape through the pores.

_Fatty food necessary in cold climates._--As a grave objection against

the chemical theory of heat, it has been urged that rice--the pabulum of

hundreds of millions of the inhabitants of tropical regions--contains an

exceedingly high proportion of heat-giving substances. I have, however,

great doubt as to rice ever forming the exclusive food of those people,

without their health being impaired in consequence of the deficiency in

that substance of the plastic elements of nutrition. Indeed I believe

it is a great mistake to assert that the natives of India live almost

exclusively on rice. This article, no doubt, forms a large proportion of

their food, but it is supplemented with pulse (the produce of leguminous

plants), which is rich in flesh-forming materials, also with dried fish,

butter, and various kinds of vegetable and animal food rich in nitrogen.

The innutritious nature of rice is clearly shown by its chemical

composition, and so large a quantity of it must the Hindu consume in

order to repair the waste of his body, that his stomach sometimes

acquires prodigious dimensions; hence the term "pot-bellied," so often

applied to the Indian ryot. I doubt very much, however, if the stomach

of the Hindu, large as it is, could accommodate a quantity of rice, the

combustion of which would produce a very excessive development of heat.

This substance, when cooked, contains a high proportion of water, the

evaporation of which carries off a large amount of the heat generated

by the combustion of its respiratory constituents. The amount of motive

power developed by the Hindu is small as compared with that which the

European is capable of exerting; hence he has less necessity for a

highly nitrogenous diet. On the whole, then, I am disposed to think

that the food of the natives of tropical climates contains sufficient

nitrogenous matters to effectually build up and keep in repair their

bodies; it also appears clear to me that the amount of heat developed

in their bodies is not excessive, and that it is readily disposed of

in converting the water, which enters so largely into their diet, into

vapor. The proportion of plastic to non-plastic elements in the diet

of the Hindu and of the well-fed European, is probably as follows:--

Nitrogenous. Non-nitrogenous

(calculated as starch.)

Hindu 1 to 9

European 1 to 8

This statement does not quite correspond with Liebig's, who estimates

the proportion of nitrogenous to non-nitrogenous substances in rice as

10 to 123, in beef as ten to seventeen, and in veal as ten to one. The

results of Lawes and Gilbert's investigations, already alluded to, have,

however, dispelled the illusion that the plastic constituents of flesh

exceed its non-plastic. In the potato, which at one time constituted

more of the food of the Irish peasantry than rice does that of the

Hindu, the proportion of plastic to non-plastic materials is as 10 to

110. The results of some analyses of the food grains consumed in the

Presidency of Madras, made by Professor Mayer, of the University of

Madras, clearly prove that the food of the inhabitants of that part of

India is of a far more highly nitrogenous character than is generally

supposed. That the Hindu, who subsists exclusively on rice, exhibits

all the symptoms of deficient nutrition, is a fact to which numerous

competent observers have testified.

A slight consideration of the facts which I have mentioned leads to the

conclusion that the food of the inhabitants of very cold regions is

required to produce a large amount of heat. Melons, rice, and other

watery vegetable productions, however delicious to the palate of the

Hindu, would be rejected with disgust by the Esquimaux, whilst the train

oil, blubber, and putrid seal's flesh which the children of the icy

North consider highly palatable, would excite the loathing of the East

Indian. On this subject I may appositely quote the following remarks by

Dr. Kane, the Arctic explorer:--"Our journeys have taught us the wisdom

of the Esquimaux appetite, and there are few among us who do not relish

a slice of raw blubber, or a chunk of frozen walrus beef. The liver of

a walrus (awuktanuk), eaten with little slices of his fat--of a verity

it is a delicious morsel. Fire would seem to spoil the curt, pithy

expression of vitality which belongs to its uncooked juices. Charles

Lamb's roast pig was nothing to awuktanuk. I wonder that raw beef is not

eaten at home. Deprived of extraneous fibre, it is neither indigestible

nor difficult to masticate. With acids and condiments, it makes a salad

which an educated palate cannot help relishing; and as a powerful and

condensed heat-making and anti-scorbutic food, it has no rival. I make

this last broad assertion after carefully considering its truth. The

natives of South Greenland prepare themselves for a long journey, by a

course of frozen seal. At Upper Navik they do the same with the narwhal,

which is thought more heat-making than the seal; while the bear, to use

their own expression, is 'stronger travel than all.' In Smith's Sound,

where the use of raw meat seems almost inevitable from the modes of

living of the people, walrus holds the first rank. Certainly this

pachyderm (Cetacean?) whose finely condensed tissue and delicately

permeating fat (oh! call it not blubber) assimilate it to the ox, is

beyond all others, and is the best _fuel_ a man can swallow." The

gastronomic capabilities of the Esquimaux and of other northern races,

and their fondness for fatty food, are exhibited in a sufficiently

strong light in the following statements:--

Captain Parry weighed and presented to an Esquimaux lad the following

articles:--

lb. oz.

Frozen seahorse flesh 4 4

Wild seahorse flesh 4 4

Bread and bread dust 1 12

Rich gravy soup 1 4

Water 10 0

Strong grog 1 tumbler.

Raw spirits 3 wine glasses.

This large quantity of food, which the lad did not consider excessive,

was consumed by him within twenty-four hours. According to Captain

Cochrane a reindeer suffices but for one repast for three Yakutis, and

five of them will devour at a sitting a calf weighing 200 lbs. Mr.

Hooper, one of the officers of the _Plover_, in his narrative of their

residence on the shores of Arctic America, states that "one of the

ladies who visited them was presented, as a jest, with a small tallow

candle, called a purser's dip. It was, notwithstanding, a very pleasant

joke to the damsel, who deliberately munched it up with evident relish,

and finally drew the wick between her set teeth to clean off any

remaining morsels of fat."

The partiality for certain kinds of food, and disgust at other

varieties, which particular races of men exhibit, is an instinct which

they cannot avoid obeying. Instead of exciting our disgust, as it too

frequently does, it should exalt our admiration of the infinite wisdom

of the Creator, who by simply adapting man's desire for particular kinds

of food to the external conditions under which he is placed, enables him

to occupy and "subdue the earth" from the Equator to the Poles.

The food of human beings and of the lower animals who inhabit cold

countries is nearly exclusively composed of animal substances.

The flesh, fat, and oil of animals occupy less space than do the

corresponding elements of vegetables; consequently the nutriment they

afford is more concentrated, and a larger quantity can be stowed away

without inconvenience in the stomach. The heat-forming constituents of

these substances constitute not only the chief part of their bulk, but

they are also capable of evolving a greater amount of heat than any

other of the respiratory elements. One pound of dry fat will develop as

much heat as two and a half pounds of dry starch, and the fattest flesh

includes four times as much plastic materials as rice. The diet of

people all over the world, unless under circumstances which prevent the

gratification of the natural appetite, establishes the intimate relation

which subsists between cold and food. The appetite of man is at a

minimum at the Equator, and at a maximum within the Arctic circle. The

statements as to the voracity of Hottentots and Bosjesmans, recorded in

the narratives of travellers, do not in the slightest degree affect the

general rule that more is eaten in cold climates than in hot regions.

These are mere records of gluttony, and it would not be difficult to

find parallel cases in our own country. Gluttony is an abnormal

appetite, and the greater part of the food devoured under its unnatural,

and generally unhealthy stimulus is not applied to the wants of the body.

The bodies of animals are heated masses of matter, and are subject to

the ordinary laws of _radiation_. Every substance radiates its heat, and

receives in return a portion of that emitted from surrounding bodies. If

two bodies of unequal temperature be placed near each other, the warmer

of the two will radiate a portion of its heat to the colder, and will

receive some of the heat of the latter in return; but as the warmer body

will emit more heat than it will receive, the result will be, that after

a time, the length of which will depend on the nature of the bodies,

both will acquire the same temperature. In very warm climates the bodies

of animals derive from the sun, and from the heated bodies surrounding

them, more heat than they give in return; and were it not for their

internal cooling apparatus, which I have described, the heat so absorbed

would prove fatal. In every climate, on the contrary, where the

temperature is lower than 98 deg., or "blood heat," the bodies of animals

lose more heat by radiation than they receive by the same means. The

philosophy of the _clothing_ of men and the _sheltering_ of the lower

animals is now evident. It is not only necessary that heat should be

developed within the body, but also that its wasteful expenditure should

be prevented. The latter is effected by interposing between the warm

body and the cold air some substances (such as fur or wool) which do not

readily permit the transmission of heat--_non-conductors_ as they are

termed. The close down of the eider duck is destined to protect its

bosom from the chilling influence of the icy waters of the North Polar

Sea, and the quadrupeds of the dreary Arctic Circle are sheltered by

thick fur coverings from the piercing blasts of its long winter.

_Fat Equivalents._--Whilst it is quite certain that neither nerves nor

muscles can be elaborated exclusively out of fat, starch, sugar, or any

other non-nitrogenous substance, it is almost equally clear that fat may

be formed out of nitrogenous tissue. The quantity of fat, however, which

is produced in the animal mechanism, from purely nitrogenous food

appears to be relatively very small. No animal is capable of subsisting

solely on muscle-forming materials, no matter how abundantly supplied.

The food of the Carnivora contains a large proportion of fat, and the

nutriment of the Herbivora is largely made up of starch and other

fat-formers. Dogs, geese, and other animals fed exclusively upon albumen

or white of egg rapidly decreased in weight, and after presenting all

the symptoms of starvation, died in three or four weeks.[8] The fat of

the bodies of the Carnivora is almost entirely formed--and probably with

little if any alteration--from the fatty constituents of their food.

Herbivorous animals, on the contrary, derive nearly all their fat from

starch, sugar, gum, cellulose, and other non-nitrogenous, but not fatty,

materials.

Although starch is convertible into fat, it is not to be understood that

a pound weight of one of these bodies is equivalent to an equal quantity

of the other. During the conversion of starch into fat, the greater

number of its constituent atoms is converted into water and carbonic

acid gas. The greater number of the more important metamorphoses of

organised matter, which take place in the animal organum, is the result

of either oxidation or fermentation: in the conversion of starch or

sugar into fat or oil, both of these processes, it is stated, take

place; a portion of the hydrogen is converted by oxidation into water,

and by fermentation carbonic acid gas is formed, which removes both

oxygen and carbon. Perhaps in the formation of fat fermentation is alone

employed--a portion of the oxygen being removed as water, and another

portion as carbonic acid. The chief difference between the ultimate

composition of starch and fat is, that the latter contains a much larger

proportion of hydrogen and carbon. The knowledge of the exact quantity

of starch required for the formation of a given amount of fat is of

importance in enabling us to estimate the relative feeding value of both

substances. Certain difficulties stand in the way of our acquiring an

accurate knowledge on this point. Not only are there several distinct

kinds of fat, but the precise formula, or atomic constitution of each,

is as yet veiled in doubt. There are three fats which occur in man

and the domesticated animals, and in vegetables. These are stearine,

margarine, and oleine. The relative proportions of these vary in each

animal: thus, in man and in the goose margarine is the most abundant

fat, whilst oleine[9] exists in the pig in a greater proportion than in

man, the sheep, or the ox. The composition of the animal fats does not,

however, vary much; and this fact, together with other considerations,

have led chemists to assume that two-and-a-half parts of starch are

required for the production of one part of the mixed fats of the

different animals. Grape sugar and the pectine bodies--substances which

form a large proportion of the food of the Herbivora--contain more

oxygen and hydrogen than exist in starch, and, consequently, are not

capable of forming so large an amount of fat as an equal weight of

starch. We may assume, then, that 2.50 parts of starch, 2.75 parts of

sugar, or 3 parts of the pectine bodies, are equivalent to 1 part of

fat.

SECTION IV.

RELATION BETWEEN THE COMPOSITION OF AN ANIMAL AND THAT OF ITS FOOD.

I have already stated that the results of the admirable investigations

of Lawes and Gilbert prove that the non-nitrogenous constituents of the

carcasses of oxen, sheep, and pigs exceed in weight their nitrogenous

elements. This fact is suggestive of many important questions. What

relation is there between the composition of an animal and that of

its food? Should an animal whose body contains three times as much

fat as lean flesh, be supplied with food containing three times

as much fat-formers as flesh-formers? To these questions there is

some difficulty in replying. There _is_ a relationship between the

composition of the body of an animal and that of its food; but the

relationship varies so greatly that it is impossible to determine with

any degree of accuracy the quantity of fat-formers which is required to

produce a given weight of fat in animals, taken _in globo_. If, however,

we deal with a particular animal placed under certain conditions, it is

then possible to ascertain the amount of fat which a given weight of

non-plastic food will produce. For the greater part of our knowledge

on this point, as on so many others, in the feeding of stock, we are

indebted to Lawes and Gilbert. In the case of sheep fed upon fattening

food these inquirers found that every 100 lbs. of dry[10] non-nitrogenous

substances consumed by them produced, on an average, an increase of 10

lbs. in the weight of their fat. In the case of pigs, also, supplied

with food, the proportion of non-nitrogenous matters appropriated to

the animal's increase was double that so applied in the bodies of the

sheep. As the food supplied to these animals contained but a very small

proportion of ready-formed fat, it was inferred that four-fifths of the

fat of the increase was derived from the sugar, starch, cellulose, and

pectine bodies.

These tables exhibit in a condensed form the results of one of the

elaborate series of experiments in relation to this point carried out

by Lawes and Gilbert:--

ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF CERTAIN CONSTITUENTS STORED UP IN _INCREASE_,

FOR 100 PARTS OF EACH CONSUMED IN FOOD BY FATTENING SHEEP.

+--------------------------------------------------------

| KEY:

| A.--No. of Animals.

| B.--Mineral matter (ash).[11]

| C.--Nitrogenous compounds (dry).

| D.--Non-nitrogenous substance.

| E.--Total dry substance.

--------------------+------------------------------------+-------------------

| Amount of each

| Class in Increase

|for 100 of the same

GENERAL PARTICULARS OF THE EXPERIMENTS. | consumed in Food.

--------------------+---+---------+-------------+--------+----+----+----+----

| | |-------------+--------| | | |

| | | in limited | ad | | | |

BREED. | A.|Duration.| quantity. |libitum.| B. | C. | D. | E.

--------------------+---+---------+-------------+--------+----+----+----+----

Class I.

--------------------+---+---------+-------------+--------+----+----+----+----

Cotswolds | 46| 19 5 | " | " |3.98|4.43|11.6|9.60

Leicesters | 40| 20 0 | " | " |3.15|3.39|12.0|9.48

Cross-bred wethers | 40| 20 0 | " | " |3.24|3.60|11.6|9.31

Cross-bred ewes | 40| 20 0 | " | " |3.25|3.60|11.8|9.40

Hants Downs | 40| 26 0 | " | " |3.40|4.28|10.3|8.49

Sussex Downs | 40| 26 0 | " | " |3.30|4.16|10.3|8.44

--------------------+---+---------+-------------+--------+----+----+----+----

Means |3.39|3.91|11.3|9.12

=========================================================+====+====+====+====

Class III.--(Series 1.)

--------------------+---+---------+-------------+--------+----+----+----+----

Hants Downs | 5 | 13 6 |Oilcake. | " |4.16|4.01|11.1|9.33

| 5 | 13 6 |Oats. | " |5.73|7.07|10.0|9.45

| 5 | 13 6 |Clover chaff.| " |3.98|7.44| 9.0|8.49

--------------------+---+---------+-------------+--------+---------+----+----

Means |4.62|6.17|10.0|9.09

=========================================================+====+====+====+====

Class IV.--(Series 2.)

--------------------+---+---------+-------------+--------+----+----+----+----

Hants Downs | 5 | 19 1 |Oilcake. | " |1.69|2.20| 6.3|5.07

| 5 | 19 1 |Linseed. | " |1.81|2.32| 6.2|5.19

| 5 | 19 1 |Barley. | " |1.75|2.82| 5.7|5.00

| 5 | 19 1 |Malt. | " |1.46|2.17| 5.3|4.61

--------------------+---+---------+-------------+--------+----+----+----+----

Means |1.68|2.38| 5.9|4.97

=========================================================+====+====+====+====

Class V.--(Series 4.)

--------------------+---+---------+-------------+--------+----+----+----+----

Hants Downs | 4 | 10 0 |Barley ground| " |3.80|5.65| 9.8|8.91

| 5 | 10 0 |Malt, ground,| " |4.04|6.18|10.4|9.49

| 4 | 10 0 |Barley ground| " |3.72|6.35| 8.9|8.28

| 4 | 10 0 |Malt, ground | " |2.95|4.34| 9.3|8.23

| 5 | 10 0 |Malt, ground,| " |3.46|5.46| 9.1|8.25

--------------------+---+---------+-------------+--------+----+----+----+----

Means |3.59|5.60| 9.5|8.63

---------------------------------------------------------+----+----+----+----

Means of all |3.27|4.41| 9.4|8.06

=========================================================+====+====+====+====

ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF CERTAIN CONSTITUENTS STORED UP IN _INCREASE_,

FOR 100 OF EACH CONSUMED IN FOOD, BY FATTENING PIGS.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------

| KEY:

| A.--No. of Animals.

| B.--Mineral matter (ash).

| C.--Nitrogenous compounds (dry).

| D.--Non-nitrogenous substance.

| E.--Total dry substance.

| F.--Fat.

-----------+----------------------------------------+------------------------

| Amount of each Class

| in Increase for

GENERAL PARTICULARS OF THE EXPERIMENTS. | 100 of the same

| consumed in Food.

--+--------+----------------------------------------+----+-----+----+----+---

| |--------------------+-------------------| | | | |

A.|Duration|limited quantities. | ad libitum. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F.

==+========+====================+===================+====+=====+====+====+===

The Analysed "Fat Pig."[12]

--+--------+----------------------------------------+----+-----+----+----+---

1 | 10 |Mixture of bran 1, bean and lentil-meal |2.66| 7.76|17.6|14.9|405

==+========+========================================+====+=====+====+====+===

Series I.

--+--------+--------------------+-------------------+----+-----+----+----+---

3 | 8 |None. |Bean & lentil-meal.|0.68| 4.88|25.3|17.5|621

3 | " |Indian-meal. | " |1.86| 6.39|23.7|17.9|477

3 | " |Indian-meal and bran| " |0.33| 5.02|21.1|16.1|362

3 | " |None. |Indian meal. |2.09| 9.28|20.9|18.6|300

3 | " |Bean and lentil-meal| " |0.99| 9.18|20.9|18.4|324

3 | " |Bran. | " |2.35|12.10|20.3|18.7|300

3 | " |Bean, lentil-meal, | " |2.71|10.03|21.3|18.5|307

| | and bran. | " | | | | |

| | +-------------------| | | | |

3 | " |Bean, lentil-meal, Indian-meal, bran, |0.22| 5.65|21.1|16.8|362

--+--------+----------------------------------------+----+-----+----+----+---

Means |0.74| 7.82|21.8|17.8|382

====================================================+====+=====+====+====+===

Series II.

--+--------+--------------------+-------------------+----+-----+----+----+---

3 | 8 |None. |Bean & lentil-meal.|3.20| 3.12|26.5|18.2|801

3 | " |Barley-meal. | " |0.16| 4.65|19.2|14.7|575

3 | " |Bran. | " |0.16| 3.99|21.2|15.2|547

3 | " |Barley-meal and bran| " |0.75| 4.57|20.1|15.6|514

3 | " |None. |Barley-meal. |0.56|10.09|18.5|16.9|574

3 | " |Bean and lentil-meal| " |0.53| 6.57|21.1|17.5|620

3 | " |Bran. | " |0.49| 9.79|18.9|16.9|506

3 | " |Bean, lentil-meal, | " |4.33| 4.49|22.7|18.0|578

| | +-------------------| | | | |

6 | " |Mixture of bran 1, barley-meal 2, and |0.27| 5.65|20.4|16.1|495

6 | " |Mixture of bran 1, bean lentil-meal 2, |1.58| 8.10|21.1|17.6|515

--+--------+----------------------------------------+----+-----+----+----+---

Means |0.59| 6.10|21.0|16.7|572

====================================================+====+=====+====+====+===

Series III.

--+--------+--------------------+-------------------+----+-----+----+----+---

4 | 8 |Dried Cod Fish. |Bran & Indian-meal |1.06| 5.06|24.3|18.1|315

4 | " | " |Indian-meal. |0.26| 8.16|25.6|20.9|352

--+--------+--------------------+-------------------+----+-----+----+----+---

Means |0.66| 6.61|24.9|19.5|333

====================================================+====+=====+====+====+===

Series IV.

--+--------+--------------------+-------------------+----+-----+----+----+---

3 | 10 |Lentil-meal & bran. |Sugar. |3.07| 9.30|19.4|16.9|

3 | " | " |Starch. |3.18| 9.36|19.4|16.9|

3 | " | " |Sugar & starch. |4.06|10.78|17.7|16.1|

| | +-------------------| | | | |

3 | " |Lentils, bran, sugar, starch, ad libitum|4.80| 9.96|18.7|16.5|

--+--------+----------------------------------------+----+-----+----+----|---

Means |3.78| 9.85|18.8|16.6|

----------------------------------------------------+----+-----+----+----+---

Means of all |0.58| 7.34|21.2|17.3|472

====================================================+====+=====+====+====+===

The larger appropriation of the non-nitrogenous constituents of its food

by the pig, as compared with the sheep, must not be attributed solely to

its greater tendency to fatten, but partly to the far more digestible

nature of the food supplied to it.

SECTION V.

RELATION BETWEEN THE QUANTITY OF FOOD CONSUMED BY AN ANIMAL, AND THE

INCREASE IN ITS WEIGHT, OR OF THE AMOUNT OF ITS WORK.

The manifestations of that wondrous and mysterious principle, _life_,

are completely dependent upon the decomposition of organised matter. Not

an effort of the mind, not a motion of the body, can be accomplished

without involving the destruction of a portion of the tissues. In a

general sense we may regard the fat of the animal to be its store of

fuel, and its lean flesh to be the source of its motive power. As the

evolution of heat within the body is proportionate to the quantity of

fat consumed, so also is the amount of force developed in the animal

mechanism in a direct ratio to the proportion of flesh decomposed.

The quantity of fat burned in the body is estimated by the amount of

carbonic acid gas expired from the lungs and perspired through the skin;

the proportion of flesh disorganised is ascertained by the quantity of

urea eliminated in the liquid egesta. The amount of urea excreted daily

by a man is influenced by the activity of his mind, as well as by that

of his body. A man engaged in physical labor wears out more of his body

than one who does no work; and a man occupied in a pursuit involving

intense mental application, consumes a greater proportion of his tissue

than the man who works only with his body.[13] In each of these cases,

there is a different amount of tissue disorganised, and consequently a

demand for different amounts of food, with which to repair the waste.

But all the food consumed by a man is not devoted to the reparation of

the tissue worn out in the operations of thinking and working. A human

being whose mind is a perfect blank, and who performs no bodily work,

excretes a large quantity of urea, the representative of an equivalent

amount of worn-out flesh. In fact the greater part of the food consumed

by a man serves merely to sustain the functions of the body--the

circulation of the blood--the action of the heart--the movements of the

muscles concerned in respiration--in a word, the various motions of the

body which are independent of the will. According to Professor Haughton,

about three-fourths of the food of a working man of 150 lbs. weight, are

used in merely keeping him _alive_, the remaining fourth is expended in

the production of mechanical force, constituting his daily toil.

In the nutrition of the lower animals, as in that of man, the amount of

food made use of by a particular individual depends upon its age, its

weight, the amount of work it performs, and probably its temper. As

three-fourths of the weight of the food of a laboring man are expended

in merely keeping him alive, it is obvious that the withholding of the

remaining fourth would render him incapable of working. An amount of

food which adequately maintains the vital and mechanical powers of three

men, serves merely to keep four alive. It is the same with the horse,

the ox, and every other animal useful to man: each makes use of a

certain amount of food, _for its own purposes_; all that is consumed

beyond that is applied for the benefit of its owner. Let us take the

case of two of our most useful quadrupeds--the horse and the ox. The

horse is used as an immediate source of motive power. For this purpose

food is supplied to it, the greater portion of which is consumed in

keeping the animal alive, and the rest for the development of its motive

power. Abundance of food is as necessary to the natural mechanism,

the horse, as fuel is to the artificial mechanism, the steam-engine.

In each case the amount of force developed is, within certain limits,

proportionate to the quantity of vegetable or altered vegetable matter

consumed. The greater portion of the ox's food is also consumed in

keeping its body alive, and the rest, instead of being expended in the

development of motive power, accumulates as surplus stores of flesh,

which in due time are applied to the purpose of repairing the organisms

of men. It is evident then, that the greater sufferer from the deficient

supply of food to animals is their owner. That they cannot be _taught_

to _fast_ is a fact which does not appear very patent to some minds.

The man who sought by gradually reducing the daily quantum of his

horse's provender to accustom it to work without eating, was justly

punished for his ignorant cruelty. The day before the horse's allowance

was to be reduced to pure water, and when its owner's hope appeared

certain of speedy realisation, the animal died. There are men who act

almost as foolishly as the parsimonious horse owner in this fable did;

and who are as properly punished as he was. Such men are to be found in

the farmers who overstock their sheep pastures, and whose "lean kine"

are the _laughing stock_ of their more intelligent neighbours.

The weight of a working full-grown horse does not vary from day

to day, as the weight of its egesta is equal to that of its food.

The desideratum in the case of the working animal is that its food

should be as thoroughly decomposed as possible, and the force pent

up in it liberated within the animal's body: as an ox, on the contrary,

increases in weight from day to day, it is desirable that as little as

possible of its food should be disorganised. The wasteful expenditure

of the animal's fat may be obviated by shelter, and the application of

artificial heat: the retardation of the destruction of its flesh is even

more under our control; for, as active muscular exertion involves the

decomposition of tissue, we have merely to diminish the activity of

the motions which cause this waste. This, in practice, is effected by

stall-feeding. Confined within the narrow boundaries of the stall, the

muscular action of the animal is reduced to a minimum, or limited to

those uncontrollable actions which are conditions in the maintenance

of animal life.

The proportion of the food of oxen, sheep, and pigs, which is

consumed in maintaining their vital functions, has not been accurately

ascertained; probably, as in the case of man, it is strictly

proportionate to the animal's weight. We can determine the amount

of plastic food consumed by an animal during a given period: we can

ascertain the increase (if any) in the weight of its body; and finally,

we can weigh and analyse its egesta. With these data it is comparatively

easy to ascertain the quantity of food which produced the increase in

the animal's weight; but they do not enable us to determine the amount

expended in keeping it alive, because the egesta might be largely made

up of unappropriated food--organised matter which had done no work in

the animal body. When we come to know the precise quantity of nitrogen,

in a purely, or nearly pure, mineral form[14] excreted by an animal,

then we shall be in a position to estimate the proportion of its food

expended in sustaining the essential vital processes which continuously

go on in its body. But although we are in ignorance as to the precise

quantity of flesh-formers expended in keeping the animal alive, we know

pretty accurately the amount which is consumed in producing a given

weight of its flesh, or rather in causing a certain increase in its

weight. This knowledge is the result of numerous investigations, of

which by far the most valuable are those of Lawes and Gilbert. These

experimenters found that fattening pigs stored up about 7-1/2 per

cent. of the plastic materials of their food, whilst sheep accumulated

somewhat less than 5 per cent. That is, 92-1/2 out of every 100 lbs.

weight of the nitrogenous food of the pig, and 95 out of every 100 lbs.

of that of the sheep, are eliminated in the excretions of those animals.

It appears from the results of Lawes and Gilbert's experiments, that

pigs store up in their _increase_ about 20 per cent., sheep 12 per

cent., and oxen 8 per cent. of their (dry) food. The relative increase

of the fatty, nitrogenous, and mineral constituents whilst fattening,

are shown in this table.

---------------------+-------------------------------------------------

|Estimated per cent. in Increase whilst Fattening.

CASES. +--------+-----------+-----------+----------------

|Mineral |Nitrogenous| |

| matter |matter | Fat (dry).| Total dry

|(ash). |(dry). | | substance.

---------------------+--------+-----------+-----------+----------------

Average of 98 oxen | 1.47 | 7.69 | 66.2 | 75.4

Average of 348 sheep | 1.80 | 7.13 | 70.4 | 79.53

Average of 80 pigs | 0.44 | 6.44 | 71.5 | 78.40

---------------------+--------+-----------+-----------+----------------

The quantity of food consumed daily by an animal is, as might be expected,

proportionate to the weight of its body. The pig consumes, for every 100

lbs. of its weight, from 26 to 30 lbs. of food, the sheep 15 lbs., and

the ox 12 to 13 lbs. These figures and the statements which I have made

relative to the proportions of fat and plastic elements in the animals'

bodies, apply to them in their fattening state, and when the food is

of a highly nutritious character. The calf and the young pig will

make use--to cause their increase--of a larger portion of nitrogenous

matters. The sheep, however, being early brought to maturity, will, even

when very young, store up the plastic and non-plastic constituents of

its food, in nearly the same relative proportions that I have mentioned.

As it is the food taken into the body that produces heat and motion, it

might at first sight appear an easy matter to determine the amount of

heat or of motion which a given weight of a particular kind of food is

capable of producing within the animal mechanism. But this performance

is not so easy a task as it appears to be. In the first place, all of

the food may not be perfectly oxidised, though thoroughly disorganised

within the body; secondly, as animals rarely subsist on one kind of

food, it is difficult, when they are supplied with mixed aliments, to

determine which of them is the most perfectly decomposed. But though the

difficulties which I have mentioned, and many others, render the task

of determining the nutritive values of food substances difficult, the

problem is by no means insoluble, and, in fact, is in a fair way of

being solved. Professor Frankland, in a paper published in the number

of the _Philosophical Magazine_ for September, 1866, determines the

relative alimental value of foods by ascertaining the quantity of heat

evolved by each when burned in oxygen gas. From the results of these

researches he has constructed a table, showing the amount of food

necessary to keep a man alive for twenty-four hours. The following

figures, which I select from this table, are of interest to the

stock-feeder:--

Weight necessary to sustain a

man's life for twenty-four hours.

Kinds of Food. Ounces.

Potatoes 13.4

Apples 20.7

Oatmeal 3.4

Flour 3.5

Pea Meal 3.5

Bread 6.4

Milk 21.2

Carrots 25.6

Cabbage 31.8

Butter 1.8

Lump Sugar 3.9

These figures show the relative calefacient, or heat-producing powers of

the different foods named _outside_ the body; but there is some doubt as

to their having the same relative values when burned _within_ the body.

The woody fibre of the carrots and cabbages is very combustible in the

coal furnace, but it is very doubtful if more than 20 or 30 per cent. of

this substance is ever burned in the _animal furnace_. However, such

inquiries as those carried out by Frankland possess great value; and

tables constructed upon their results cannot fail to be useful in the

drawing up of dietary scales, whether for man or for the inferior

animals.

I may here remark, that in my opinion the nutritive value of food admits

of being very accurately determined by the adoption of the following

method:--

1. The animal experimented upon to be supplied daily with a weighed

quantity of food, the composition and calefacient value of which had

been accurately determined. 2. The gases, vapors, and liquid and solid

egesta thrown off from its body to be collected, analysed, and the

calefacient[15] value of the combustible portion of them to be determined.

3. The increase (if any) of the weight of the animal to be ascertained.

4. The difference between the amount of heat evolvable by the foods

before being consumed, and that actually obtained by the combustion

of the egesta into which they were ultimately converted, would be the

amount actually set free and rendered available within the body. The

calculations would be somewhat affected by an increase in the weight

of the animal's body; but it would not be difficult to keep the weight

stationary, or nearly so, and there are other ways of getting over

such a difficulty. An experiment such as this would be a costly one,

and could not be properly conducted unless by the aid of an apparatus

similar to that employed by Pettenkofer in his experiments on

respiration. This apparatus, which was made at the expense of the King

of Bavaria, cost nearly L600.

_Value of Manure._--It is a complication in the question of the

economic feeding of the farm animals that the value of their manure

must be taken into account. Of the three classes of food constituents,

two--the mineral and nitrogenous--are recoverable in the animal's body

and manure; the non-nitrogenous is partly recoverable in the fat.

I shall take the case of a sheep, which will consume weekly per 100

lbs. of its weight, 12 lbs. of fat-formers, and 3 lbs. of flesh-formers.

Twelve per cent. of the fat-formers will be retained in the _increase_,

but the rest will be expended in keeping the animal warm, and the

products of its combustion--carbonic acid and water--will be useless to

the farmer. It is, therefore, desirable to diminish as much as possible

the combustion of fatty matter in the animal's body; and this is

effected, as I have already explained, by keeping it in a warm place.

Of the flesh-forming substance only five per cent. is retained in the

increase, the rest is partly consumed in carrying on the movements of

the animal--partly expelled from its body unaltered, or but slightly

altered, in composition. The solid excrement of the animal contains

all the undigested food; but of this only the mineral and nitrogenous

constituents are valuable as manure. The nitrogen of the plastic

materials which are expended in maintaining the functions of the body is

eliminated from the lungs, through the skin, and by the kidneys--perhaps

also, but certainly only to a small extent, by the rectum.

The food consumed by an animal is disposed of in the following way:--A

portion passes unchanged, or but slightly altered, through the body;

another part is assimilated and subsequently disorganised and ejected;

the rest is converted into the carcass of the animal at the time of its

death. The undigested food and aliment which had undergone conversion

into flesh and other tissues, and subsequent disorganisation, constitute

the excrements, or manure, of the animal. The richer in nitrogen and

phosphoric acid the food is, the more valuable will be the manure; so

that the money value of a feeding stuff is not determinable merely by

the amount of flesh which it makes, but also, and to a great extent,

by the value of the manure into which it is ultimately converted.

Corn and oil-cakes are powerful fertilisers of the soil; but the three

principles which constitute their manurial value--namely, nitrogen

(ammonia), phosphoric acid, and potash--are purchasable at far lower

prices in guano and other manures. Nevertheless, many farmers believe

that the most economical way to produce good manure is to feed their

stock with concentrated aliment, in order to greatly increase the value

of their excreta. They consider that a pound's worth of oil-cake, or of

corn, will produce at least a pound's worth of meat, and that the manure

will be had for nothing, or, rather, will be the profit of the business.

The richer food is in nitrogen and phosphoric acid, the more valuable

will be the manure it yields. It follows, therefore, that if two kinds

of feeding stuff produce equal amounts of meat, that the preference

should be given to that which contains the more nitrogen and phosphoric

acid. Mr. Lawes, who has thrown light upon this point, as well as upon

so many others, has made careful estimates of the value of the manure

produced from different foods. They are given in the following table:--

TABLE

Showing the estimated value of the manure obtained on the

consumption of one ton of different articles of food; each

supposed to be of good quality of its kind.

Estimated Money Value

Description of Food. of the Manure from

One Ton of each Food.

1. Decorticated cotton-seed cake L6 10 0

2. Rape-cake 4 18 0

3. Linseed-cake 4 12 0

4. Malt-dust 4 5 0

5. Lentils 3 17 0

6. Linseed 3 13 0

7. Tares 3 13 6

8. Beans 3 13 6

9. Peas 3 2 6

10. Locust beans 1 2 6(?)

11. Oats 1 14 6

12. Wheat 1 13 0

13. Indian corn 1 11 6

14. Malt 1 11 6

15. Barley 1 9 6

16. Clover-hay 2 5 0

17. Meadow-hay 1 10 0

18. Oat-straw 0 13 6

19. Wheat-straw 0 12 6

20. Barley-straw 0 10 6

21. Potatoes 0 7 0

22. Mangolds 0 5 0

23. Swedish turnips 0 4 3

24. Common turnips 0 4 0

25. Carrots 0 4 0

All the saline matter contained in the food is either converted into

flesh, or is recoverable in the form of manure, but a portion of its

nitrogen appears to be lost by respiration and perspiration. Reiset

states that 100 parts of the nitrogen of food given to sheep upon

which he experimented, were disposed of as follows:--

Recovered in the excreta 58.3

Recovered in the meat, tallow, and skin 13.7

Lost in respiration 28.0

------

100.00

Haughton's experiments, performed upon men, gave results which proved

that no portion of the nitrogen of their food was lost by perspiration

or by respiration. Barral, on the contrary, asserts that nitrogen

is given off from the bodies of both man and the inferior animals.

Boussingault states that horses, sheep, and pigs exhale nitrogen.

A cow, giving milk, on which he had experimented, lost 15 per cent.

of the nitrogen of its food by perspiration. The amount of nitrogen

which Reiset states that sheep exhale is exceedingly great, and it

is difficult to reconcile his results with those obtained by Voit,

Bischoff, Regnault, Pettenkofer, and Haughton. Of course, men and sheep

are widely different animals; but still it is unlikely that all the

nitrogen of the food of man should be recoverable in his egesta, whilst

nearly a third of the nitrogen of the food of the sheep should be

dissipated as gas. I think further experiments are necessary before this

point can be regarded as settled; and it is probable that it will yet be

found that all, or nearly all, of the nitrogen of the food of animals is

recoverable in their egesta.

Regarding, then, an animal as a mechanism by which meat is to be

"manufactured," five economic points in relation to it demand the

feeder's attention: these are--the first cost of the mechanism, the

expense of maintaining the mechanism in working order, the price of

the raw materials intended for conversion into meat, the value of the

meat, and the value of the manure. In proportion to the attention given

to these points, will be the feeder's profits; but they are, to some

extent, affected by the climatic, geographic, and other conditions under

which the farm is placed.

* * * * *

[Footnote 1: If the elements were only capable of combining with each

other in simple ratios, the number of their combinations would be as

limited as that of the letters of the alphabet; but as one, two, or

more atoms of oxygen can combine with one, two, or more atoms of

other elements, we can assign no limits to the number of _possible_

combinations. There are hundreds of distinct substances formed of but

two elements, namely, hydrogen and carbon.]

[Footnote 2: In a paper by Professor Sullivan, of Dublin, the conversion

of one of these substances into another _outside_ the animal mechanism,

is almost incontrovertibly proved.]

[Footnote 3: _Experimental Inquiry into the Composition of some of

the Animals Fed and Slaughtered as Human Food._ By John Bennet Lawes,

F.R.S., F.C.S., and Joseph Henry Gilbert, Ph.D., F.C.S. _Philosophical

Transactions of the Royal Society._ Part II., 1860.]

[Footnote 4: From the Greek _plasso_, "to form." Plastic materials are

sometimes termed _formative_ elements; both terms imply the belief that

they are capable of giving shape, or form, not only to themselves, but

also to other kinds of matter not possessed of formative power.]

[Footnote 5: The slow conversion of phosphorus into phosphoric acid

takes place in the animal organism; its gradual oxidation in the open

air gives rise only to an imperfectly oxidised body--_phosphorous acid_.

But the latter fact does not invalidate the general proposition, that

the heat emitted by a substance undergoing the process of oxidation is

proportionate to the amount of oxygen with which it combines, and is not

influenced by the length of time occupied by the process, further than

this, that if the oxidation be _very_ rapidly effected, a portion of the

heat will be converted into an _equivalent_ amount of light.]

[Footnote 6: This statement is not absolutely correct, but the range

of variation is confined within such narrow limits as to be quite

insignificant.]

[Footnote 7: Doubt has recently been thrown on the truth of this belief

by Frankland, Fick, and Wislicenus.]

[Footnote 8: The results of Savory's experiments on rats appear to prove

that animals can live on food destitute of fat, sugar, starch, or any

other fat-forming substance. I think, however, that animals could hardly

thrive on purely nitrogenous food. The conclusions which certain late

writers, who object to Liebig's theory of animal heat, have deduced from

Savory's investigations, appear to me to be quite unfounded.]

[Footnote 9: So termed because it is the basis of the common oils; the

fluid portion of fat is composed of oleine.]

[Footnote 10: The term _dry_ is applied to the _solid_ constituents of

the food. Thus, a pig fed with 100 lbs. of potatoes would be said to

have been supplied with 25 lbs. of dry potatoes, because water forms

75 per cent. of the weight of those tubers.]

[Footnote 11: The amounts of "mineral matter" are too high, owing to the

adventitious matters (dirt) retained by the wool.]

[Footnote 12: This pig was completely analysed by Lawes and Gilbert.]

[Footnote 13: The results of recent and accurately conducted

investigations prove that men engaged in occupations requiring the

highest exercise of the intellectual faculties, require more nutritious

food, and even a greater quantity of nutriment, than the hardest worked

laborers, such as paviours, and navvies. I have been assured by an

extensive manufacturer, that on promoting his workmen to situations of

_greater_ responsibility but _less_ physically laborious than those

previously filled by them, he found that they required more food and

that, too, of a better quality. This change in their appetite was

not the result of increased wages, which in most cases remained the

same--the decrease in the amount of labour exacted being considered in

most cases a sufficient equivalent for the increased responsibility

thrown upon them.]

[Footnote 14: As ammonia, urea, uric acid, or hippuric acid; all of which

are nearly or perfectly mineralised substances.]

[Footnote 15: The excrements of animals are capable of evolving, by

combustion, enormous amounts of heat.]

PART II.

ON THE BREEDING AND BREEDS OF STOCK.

SECTION I.

THE BREEDING OF STOCK.

_Cross Breeding._--For many years past feeders have zealously occupied

themselves in the improvement of their stock, and the result of their

labors is observable in the marked superiority of the breeds of the

present day over their ancestors in the last century. The improvement

of animals designed as food for man is effected by keeping them on a

liberal dietary, by selecting only the best individuals for sires and

dams, and by combining the excellencies of two or more varieties of a

species in one breed. A species consists of a number of animals which

exhibit so many points of resemblance, that they are regarded by the

great majority of naturalists to be the descendants of a single pair.

If we except the believers in the hypotheses relative to the origin

of existing varieties of animals and plants, propounded by Lamarck,

Darwin, and other naturalists of the "advanced school," there is a

general belief in the immutability of species. The individuals of an

existing species, say dogs, can never acquire the peculiar features

of another species; nor can their descendants, if we except hybrids,

ever become animals in which the characteristics of the dog tribe are

irrecognisable. By various influences, such as, for example, differences

in food and climate, and domestication, a species may be split into

_varieties_, or _breeds_, all of which, however, retain the more

important characteristics of the primordial type. There appears to be

no limit to the varieties of dogs, yet one can perceive by a glance that

there is no specific difference between the huge Mont St. Bernard dog

and the diminutive poodle, or between the sparse greyhound and the burly

mastiff. All the varieties of our domestic fowl have been traced to

a common origin--the wild Indian fowl (_Gallus bankiva_). Even Darwin

admits that all the existing kinds of horses are, in all probability,

the descendants of an original stock; and it is generally agreed that

the scores of varieties of pigeons own a common ancestor in the rock

pigeon (_Columba livia_).

As certain individuals are grouped by naturalists into species, so

particular species, which in habits and general appearance resemble each

other, are arranged under the head of genus. The horse, the ass, and the

zebra are formed on nearly the same anatomical plan; they are therefore

classed together, and designated the genus _Equus_, a term derived from

the Latin word _equus_, a horse--that animal being regarded as the type,

or perfect member of the group. Thus the horse, in the nomenclature of

the naturalist, is termed _Equus caballus_; the ass, _Equus asinus_; and

the zebra, _Equus zebra_. By a further extension of this principle of

classification, very closely allied genera are united under the term

of _family_.

The different varieties of the same species breed, as might be

anticipated, freely together; but it frequently happens that two

individuals of different species pair, and produce an animal which

inherits some of the properties of each of its progenitors. These

half-breeds are termed _hybrids_, or _mules_, and we have familiar

examples of them in the common mule and the jennet. As a general rule,

animals exhibit a disinclination to breed with other than members of

their own species; and although the interference of man may overcome

this natural repugnance, he can only effect the fruitful congress of

individuals belonging to closely allied species, being members of the

same genus. Hybrids in the genus _Equus_ are very common. A cross has

been produced between the he-goat and the ewe; the camel and the

dromedary have bred together; and Buffon succeeded in producing a hybrid

in which three animals were represented--namely, the bison, the zebu,

and the ox. On the other hand, attempts to effect a cross between

animals belonging to different families have generally failed; nor is

it at all probable that a cross will ever be produced between the pig

and the sheep, between the horse and the cow, or, most unlikely of all,

between the dog and the cat.

It is the general belief that hybrids are sterile, or, at least, that

they are incapable of propagation _inter se_. This may be true with

respect to the hybrids of species not very closely allied; but that

there are exceptions to the rule is quite clear from Roux's experiments

with hares and rabbits. This gentleman, who is, or was, the president

of a French agricultural society, but who makes no profession of

scientific knowledge, has succeeded, after several failures, in producing

a fruitful cross between the rabbit and the hare. This hybrid has

received the name of leporide (from the Latin _leporinus_, pertaining to

a hare), and it is different from former crosses, in being five parts

hare, and three parts rabbit. M. Roux has bred this hybrid during the

last eighteen years, and has not observed the slightest appearance

of decay of race manifest itself up to the present, so that, for all

practical purposes, the leporide may be regarded as an addition to the

distinct species of animals. The leporide fattens rapidly, and with but

little expenditure of food. Sold at the age of four months, it realises,

in France, a price four times greater than that commanded by a rabbit of

the same age; and at a year old it weighs on an average ten pounds, and

sometimes as much as sixteen pounds. It breeds at four months, continues

thirty days in gestation, and yearly produces five or six litters of

from five to eight young. To produce this hybrid is by no means

difficult. A leveret, just old enough to dispense with the maternal

nutriment, should be placed with a few doe rabbits of his own age,

apart from other animals. He will soon become familiar with the does,

and when they attain the age of puberty, all the rabbits save one or two

should be removed. Speedily those left with the hare will become with

young, upon which they should be removed, and replaced by others. After

this the hare should be kept in a hutch by himself, and a doe left with

him at night only. As the hare is naturally a very shy animal, it will

only breed when perfect quietness prevails. The half-bred produced in

the first instance should now be put to the hare, and a cross, three

parts hare, and one part rabbit, obtained. The permanent breed should

then be obtained by crossing the quadroon doe leporide, if I may use the

term, with the half-bred buck.

I have directed attention to the production of the leporide because

I believe that the problems in relation to it, which have been solved

by M. Roux, have an important bearing upon the breeding of animals

of greater importance than hares and rabbits. Here we find a race of

animals produced by the fusion of two species, which naturally exist in

a state of mutual enmity, and which differ in many important respects.

The hare and the rabbit are respectively of but little value as food, at

least they are of no importance to the feeder; yet a cross between them

turns out to be an excellent meat-producing animal, which may be reared

with considerable profit to the feeder. It is thus clearly shown that

two kinds of animals, neither of which is of great utility, may give

rise to an excellent cross, if their blood, so to speak, be blended in

proper proportions. A half-bred animal may be less valuable than its

parents, but a quadroon may greatly excel its progenitors. The goat

and sheep are so closely related that they are classed by naturalists

under one head--_Capridae_. Some kinds of sheep have hair like goats, and

certain varieties of goats have fleeces that closely resemble those on

the sheep. There are sheep with horns, and goats without those striking

appendages. The Cape of Good Hope goat might easily be mistaken for a

sheep. It would seem, judging by the results of Roux's experiments, that

there is no great difficulty in the way of obtaining a cross between the

sheep and the goat. I do not mean an ordinary half-breed, but a prolific

hybrid similar to the leporide. Of course, it is impossible, _a priori_,

to say whether or not such a hybrid race, supposing it produceable,

would be valuable; but as goats can find a subsistence on mountains

where sheep would starve, it is possible that an animal, essentially a

sheep, but with a streak of goat blood in it, could be profitably kept

on very poor uplands. Whether a race of what we might term _caprides_ be

formed or not we have derived most suggestive information from M. Roux's

experiments, which I hope may be turned to account in what is by far the

most important field of enquiry, the judicious crossing of varieties of

the same species.

It is a _quaestio vexata_ whether or not the parents generally exercise

different influences upon the shape and size of their offspring. Mr.

Spooner supports the supposition--a very popular one--that the sire

gives shape to the external organs, whilst the dam affects the internal

organisation. I have considerable doubt as to the probability of this

theory. The children who spring from the union of a white man with a

negress possess physical and intellectual qualities which are nearly if

not quite the _mean_ of their parents; but the offspring of parents,

both of the same race--be it Caucasian, Mongolian, or Indian--frequently

conform, intellectually and corporeally, to either of their progenitors.

Thus, of the children of a tall, thin, dark man, and a short, fat,

fair woman, some will be like their father, and the others will

resemble their mother, or, perhaps, all may "take after" either parent.

Sometimes a child appears to be in every respect unlike its parents,

and occasionally the likeness of an ancestor appears in a descendant, in

whom no resemblance to his immediate progenitors can be detected. It is

highly probable that both parents exercise, under most circumstances, a

joint influence upon the qualities of their offspring, but that one of

them may produce so much greater an effect that the influence of the

other is not recognisable, except perhaps to a very close observer. But

I doubt very much that any particular organ of the offspring is, as a

rule, more liable to the influence of the sire than of the dam, or _vice

versa_; and the breeder who believes that the sire alone is concerned in

moulding the external form of the offspring, and who consequently pays

no attention to this point in the dam, will often find himself out in

his reckonings. In order to be certain of a satisfactory result, the dam

should in every respect be equal to the sire. In practice, however, this

is not always the case, for as sires are so few as compared with the

number of dams, the greatest efforts have been directed towards the

improvement of the former.

There is, or ought to be, a familiar maxim with breeders, that "like

begets like, or the likeness of an ancestor." This is a "wise saw," of

which there are many "modern instances:" the excellencies or defects of

sire or dam are certain to be transmitted through several generations,

though they may not appear in all. As a general rule, good animals will

produce a good, and defective animals a defective, offspring, but it

sometimes happens that a bull or cow, of the best blood, is decidedly

inferior, whilst really good animals are occasionally the produce of

parents of "low degree." If the defects or excellencies of animals were

ineradicable there would be no need for the science of breeding; but by

the continual selection of only the most superior animals for breeding

purposes the defects of a species gradually disappear, and the good

qualities are alone transmitted. As, however, animals that are used as

food for man are to some extent in an abnormal condition, the points

which may be excellencies in that state, would not have been such in the

original condition of the animal. We find, therefore, that the improved

breeds of oxen and sheep exhibit some tendency to revert to their

original condition, and it is only by close attention to the diet,

breeding, and general management of these animals that this tendency can

be successfully resisted. Sometimes, however, an animal of even the best

breed will "return to nature," or will acquire some undesirable quality;

such an animal should be rejected for breeding purposes, for its defects

would in all probability be transmitted to its descendants, near or

remote. A case, which admirably illustrates this point, is recorded in

the _Philosophical Transactions_ for 1813, and it is sufficiently

interesting to be mentioned here:--

Seth Wright, who possessed a small farm on the Charles River,

about sixteen miles from Boston, had a small flock, consisting

of fifteen ewes and one ram. One of these ewes, in 1791, produced

a singular-shaped male lamb. Wright was advised to kill his former

ram and keep this new one in place of it; the consequence was, the

formation of a new breed of sheep, which gradually spread over a

considerable part of New England, but the introduction of the Merino

has nearly destroyed them again. This new variety was called the

Otter, or "Ankon" breed. They are remarkable for the shortness of

their legs, and the crookedness of their forelegs, like an elbow.

They are much more feeble and much smaller than the common sheep,

and less able to break over low fences; and this was the reason

of their being continued and propagated.

Here we have an instance of an animal propagating a defect through

a great number of descendants, though it had not acquired it from

its own ancestors. It is, however, probable that occasionally a male

descendant of this short-legged ram possessed considerably longer organs

of locomotion than the founder of his breed; and, consequently, if

selected for breeding purposes might become the founder of a long-legged

variety, in which, however, a couple of pairs of short-legs would

occasionally present themselves. I have a notion that the higher animals

are in the scale of being, the greater is their tendency to transmit

their acquired good or bad habits to their posterity. Dogs are, perhaps,

the most intelligent of the inferior animals, and it is well known

that they transmit to their offspring their acquired as well as their

natural habits. I doubt very much that those most stupid of creatures,

guinea-pigs, possess this property in any sensible degree; or, indeed,

that like the canine tribe, they can be readily made to acquire

artificial peculiarities: but there once flourished a "learned pig,"

and it would be worth inquiring whether or not its descendants, like the

descendants of the trained setter, and pointer, were at all benefited by

the education of their ancestor. I shall conclude this part of my subject

in the words of Professor Tanner: "In all cases where the breed has been

carefully preserved pure, great benefit will result from doing so. The

character of a breed becomes more and more concentrated and confirmed in

a pedigree animal, and this character is rendered more fully hereditary

in proportion to the number of generations through which it has been

transmitted. By the aid of pedigree, purity of blood may be insured, and

a systematic plan adopted by which we can perpetuate distinct families,

and thereby obtain a change of blood without its being a cross. It is

evident that any one adopting a systematic arrangement will be able to

do this more effectually than another without this aid. This is the more

important when the number of families is small, as is the case with

Devons and Herefords, especially the former. The individual animals from

which the Devons are descended are very limited in number, and in a few

hands; but, with some honourable exceptions, little attention is given

to this point. The importance is rendered evident by the decreasing size

of the breed, the number of barren heifers, and the increased delicacy

of constitution shown in the stock of many breeders of that district who

are not particular in this respect. The contrast between such herds,

and those in which more care and judgment are exercised, renders the

advantages of attention to pedigree very evident; for here the strength

of constitution is retained, together with many of the advantages of

this valuable breed."

SECTION II.

THE BREEDS OF STOCK.

The nature of the animal determines, as I have already stated, the

proportion of its food carried off in its increase; but this point is

also greatly influenced by its _variety_, or _breed_. Certain breeds

which have for a long period been kept on bulky food, and obliged

to roam in quest of it, appear to have acquired a normal tendency to

_leanness_. No doubt, if they were supplied with highly nutritious

food for many successive generations, these breeds might eventually

exhibit as great a tendency to fatten as they now do to remain in a

lean condition. As it is, the horned cattle of Kerry, Wales, and some

other regions, rarely become fat, no matter how abundantly they may be

supplied with fattening food. On the other hand, the Herefords, but more

especially the Shorthorns, exhibit a natural disposition to obesity, and

such animals alone should be stall-fed. It is noteworthy that animals

which are naturally disposed to yield abundance of milk are often the

best adapted for fattening; but it would appear that the continuous

use of highly fattening food, and the observance of the various other

conditions in the _forcing_ system, diminish the activity of the lacteal

secretion, and increase the tendency to fatness in the races of the

bovine tribe. The Shorthorns were at one time famous for their milking

capabilities, but latterly their galactophoric reputation has greatly

declined. Still I am disposed to believe, that if some of those animals

were placed under conditions favorable to the improvement of dairy

stock, herds of Shorthorn milch cows could be obtained which would vie

in their own line with the famous fat-disposed oxen of the same breed.

In sheep the tendency to early maturity and to fatten is greatly

influenced by the breed. The Leicester, even when kept on inferior

pasture, fattens so rapidly that in eighteen months it is fit for the

butcher; whilst the Merino, though supplied with excellent herbage, must

be preserved for nearly four years before it is ready for the shambles.

The crossing of good herds has resulted in the development of numerous

varieties, all remarkable for their aptitude to fatten and to arrive

early at maturity. The Leicester--itself supposed to be a cross--has

greatly improved the Lincoln, and the Hampshire and Southdown have

produced an excellent cross. Of course, each breed and cross has its

admirers; indeed, the differences of opinion which prevail in relation

to the relative merits of the Lincoln and the Leicester--the Southdown

and the Shropshiredown--the Dorset and the Somerset--occasionally

culminate into newspaper controversies of an exceedingly ascerb

character. There is no doubt but that particular breeds of sheep

thrive in localities and under conditions which are inimical to other

varieties; but still it is equally evident that, _caeteris paribus_, one

kind of sheep will store up in its increase a larger proportion of its

food than another kind, and will arrive earlier at maturity. It is the

knowledge of this fact which has led to the great estimation in which

are held some half-dozen out of the numerous breeds and cross-breeds

of that animal. In 1861 an interesting experiment was made by the

Parlington Farmers' Club with the object of testing the relative merits

of several varieties of sheep. The results are shown in the tables:--

TABLE I.

----------------+------------------------------------+-----------------------

| Live Weight of Six Wethers |Weights gained

| when Shorn, 26th February, 1862. |during the time of

| +--------------------------- |Feeding from the

| | Weight of Mutton when |11th November, 1861,

Description of | | Slaughtered. |to 14th February, 1862.

Class of Sheep. | | +------+------+------+-------+-------+-------

| | | of | of | of |In Live| In | In

----------------+-------+-------+------+------+------+-------+-------+-------

the Teeswater | 85 3 | 53 1 | 106| 43| 85| 13 7 | 8 6 | 14 5

| | | | | | | |

North Sheep | 83 12 | 53 12 | 96|43-1/2| 83| 12 11 | 8 3 | 14 8

| | | | | | | |

Lincolns | 92 1 | 59 12 | 105| 66| 103| 16 1 |10 7 | 22 0

| | | | | | | |

South Downs | 71 0 | 47 7 |97-1/4| 28|65-3/4| 11 13 | 8 0 | 9 5

| | | | | | | |

Shropshire Downs| 85 6 | 53 1 | 103|42-1/2| 91| 15 11 | 9 12 | 14 3

| | | | | | | |

Leicesters | 80 9 | 53 4 |90-1/2| 44|78-1/2| 14 10 | 9 10 | 14 11

| | | | | | | |

Cotswolds | 76 5 | 47 6 | 79| 54| 90| 12 6 | 7 11 | 18 0

----------------+-------+-------+------+------+------+-------+-------+-------

TABLE II.

-----------------+--------------------------------------------+-----------+

| Value of the preceding | Food |

Description | Mutton and Wool so gained. | consumed |

of Sheep. +----------------------+---------------------+ during |

| Price of the Mutton. | Price of the Wool. | time of |

| | | Feeding. |

-----------------+-------+--------------+-------+-------------+-----+-----+

| | | | |Swd. |Lnd. |

| p. lb.| | p. lb.| |Tnp. |Cke. |

+-------+ +-------+ +-----+-----+

| d. | L s. d. | d. | L s. d. | st. | lb. |

Teeswater, Cross | 6 | 2 19 0 | 18 | 1 1 6 | 978 | 300 |

North Shropshire | 6 | 2 17 6 | 17-1/2| 1 1 1-3/4 | 914 | 300 |

Lincolnshire[16] | 5-3/4 | 3 10 5-1/4 | 18 | 1 13 0 | 936 | 363 |

Southdowns | 6-1/2 | 3 0 8 | 17 | 0 13 2-1/2 | 684 | 300 |

Shropshire | 6-1/4 | 3 11 10-1/2 | 17-1/2| 1 0 7-3/4 | 924 | 300 |

Leicester | 5-3/4 | 3 5 2 | 18 | 1 2 0 | 877 | 300 |

Cotswolds | 6 | 2 14 6 | 18 | 1 7 0 | 926 | 300 |

-----------------+-------+--------------+-------+-------------+-----+-----+

-----------------+------------------+--------------+----------------------+

| Value of the | | Value of Food |

| Food, Calculating| Value of | deducted from Value |

Description | Turnips at 6s. | the Mutton | of Mutton and Wool, |

of Sheep. | 8d., and Cake at | and Wool. | showing real value of|

| L10 10s. per ton.| | the different sheep. |

-----------------+------------------+--------------+----------------------+

| | | |

| L s. d. | L s. d. | L s. d. |

Teeswater, Cross | 3 8 10-1/2 | 4 0 6 | 0 11 7 |

North Shropshire | 3 6 2-1/2 | 3 18 7-3/4 | 0 12 5 |

Lincolnshire[16] | 3 13 0-1/4 | 5 3 5-1/4 | 1 10 5 |

Southdowns | 2 16 7-1/2 | 3 13 10-1/2 | 0 17 3 |

Shropshire | 3 6 7-3/4 | 4 12 6-1/4 | 1 5 10 |

Leicester | 3 4 8 | 4 7 2 | 1 2 6 |

Cotswolds | 3 6 8-1/2 | 4 1 6 | 0 14 9-1/2 |

-----------------+------------------+--------------+----------------------+

These results, taken with the customary _grain of salt_, tell well for

the improved Lincoln; they also clearly show the aptitude to fatten,

without much loss in offal, of the Leicester;[17] and they commend to the

lover of good mutton the Shropshire and South-Downs.

In the sixteenth volume of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society

of England, Mr. Lawes gives some valuable information relative to the

comparative fattening qualities of different breeds of sheep. The

following table, on this author's authority, shows the average food

consumed in producing 100 lbs. increase in live weight:--

Breed. Oil Cake. Clover. Swedes.

Sussex 297-1/4 285-1/2 3.835-3/4

Hampshire 291-1/2 261-1/4 3.966-3/4

Cross-bred Wethers 264-1/2 251-3/4 3.725-1/4

Do. Ewes 263-1/2 250-1/4 3.671

Leicesters 263-3/4 251-1/4 3.761

Cotswolds 253-1/2 216-3/4 3.557-1/2

Some breeds are profitably kept in certain localities, where other kinds

would not pay so well: for example, the Devons, according to Mr. Smith,

are better adapted than larger breeds for "converting the produce of

cold and hilly pastures into meat." It is remarkable that nearly all the

best existing breeds of oxen and sheep are crosses. Major Rudd states

that the dam of Hubback, the famous founder of pure improved Shorthorns,

owed her propensity to fatten to an admixture of Kyloe blood, and also

that the sire of Hubback had a stain of Alderney, or Normandy blood.

Although the Rudd account of the ancestry of Hubback is not accepted by

all the historians of this splendid breed of cattle, there is no doubt

but that the breed owes its origin as much to judicious crossing as to

careful selection of sires and dams. It must not, however, be imagined

that there are no good pure races of stock. There is a perfectly pure,

but now scarce, tribe of Kerry oxen, admirably adapted to poor uplands.

The excellent Southdown sheep, though in every respect immensely

superior to their ancestors in the last century, have not attained to

their present superior state by crossing. The high value placed by

breeders upon good sires and dams in the approved breeds of stock is

shown by the large sums which they frequently realise at sales, or when

the former are let out for service. Bakewell received in one season for

the use of a ram 400 guineas each from two breeders, and they did not

retain the animal during the whole season. Several hundred guineas have

lately been more than once paid for a celebrated tup. Colonel Towneley's

Shorthorn bull, Master Butterfly, was, not long since, disposed of to an

Australian buyer for L1,260. At the sale of Mr. Bates's stock in 1850,

a stock of Shorthorns, including calves, brought on the average L116 5s.

per head. At the Earl Ducie's sale in 1852, a three year old

cow--Duchess--realised 700 guineas.

The color of an animal is, to some extent, a criterion of the purity

of its breed. Roan is a favourite hue with the breeders of Shorthorns.

There have been celebrated sires and dams of that breed perfectly white;

but that color, or rather absence of color, is now somewhat unpopular,

partly from the idea that it is a sign of weakness of constitution--a

notion for which there appears to me to be no foundation in fact.

The slightest spot of black, or even a very dark shade, is regarded

to be a blemish of the most serious kind when observed on the pelt

of a Shorthorn. The Herefords are partly white, partly red; the Devon

possesses in general a deep red hue; the Suffolks are usually of a dun

or faint reddish tint; the Ayrshires are commonly spotted white and red;

and the Kerrys are seen in every shade between a jet black and a deep

red. Uniformity in color would be most desirable in the case of each

variety, and this object could easily be attained if breeders devoted

some attention to it.

_The Form of Animals._--The functions of an animal are arranged by

Bichat, an eminent physiologist, into two classes--those relating to

its nutrition, and those exhibited by its muscular and mental systems.

The first class of functions comprise the _vegetative_, or organic life

of the animal, and the second class constitute its _relative_ life.

Adopting this arrangement, we may say, then, that those animals in which

the vegetative life is far more energetic than the relative life are

best suited for the purposes of the feeder. In tigers, wolves, and dogs

the relative life predominates over the vegetative; the muscles are

almost constantly in a high degree of tension, and the processes of

nutrition are in constant requisition to supply the waste of muscle.

On the other hand, in oxen, sheep, and pigs, at least when in a state

of domesticity, the muscles are not highly developed; they do not

largely tax the vegetative processes, and, consequently, the substances

elaborated under the influence of the vegetative life rapidly increase.

The form of an animal is therefore mainly determined by the activity of

its relative life. In a greyhound, the nervous power of which is highly

developed, the muscles are large and well-knit, the stomach, intended

for the reception of concentrated nutriment only, is small, and the

lungs are exceedingly capacious. In such an animal the arrangements for

the rapid expenditure of nervous power must be perfect. It is not merely

necessary that its muscles should be large and powerful, its lungs must

also admit of deep inspirations of oxygen, whereby the motive power

wielded by these muscles may be rapidly generated. Now, an animal

exactly opposite in organisation to the greyhound would, according

to theory, be just the kind to select for the production of meat.

The greyhound and the horse expend all their food in the production

of motive power; the ox and the sheep, being endowed with but a feeble

muscular organisation, use a smaller proportion of their food for

carrying on the functions of their relative life, consequently, the

weight of their bodies is augmented by the surplus nutriment. It is

clear, then, that an animal of a lymphatic temperament, an indolent

disposition, a low degree of nervous power, and a tendency to rapid

growth, is the _beau ideal_ of a "meat-manufacturing machine." Now, as

the larger the lungs of an animal are, the greater is its capacity for

"burning," or consuming its tissues, one might suppose that small lungs

would be a _desideratum_ in an ox, or other animal destined for the

shambles. This appears to be Liebig's opinion, for in one of his

books he states that "a narrow chest (small lungs) is considered by

experienced agriculturists a sure sign, in pigs, for example, of easy

fattening; and the same remark applies to cows, in reference to the

produce of milk--that is, of butter." On this subject Professor Tanner

makes the following remarks, in his excellent Essay on Breeding and

Rearing Cattle:[18]--"In our high-bred animals we find a small liver

and a small lung, accompanied with a gentle and peaceful disposition.

Now, these conditions, which are so desirable for producing fat, are

equally favorable for yielding butter. The diminished organs economise

the consumption of the carbonaceous matters in the blood, hence, more

remains for conversion into fat, but equally prepared for yielding

cream, if the tendency of the animal is equally favorable to the same."

One would imagine, from the foregoing passage, that Mr. Tanner and Baron

Liebig coincided in believing small lungs necessary to rapid fattening;

but in another part of his essay, Tanner thus describes one of the

points indicative of a tendency to fatten early:--"The chest should be

bold and prominent, wide and deep, furnished with a deep but not coarse

dewlap." On comparing the two passages which I have quoted from Tanner's

essay, a contradiction is apparent. Mr. Bowly, Major Rudd, and other

eminent breeders and feeders, appear to regard a capacious chest as the

best sign of a fattening property which an animal could show. Lawes and

Gilbert have recorded the weights of the viscera of a number of animals

which, though supplied with equal quantities of the same kind of food,

attained to different degrees of fatness. On carefully scrutinising

these records, I failed to perceive any constant relation between the

weight of their lungs and their tendency to fatten rapidly. Some animals

with large lungs converted a larger proportion of their food into meat

than others with smaller respiratory organs, and _vice versa_. In a

state of nature, there is no doubt but that the lungs of the ox and of

the sheep are moderately large; and it is evident that in their case, as

well as in that of man, over-feeding and confinement tend to diminish

their muscular energy, and, of course, to decrease the capacity of the

lungs. That such a practice does not tend to the improvement of the

health of an animal is perfectly evident, but then the perfect ox of

nature is very different from the perfect ox of man. The latter is

a wide departure from the original type of its species: any marked

development of its nervous system is undesirable; and it is valuable

in proportion as its purely vegetative functions are most strongly

manifested. A young bullock, therefore, of this kind would, no doubt,

be the most economical kind to rear, provided that it was perfectly

healthy, and capable of assimilating the liberal amount of food supplied

to it. But it rarely happens that a young animal with a weakly chest

turns out other than a scrofulous or otherwise diseased adult. On the

whole, then, I am disposed to believe that whilst naturally small-lunged

species may be more prone to fatten than large-chested ones, it is not

the case that small-chested individuals fatten more rapidly than larger

lunged individuals of the same kind.

The conditions under which oxen, sheep, and pigs have been so long

maintained in civilised countries, must have diminished the capacity of

their chests in relation to other parts of their bodies; and it may be

fairly doubted if any good could result by reducing to still smaller

dimensions those most important organs. Probably the lungs and hearts of

the improved breeds of stock are already too small, and that it is only

the individuals which are least affected in this respect that answer to

Mr. Bowly's description of a fat-disposed beast. Whether or not small

lungs are desirable in a bullock or milch cow, it is certain that a ram

or a bull should be possessed of a capacious chest, for otherwise he

will have but little vigour, and will be likely to produce a weakly

offspring. A sire should be a perfectly developed animal in every

respect--sound lungs and heart, and not over fat. It is sufficient that

it belongs to a good fattening breed; but to produce offspring with a

tendency to fatness and early maturity, it is not necessary that the

sire should himself be obese. It is to be regretted that so many sires

of the Shorthorns and other improved varieties should be used for

breeding purposes, when their hearts and lungs have become, by

over-feeding the animals, unfitted for the proper discharge of their

function. The progeny of such sires must _naturally_ inherit the

_acquired taint_ of their diseased progenitors, and prove weakly and

unhealthy animals.

With respect to the general outline structure of a bull, he should have

a small, well-set head, rounded ribs, straight legs, small bones, and

sound internal organs. The following are considered to be the best

points in a Shorthorn bull:--A short and moderately small head, with

tapering muzzle and broad forehead, furnished with short, white,

curved, graceful looking horns; bright, yet mild, large eyes, placed in

prominent orbits; dilated nostrils, and flesh-colored nose, and long,

thin ears. The neck should be broad, deep, and muscular, sloping in a

graceful line from the shoulder to the head. The chest should be wide,

deep, projecting, but level in front. The shoulders should be oblique,

the blades well set in towards the ribs. The forelegs should be stout,

muscular above the knee, and slender below it; the hind legs should be

slender to the hock, and from thence increase in thickness to the

buttocks, which should be well developed. The carcass should be well

rounded at each side, but level on the back and on the belly. There

should be no hollows between the shoulder and the ribs, the line from

the highest part of the shoulder to the insertion of the tail should be

a perfect level. The flank should be full, the loins broad, and the tail

finely formed and only partially covered with hair. The skin is a prime

point: it must be covered with hair of a roan, or other _fashionable_

color, and communicate to the hand of the experienced feeler, a peculiar

sensation, which it is impossible to describe. With regard to this

point, I cannot do better than quote the words of an experienced

"handler":--

"A nice or good judge of cattle or sheep, with a slight touch of the

fingers upon the fatting points of the animal--viz., the hips, rump,

ribs, flanks, breast, twist, shoulder score, &c. will know immediately

whether it will make fat or not, and in which part it will be the

fattest. I have often wished to convey in language that idea or

sensation we acquire by the touch or feel of our fingers, which enables

us to form a judgment when we are handling an animal intended to be

fatted, but I have as often found myself unequal to that wish. It is

very easy to know where an animal is fattest which is already made fat,

because we can evidently feel a substance or quantity of fat--all those

parts which are denominated the fatting points; but the difficulty is to

explain how we know or distinguish animals, in a lean state, which will

make fat and which will not--or rather, which will make fat in such

points or parts, and not in others--which a person of judgment (_in

practice_) can tell, as it were, instantaneously. I say _in practice_,

because I believe that the best judges _out of practice_ are not able to

judge with precision--at least, I am not. We say this beast _touches_

nicely upon its ribs, hips, &c., &c., because we find a mellow, pleasant

feel on those parts; but we do not say soft, because there are some of

this same sort of animals which have a soft, loose handle, of which we

do not approve, because, though soft and loose, have not the mellow feel

above mentioned. For though they both handle soft and loose, yet we know

that the one will make fat and the other will not; and in this lies the

difficulty of the explanation. We clearly find a particular kindliness

or pleasantness in the feel of the one much superior to the other, by

which we immediately conclude that this will make fat, and the other not

so fat; and in this a person of judgment, and _in practice_, is very

seldom mistaken."

In many respects the good points in a Shorthorn cow resemble those in

the male of that breed, but in others there is considerable difference.

As I have described in prose the excellencies which a bull should

possess, I will now give a poetical summary of the good points of a cow

of that breed, extracted from the _Journal of Agriculture_, and composed

evidently by an excellent breeder and poet, Mr. Carr:--

The following features constitute, I trow,

The beau ideal of a short-horn cow:--

Frame massive, round, deep-barrell'd, and straight-back'd;

Hind quarters level, lengthy, and well pack'd;

Thighs wide, flesh'd inwards, plumb almost to hock;

Twist deep, conjoining thighs in one square block;

Loin broad and flat, thick flesh'd, and free from dip;

Back ribs "well home," arch'd even with the hip;

Hips flush with back, soft-cushion'd, not too wide;

Flanks full and deep, well forward on the side;

Fore ribs well-flesh'd, and rounded like a drum;

Fore flanks that even with the elbow come;

Crop "barrell'd" flush with shoulders and with side;

Girth large and round--not deep alone, but wide;

Shoulders sloped back, thick cover'd wide at chine;

Points snug, well-flesh'd, to dew-lap tapering fine;

Neck vein fill'd up to well-clothed shoulder-point;

Arm full above, turn'd in at elbow-joint;

Legs short and straight, fine boned 'neath hock and knee;

Belly cylindrical, from drooping free;

Chest wide between the legs, with downward sweep;

Brisket round, massive, prominent, and deep;

Neck fine at head, fast thickening towards its base;

Head small, scope wide, fine muzzle and dish'd face;

Eyes prominent and bright, yet soft and mild;

Horns waxy, clear, of medium size, unfiled;

Tail fine, neat hung, rectangular with back;

Hide soft, substantial, yielding, but not slack;

Hair furry, fine, thick set, of colour smart;

Udder well forward, with teats wide apart.

These points proportion'd well delight the eye

Of grazier, dairyman, and passer-by;

And these to more fastidious minds convey

Appearance stylish, feminine, and gay.

_Breeds of the Ox._--The Shorthorned cattle are now generally regarded

as the most valuable breed in these countries. They are the descendants

of a short-horned breed of cattle which existed for centuries in the

north-east of England. They were not held in much estimation, their

flesh being coarse; but the cows of this breed yielded abundance of

milk. In the eighteenth century this breed, it is said, was greatly

improved by a large infusion of blood from Dutch Shorthorns: but it is

very doubtful that any such event took place, for during that period

the importation of cattle into Great Britain was prohibited by very

stringent laws. The present race of Shorthorns owe most of their

valuable qualities to the brothers, Charles and Robert Colling, of the

county of Durham. The former was the more successful breeder, and

established the celebrated breed of Ketton Shorthorns. His whole process

appears to have consisted in the careful selection of parents, and in

"close" breeding. He must, however, have been an admirable judge of the

good points of the ox, for beginning with animals not worth more on an

average than L10 each, he produced in less than a quarter of a century

a stock worth on the average L150 each. The most famous bull of Charles

Colling's was Comet. The sale of this animal realised the handsome sum

of 1,000 guineas. The bull Hubback is said by many writers to have been

the great improver of Shorthorn blood. He was bought by Robert Colling

for the trifling sum of L8; but although this animal was kept by both

Collings for three years, there is good reason to believe that they made

but little use of him. It would appear, indeed, that to the cows first

used by the Collings--Lady Maynard, and young Strawberry--many of the

good qualities of this breed are traceable. Shorthorns are now to be

found in almost every part of the United Kingdom, capable of maintaining

heavy stock. In Ireland the breed has been greatly improved, and it is

gradually supplanting most of the other varieties.

Shorthorn males have a short, wide head, covered very often with short

curly hair; the muzzle is taper; the ear rather long and narrow; the eye

large, and bright, and mild. The shape is symmetrical, the carcass deep,

the back level, ribs spreading out widely, and the limbs fine. The color

is a mixture of red and white, sometimes a rich roan. The females are

not so large in the head, which tapers more, and the neck is much

thinner.

The DEVONS are not so large as the Shorthorns. Their shape is

symmetrical; fine head, horns of medium size, often tapering gracefully;

rich red or orange red color; fore-quarters rather oblique. The meat of

this breed is much esteemed: they yield excellent milk, but in rather

limited quantity; and the bullocks answer the plough much better than

many other kinds do. These animals arrive early at maturity.

The HEREFORDS are a rather small-boned breed; their horns are medium

sized, straight or slightly curved upwards; their color is dark red;

neat shoulders, thin thighs, and wide sirloin. They fatten well, but are

not generally kept on dairy farms. In many respects they resemble the

Devons.

The AYRSHIRES have a tapering head, fine neck, and large, bony, but not

coarse carcass; flat ribs; short and rather ugly horns; their skin is

soft, and covered with hair, which is usually red and white in spots.

The Ayrshire cows are invaluable for dairy purposes.

The POLLED ANGUS, POLLED ABERDEENS, and POLLED GALLOWAYS are very large

cattle, with big heads, unfurnished with horns. Their color is in

general a decided black, but occasionally it exhibits a mixture of black

and white. Their flesh is in general not of the best quality, but some

of their crosses with Shorthorns yield excellent meat, and at an early

age, too.

The KYLOES are a breed peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland. They are

rather rough, but very picturesque animals, covered with long, shaggy

hair. Their horns are rather long, and curve upwards. Their hair is

differently colored--red, yellow, dun, and black, the latter being the

prevailing hue. No variety of the ox yields a sweeter meat than the

Kyloes, and other mountain breeds of these countries. The animals,

however, arrive slowly to maturity, and in this respect there is great

room for improvement. These mountain-bred animals are now transferred

in large numbers to lowland tillage farms, where the fattening process

is more expeditiously performed. There are excellent crosses between

Shorthorn bulls and Highland cows.

LONGHORNED CATTLE are rapidly advancing towards extinction. At one time

they were the chief breed kept by most farmers. In general they may be

regarded as an inferior variety, being slow feeders, and producing

rather coarse beef. They are, however, capable of great improvement, as

instanced in the case of Bakewell's celebrated Longhorn herds.

The KERRYS are a diminutive breed, peculiar to Ireland. They have small

heads, fine necks, fine horns of medium length, and curved upwards near

their summits. They have a soft skin; the hair is generally black,

interspersed with a few white streaks; sometimes their color is red, and

occasionally brown. They are a very hardy race, being indigenous to

mountains. Their flesh is very good, more especially if the animals have

been kept on fattening food. The Kerrys are good milch cows.

The ALDERNEYS are a small race of oxen with deer-like faces. They

exhibit various shades of red, white, brown, and roan. No cows yield

better milk, or larger quantities of that fluid.

_Sheep._--The different breeds of sheep are classified under three

heads--viz., _Long-woolled_, _Short-woolled_, and _Middle-woolled_.

The LEICESTER is, perhaps, the most celebrated breed of sheep reared in

these countries. It was immensely improved by Bakewell about a century

ago, and the breed is often termed the Dishley, after the name of

Bakewell's residence. This sheep has a wide, clean head, broad forehead,

fine eyes, long, thin ears, thick neck, round body, deep chest,

straight, broad back, high ribs, and muscular thighs. The wool is long,

very thick, and fine. At from fifteen to eighteen months old, the

Leicester weighs from 25 to 30 lbs. per quarter; but a fat animal often

weighs from 38 to 40 lbs. per quarter. The fleece weighs from 6 to 8

lbs. This breed is well adapted for Ireland. It is reared on very poor

land: but in order to maintain its good quality, this sheep requires

abundance of food, and also good shelter during the winter.

The LINCOLN is distinguished for its large bones and strong muscles.

Originally a gaunt and ugly animal, it has of late years been much

improved. Indeed, the prices lately realised by Lincoln sheep are

extremely high. The Lincoln has a long, white face, long body, and thick

legs. The wool is long, thick, and moderately fine. The flesh of the

Lincoln is lean, owing to its great muscular development. At fifteen

months old it yields about 30 lbs. weight per quarter. It is said that

a Lincoln wether has attained the weight of 304-1/2 lbs. The average

weight of the wool of a hogget is 9-1/2 lbs.

The COTSWOLD breed arose in the Cotswold hills, in Gloucestershire.

In this variety the skeleton is large, the chest capacious, the back

broad and straight, and the ribs well arched. It has good quarters,

and a finely-arched neck. It is distinguished by a large tuft of

wool--"fore-top," on the forehead. It fattens early, and produces about

25 lbs. per quarter when fifteen months old, and 40 lbs. when two years

old. The wool is rather coarse; its yield is about 8 lbs.

The CHEVIOT has a long body, long face, long legs, and long ears. The

chest projects slightly, and is rather narrow. The forehead is bare of

wool; the legs and face are white, sometimes approaching to a dun shade.

Weight from 70 to 80 lbs.; weight of fleece, from 3 to 4 lbs. The wool

is of excellent quality, and is used largely in the manufacture of

tweeds. The Cheviot is a mountain sheep, and, as might be expected, its

flesh is well flavored. There are several crosses of the Cheviot with

the Leicester, the Southdown, and the Shropshire.

The SOUTHDOWN is generally regarded as the best breed for wool reared in

these countries. It is indigenous to the chalk hills of Kent, Sussex,

Hampshire, and Dorsetshire. It has a small head; its back is broad and

straight; the ribs spring out at nearly right angles from the vertebrae.

It is rather light in the fore-quarters, and full in the hind quarters.

Its chest is pretty deep; its face and legs are grey or brown. The wool

of the Southdown is short, and extremely fine; the fleece weighs about 3

lbs. This sheep arrives early at maturity. It weighs at 15 months old

about 80 lbs. The flesh is very well flavored.

THE SHROPSHIRE is said to combine in itself the good qualities of the

Southdown, the Cotswold, and the Leicester. It resembles the Southdown

more than any other breed, having the same grey, or brownish grey hue,

and a similar shape. It is, however, larger than the Southdown, and

yields a larger quantity of wool. This breed is becoming a great

favorite in both England and Ireland.

The BLACK-FACED sheep is peculiar to Scotland. It is equipped with

horns, has a bold long face, and possesses a tuft of wool on its

forehead; its limbs are strong, and its body is somewhat long. The wool

of this breed is very coarse, the fleece weighs about 3-1/2 lbs. The

average weight of this sheep is 75 lbs., the quality of the mutton is

excellent, but it is long before it becomes matured. There are several

other breeds of the sheep, but they are of far less importance than

those which I have described.

_Breeds of the Pig._--There are several breeds of this useful animal, of

which those known as BERKSHIRE and YORKSHIRE appear to be the greatest

favorites. The Berkshire is black or dusky brown, very rarely reddish

brown. It has a very small head. Its sides are extremely deep, and its

legs very short. There are several sub-varieties of the Yorkshire. This

breed is white, has a compact body, and very broad sides. The head is

very small, somewhat like that of the Berkshire. Both Berkshire and

Yorkshire pigs attain to the enormous weight of 1,000 lbs. The old Irish

"racer" pig is the least profitable kind to keep, but fortunately it is,

as a pure breed, nearly extinct.

_Breeds of the Horse._--There are a great many breeds of horses. The

Shetland pony is so small, that many specimens are no larger than a

Newfoundland dog; on the other hand, Clydesdale horses sometimes attain

to almost elephantine proportions. There is a wide difference between

the bull-like Suffolk Punch and the greyhound-like _racer_. The English

and Irish racer is said to owe its origin to a cross between the old

English light-legged breed and the Arabian. The most valuable kind of

carriage horse is the joint product of the draught-horse and the racer.

The dray-horse of these countries has a large share of Flemish blood in

him. The best horses for agricultural purposes are unquestionably the

CLYDESDALE and the SUFFOLK PUNCH. The latter is perhaps to be preferred

in most instances, especially on light lands. Very light and feeble

horses are the most expensive variety on almost any kind of farm; for

whilst they consume nearly as much food as the most powerful animals,

and are therefore nearly as costly, they are incapable of effectively

performing their work. A large proportion of the farm horses used by the

small farmers of Ireland are totally unsuited for tillage purposes. On

the other hand, there is no need to employ horses equal in size to the

ponderous creatures that draw brewers' carts. Moderate sized horses,

with well rounded, compact bodies, and muscular but not too heavy limbs,

are the kind best adapted for farm purposes. In Ireland, where there are

not fewer than 600,000 horses, a considerable infusion of blood from

Clydesdales and Suffolk Punches is much required.

_Hunters and Racers._--There is a strong tendency in the human mind to

look with a regretful feeling to the past, and to compare it to the

disadvantage of the present. It is a general belief with most people

that the old time was the best time; that the seasons were more genial

formerly; that provisions were cheaper and more abundant; that men were

taller, and stouter, and healthier; that, in a word, everything was

better in the days of yore than it is now, and that degeneracy and

effeteness are the prevailing characteristics of our age. Philosophers,

statists, and political economists tell us that all this regret for the

"good old time" is mis-spent sympathy; for that we are in every respect

superior--in physique, health, morals, and wealth--to our ancestors. On

the whole, I rather incline myself to this comfortable philosophy; but

we must admit that we have not progressed in all things since the times

of our fathers.

In a work entitled "A Comparative View of the Form and Character of the

English Racer and Saddle Horse during the Last and Present Centuries,"

published by Hookham, of Old Bond Street, London, it is proved very

clearly that the English race-horse has sadly degenerated. The author

very properly traces the cause of its decay to the avarice of the

turfites: they look upon the noble animal as a mere gambling machine;

and they sacrifice all its other qualities to the excessive development

of that one which is likely to put money in their pockets. Formerly,

gentlemen kept horses for their own sakes--for their admiration and

enjoyment of one of the most beautiful, docile, and useful of animals.

They were incessant in their efforts to develop into perfection all the

really valuable points in the animal; and the result was, that the

English and Irish racer of the last century was unmatched for strength,

speed, and endurance. Models of this splendid race of horses are seldom

to be found at the present time; but there are, perhaps, sporting men

living who saw them in the celebrated Mambrino, Sweet Briar, and Sweet

William. Those horses possessed compact bodies, capacious lungs, strong

loins, large joints, and enormous masses of muscular tissue on the

shoulder-blades and arms. They were good weight-carrying hunters as well

as racers, and they could carry eight stones over a six miles heat,

or twelve stones over a four miles one. The Irish horses, at least,

were capable of safely carrying thirteen stones over what would now be

considered a very ugly ditch, and could get over a long steeplechase in

a style which would astonish the owners of the modern "weeds." Since the

distance to be traversed by competing horses has been reduced from the

old-fashioned three heats of four miles each to a single run of a mile

or two, and also since the weight imposed upon the animals has been

reduced to six or seven stones, from ten to twelve, the anatomical

structure of the race-horse has undergone a remarkable and serious

alteration. The back has become very long, the sides flat, the loins

weak, the limbs long and very thin; and this alteration in structure has

been attended by weakness of constitution and a remarkable tendency

to disease. The modern horse has attained to a remarkable degree of

rapidity of locomotion, but it has been at the expense of its vigor,

endurance, and health; it can run with great velocity for a short

distance, but in a four-mile heat, and mounted by a man of average

weight, a mediocre horse of the style of the middle of the last century

would come to the post long before the winner of the last St. Leger.

The decay of the breed of horses in this country is a serious matter,

and the attention of all who are interested in the preservation of this

animal should be earnestly and promptly directed towards discovering

the means of regeneration. My remarks are directed towards racers and

hunters. The quality of speed which they possess has been developed

to an extent which is incompatible with the development of equally

essential properties. Encouragement should be given to the production of

weight-carrying hunters; steeple-chasing should be restored to its old

state, when only a powerful horse had a chance of success. The quality

of speed should be promoted in the animal up to a certain point; but

when the development of this attribute begins to cause a loss of

strength and endurance, it is high time to check it. There are a few

horses at present which are strong and moderately fast: why should not

steeple-chasing be of the kind which would call this style of animal

into competition? Only a "weed" can now enter with any probability of

success at a race of this kind; and when he has won it, of what use

is he as a good hunter? What we want are good, stout, healthy horses,

capable of carrying, in good style, twelve stones weight over a rough

country; and the object of steeple-chasing should be the production of

such a race of horses.

* * * * *

[Footnote 17: Improved by Leicester blood.]

[Footnote 18: The object of the first breeders of the Leicester was

to produce a sheep which would yield a great carcass, and small offal

weight. So far as the results of these experiments go, I think the idea

of the founder of this breed has been realised.]

[Footnote 19: "Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of

Scotland," for July, 1860.]

PART III.

ON THE MANAGEMENT OF LIVE STOCK.

SECTION I.

THE OX.

_Breeding Cows._--The period of gestation in the cow is about nine

months. The earliest time at which it is at all safe to breed from these

animals is when they are one year and eight months old. Shorthorns breed

early, whilst the mountain varieties are seldom in calf before they are

three years old. The practice of very early breeding, though approved of

by some extensive rearers of stock, is not to be commended for sound

physiological reasons. Cows calve at all times of the year; but the most

favorable time is near the end of winter, or in early spring. The cows

should at this time be in fair condition--neither too fat nor too lean.

Parturition should take place in a roomy, covered place, provided with

abundance of clean litter. If such a place be not available, a nice

paddock close to the house must answer. After having given birth to

the calf, the cow should receive an oatmeal drink, or some warm and

nutritious mash, and afterwards be liberally fed. The cow is usually

allowed to run dry four or five weeks before calving: this period should

not be curtailed; on the contrary, it would be better to extend it to

six weeks, so as not to allow her condition to become too poor.

_The Wintering of Young Stock._--There are certain localities wherein

the rearing of young stock is one of the easiest tasks which devolve

upon the farmer. Well-drained and shady fields, yielding abundance of

sound herbage, and through which streams of _pure_ water unceasingly

flow, are just the proper _locale_ for economically feeding young

animals. But there are districts in which those favorable conditions do

not exist; yet they are not better adapted to other uses. It is only the

feeders of young stock in wet, moory, sandy, or undrained, heavy soils

who really have cause for anxiety and incessant watchfulness. In rearing

a calf the great object is to cause a rapid and uninterrupted increase

in the weight of its body. At first the food of the animal should be

furnished solely from the maternal founts; but at an early stage of its

existence--about the third or fourth week--other food may wholly, or in

part, be substituted for the natural aliment. It is important that no

great interval should elapse between the hours of feeding. The digestive

apparatus of the young animal is small, and its powers of assimilation

are very energetic. The food with which it is supplied should,

therefore, be given in moderate quantities, and very frequently. This

is, in fact, what takes place when the calf is allowed free access to

its dam; for the instant it feels a desire for aliment, the supply is at

once available. Of course, there may be objections to this plan on the

score of economy; but as a general rule, too much liberality cannot be

exercised in feeding growing animals; and there is nothing more certain

than that the calf which is illiberally fed will never be developed into

a valuable, matured animal. When carefully tended from their birth,

comfortably housed in winter, and abundantly supplied with nutritious

food, it is sometimes wonderful the rapid progress which young stock

make. Mr. Wright mentions a remarkable case of early maturity, which

occurred in his own herd. A young steer, one year old, exhibited all the

development of an animal twice its age. This bullock had been suckled

for three months, whereby it had not only kept its calf-flesh, but

gained and retained a step in advance. Its weight when only a year old

was no less than 50 stones; and as the price of beef at the time was 8s.

9d. per stone, live weight, the carcass of the animal was worth L21 17s.

6d. Mr. Wright offers this fact as a suggestive one to "those farmers who

think of bringing up their calves on old milk, or who would otherwise

stint their growth."

Supposing, then, that we have young stock which had been liberally

treated when in their "baby" state, how are we to most economically

maintain them throughout the winter? In the first place, they should be

kept in warm sheds, and well sheltered from both rain and wind. Some

authorities contend that exercise is necessary to young stock, and deny

that a proper development of the muscles (lean flesh) can take place if

they are cooped up like fattening turkeys during the winter. There is

some truth in this opinion; and if the animals be designed for breeding

or dairy purposes, their freedom of motion should only be partially

restrained. On the other hand, if they be intended for an early

introduction to the shambles, the less exercise they get the greater

will be the profit on their keep. I have known cases where animals were

closely housed for seven months, and yet their health did not appear

to suffer in the slightest degree. In fact, so predominant are the

vegetative functions of the ruminants over their nervous attributes,

that the only essential conditions of their existence are adequate

supplies of good air and food. That the health of these animals does

occasionally suffer when the motions of their bodies are reduced to a

_minimum_ is quite true; but in most of these instances the real cause

is, not the want of exercise, but the want of pure air. The greatest

care should, therefore, be taken in the ventilation of the places where

stock, whether old or young, are kept; and no economy of space or heat

will compensate for the want of wholesome air. Under the fallacious idea

that exposure to cold renders young stock hardy, many farmers turn them

out to eat straw in the open fields in frosty weather. Treatment of this

kind, instead of being productive of good, almost invariably lays the

foundation of disease, which will manifest itself at some stage of the

animal's growth. There are a few favored localities, such as those to

which I have already alluded, where yearlings may be occasionally allowed

a turn through the fields in winter; but on cold clays, wet moors, and

sandy soils the young stock should never be permitted to leave their

sheds or courts from the time they are housed till late in the spring.

Young stock are best fed on good meadow hay and turnips, with a moderate

supplement of oil-cake; this, however, is expensive feeding in many

farms, and a little filling-in may be done with cheaper or more easily

obtainable stuffs. A mixture of cut chaff, with pulped mangels, is a

good substitute for the more costly hay; and particularly in the case

of animals intended for breeding or for the dairy. The roots should be

pulped, and allowed to remain until, owing to a slight fermentation,

they become warm. This change takes place in from twenty-four hours to

sixty hours, according to the temperature; but the fermentation should

not be carried farther than the earliest stage. The heated pulp should

then be thoroughly mixed with the chaff, and the compound, after an

hour or two, will be ready for use. A little chopped hay--no matter if

inferior or slightly mildewed--may be substituted for the chaff, and

turnips employed instead of the mangels, but the latter are the more

desirable roots.

Until lately, the use of oil-cake was confined to fattening animals,

but latterly it is freely given to calves, even when they are only

a month old; and there is no doubt but that it is a suitable and

economical food for store stock. It is, however, sometimes given in

excess: from half a pound to two and a half pounds daily will be

sufficient for animals under one year; and this addition to their food

will be found to exercise a beneficial influence on them when they

are placed in stalls for finishing. The experience of several eminent

breeders has proved that fattening beasts, which had in their youth

a supply of oil-cake, or its equivalent, invariably store up a larger

portion of their food than those which had been reared on hay and roots

only.

Mr. George Stodart, of Cultercullen, an Aberdeenshire farmer, describes,

in the _Irish Farmer's Gazette_, his method of rearing calves:--

I occupy (says Mr. Stodart) a farm of 380 acres. I usually rear

twenty-four calves yearly, and buy in sixteen one-year-olds.

I generally breed from cross cows (the same as mentioned above),

served by a pure Shorthorn bull. When the calves are dropped I put

two calves to suck one cow for six months. In autumn, spring calves

are put into the house upon turnips and straw, with about 1 lb. of

oil-cake per day to each, until they are put out to grass in spring

following, at which time they are one year old. Then, of course,

they have grass in summer, and at the approach of winter they are

again housed upon turnips and straw, which bring them to be two

years old in spring. Now they are sent out to the best grass, and

again brought into the house at the beginning of September, and

fed on turnips and straw until the end of November or middle of

December, when they usually fetch from L25 to L32 a-head. This

year (1864), however, they will average L32. a-head. Before selling

I give each 3-1/2 lbs. of oil-cake per day for six weeks, and during

this time they have swede turnips; at other times yellow. We give as

much turnips at all times as they can eat.

Mr. Bowick, in his excellent paper on the rearing of calves, published

in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, gives the following

information on this subject:--

We consider it desirable to allow the calf to remain with its

dam for the first three or four days after calving.

Not much trouble is generally experienced in getting it to take

to the pail. We find it better to miss the evening's meal, and

next morning a very little attention induces the majority of them

to partake of what is set before them. At most the guidance of the

fingers may be wanted for the first meal or two.

As regards the quantity of milk which is needful to keep a

moderately bred Shorthorn calf in a thriving condition, we have

found the following allowance to come pretty near the mark,

although the appetite of calves varies, both in individuals and

at different times with the same animal:--

1st week with the dam; or 4 quarts per day, at two meals.

2nd to 4th week, 5 to 6 quarts per day, at two meals.

4th to 6th week, 6 to 7 quarts per day, at two meals.

And the quantity need not, during the ensuing six weeks (after

which it is weaned), exceed a couple of gallons per day. This

implies that the calf is fed upon new milk only, and that no

other feeding liquids are employed. But, in addition to the above,

the calf will, towards the fourth week, begin to eat a little

green hay; and in a week or two later, some sliced roots, or meal,

or finely crushed cake, mixed with hay-chaff; and, if really good,

creditable beasts are wanted--such as will realise L25 a-head from

the butcher when turned two and a half years old--a little cake

or meal in their early days will be found a desirable investment.

In fact, we doubt not but 1 lb. of cake per day to the calf will

make as much flesh as triple the quantity of cake at any period

of after life. As regards meal, if that is given with the chaff,

we prefer oatmeal, or barley-meal, or wheaten flour, but not the

meal of beans or pease. Others may see it differently, but we

believe beans to be too heating for any class of young stock. For

roots, the best we know of is the carrot, grated and mixed with

the chaff, or sliced thin with a knife and given alone. It is also,

of all roots, the one which we find them most fond of, and which

they will most readily take to. As soon as they can eat them

freely, an immediate reduction in the supply of milk may be made.

In most articles it holds good in the end that "the best is the

cheapest." So with the rearing of calves; the best class of food,

or that above referred to, is found to give the greatest ultimate

satisfaction. But practically the question often is, how to rear

good calves with comparatively little new milk, a condition which

circumstances often render almost imperative; for where dairy

produce, in any other form, is the chief object, the calves stand

in a secondary position, and are treated accordingly. But let us

ask whether you cannot rear good stock under such circumstances

also? We believe that this may be, and often is done. We manage to

turn out from twenty-five to thirty calves annually--such as will

pass muster anywhere--and never use at any one time more than six

gallons of new milk daily. For this purpose, as well as to obtain

a regular supply of milk for other purposes, the calves are allowed

to come at different periods, extending from October to May. Hence

the calf-house has generally a succession of occupants throughout

the season; and as one lot are ready to be removed, and placed loose

in a small hovel, with yard attached, others fill their places.

We begin with new milk from the pail, which is continued for a

fortnight after leaving the cow. Then skim-milk--boiled, and allowed

to cool to the natural warmth--is substituted to the extent of

one-third of the allowance. In another week the new milk is reduced

to half, and at the same time, not before, boiled linseed is added

to the mess.[20] As soon as they take freely to this food, the new

milk may be replaced with that from the dairy, and the calf is

encouraged to indulge in a few sliced carrots and the other dry

foods named.

Mr. Murray, of Overstone, thus states the expense of rearing the calf

until it is two years old, when, after the weaning process is completed,

it is turned out to grass:--

During the summer they have the run of a grass paddock during

the day, but return regularly to their yards at night; the

following winter they are kept in larger yards, and which contain

a greater number of animals. Their bill of fare for this winter is

2 lbs. of oil-cake, half a bushel of cut roots, with cut chaff _ad

libitum_. The chaff has a small quantity of flour or pollard mixed

with it, is moistened with water, and the whole mass turned over;

this is done the day previous to using it. By this means they eat

the chaff with more relish, and moistening it prevents the flour

being wasted. They are put to grass the following summer, generally

from the 15th to the 20th of May, or as soon as the pastures are in

a state to receive them; they remain there on second-rate land till

about the end of October, when they are brought home and tied up in

the stalls. The daily allowance is then 4 lbs. linseed-cake, 4 lbs.

flour--3/4 bean, 1/4 barley--1 bushel of cut roots with cut chaff;

the flour and chaff is mixed as already described. At about the end

of December the quantity of cake is increased to 8 lbs., and the

flour to 6 lbs.; this they continue to receive till they are sold

to the butcher during the months of March and April, when they

weigh, on an average, 90 stones of 8 lbs. per bullock, and under

two years and six months old. At this season of the year beef

generally makes 5s. per stone--we often make 9s.--but taking that

as an average would make the value of each beast L22 10s. The cost

of keeping to this age will be as follows:--

L s. d.

One calf 2 0 0

Milk, &c., nine weeks 1 5 0

Cake, grass, &c., forty-three weeks, at 1s. 6d. 3 4 6

Second year, November till May, cake, flour,

roots, &c., 2s. 6d. per week, for twenty-six weeks 3 5 0

May till November, grass, twenty-six weeks, at 2s. 6d. 3 5 0

Third year, November till April, twenty weeks, at 8s. 8 0 0

---------

L20 19 6

Which leaves a gain to each animal of L1 10s. 6d., besides the

manure.

_Shelter of Stock._--The great diminution of temperature, and the

falling off in the supply of herbage, that are coincident with the

close of the autumn, render it necessary to remove our cattle from the

open fields, and provide them with some sort of shelter during the

winter months and early part of the spring.

The particular period at which this change of quarters takes place of

course varies, and is, in fact, altogether dependent upon the character

of the season. There are some years in which there is, so to speak, a

kind of relapse of the summer, November being bright and warm, instead

of, as is usually the case, cold and foggy. In such a year there is some

herbage to be picked up until the very end of December. On the other

hand, the latter part of October is often very wet, and October frosts

are by no means uncommon. Tempestuous, biting winds in November, or

torrents of rain, or both, tell severely upon the poor animals in the

fields, even where there is abundance of herbage; and hence, should such

weather take place at the latter part of October, the true economy would

be to remove the animals at once to sheltered places.

Nothing lowers the temperature of the surface so rapidly as a cold wind.

Captain Parry, one of the explorers of the Arctic regions, 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 one--namely, by the union of the oxygen of the air with

the carbon and hydrogen of the fuel. The only real difference between

the two kinds of combustion is, that in respiration the process is

conducted with an extreme degree of slowness, whilst in the ordinary

fire the combinations take place rapidly, and the heat being evolved

in a much shorter time is proportionately the more intense.

3. The temperature of the external parts of the animal body varies with

the nature and quantity of the food supplied to it, and also depends

upon the state of the weather and the character of the protection

afforded to it.

The colder the air, the greater will be the quantity of food required,

and the more complete the shelter. In other words, a diminution of

temperature, no matter how caused, will necessitate an increased amount

of food and more perfect shelter, in order to maintain at the proper

degree of heat the fluids of the body. It is only the external parts of

the body that become cold: so long as the animal is in health its blood

always maintains the same degree of temperature; but in cold weather the

blood is subjected to a greater cooling power than it is in warm

weather, and this cooling power it can only resist by taxing more

extensively the heat-producing resources of the body.

4. Exposure to wet, even in warm weather, will tend to reduce the

temperature of the body, since the conversion of water into vapor can

only be effected at the expense of heat, which heat must be in great

part extracted from the body of the animal itself.

5. No possible increase of food, however nutritious it may be, can

suffice to keep up the due warmth and healthy condition of the animal

frame in winter, if shelter from cold and rain be not simultaneously

effected. On the contrary, an animal well protected from the winter

blasts will require much less food than if it were placed in an exposed

position. The reason of this is, that the amount of food which an animal

exposed to great cold consumes to maintain the temperature of its body

would, under opposite conditions, be stored up in the form of permanent

"increase"--beef or mutton for the butcher, in fact.

The fat-forming constituents of the food of stock are in no case

converted into permanent fat, except when they exceed in quantity the

amount required to keep up the internal heat of the animal; but when

this is constantly reduced by exposure to a wintry temperature, the

food becomes insufficient for even that purpose, no matter how much

aliment is given. What, then, must not be the condition of the

unfortunate animals whose fate it is to be the property of a farmer

who neither shelters them from the weather nor provides them with a

sufficient quantity of nourishing food!

_Milch Cows._--When dairy-farming is conducted on pure pastures, the

cows are altogether dependent upon the grasses; and in winter, the

animals suffer much from scarcity of food. This is the very worst system

of cow-keeping, but it is prevalent amongst many small farmers in

Ireland, and is to be met with even in England and Scotland. I am

strongly of opinion that it would be far more economical to keep cows

(and other cattle) altogether in the house, and feed them with cut

grass, than to allow them to remain out altogether in the field. There

are several disadvantages resulting from the depasturing of cows. In the

warm weather, the animals are greatly annoyed by the attacks of flies:

there is a considerable waste of muscle, caused by the movements of

the animals whilst in search of their food; and the excrements of the

animals and their footmarks injure a large portion of the grass. It may

be somewhat troublesome and expensive to cut the grass, and convey it

from the field to the house; but the labor and the cost will be more

than repaid by the greatly-increased yield of food. A grass-field,

mowed, will produce from 20 to 30 per cent. more food than it would if

it were trampled upon and soiled by cattle. Exercise for an hour or two

in the cool of the evening, or early in the morning (during the hot

weather), will be quite sufficient to keep the animals in health. This

may be taken in a field, better in a paddock, best of all in a roomy

yard. When cattle are supplied with cut grass, or clover, care should

be taken not to give it to them when very wet, for otherwise there is

danger of the excessively moist herbage producing the _hoove_. Neither

should large quantities of the green food be given to them--the supply

should be "little and often." Should the food be too succulent, the

addition of a little straw will correct its laxative effects. When

the stock is about passing from the winter keep to summer food, the

transition should be gradual; a well-made compound of straw or hay with

grass (natural or artificial) is much relished by cows. A supply of

good water is absolutely necessary; but sufficient attention to this

important point is seldom given. Cooked food is well adapted for milch

cows. Mangels, kohl-rabi, and cabbages are each of them better food than

turnips, as the latter is apt to impart a disagreeable flavour to the

butter. Three feeds in the day is a sufficient number for cows. The

first meal should be early in the morning, and may consist of roots,

mixed with straw or hay. Some feeders prefer using dry fodder, or cooked

food of some kind, and not raw roots. The second meal is given at

mid-day, and the third in the evening. The daily allowance of roots

varies from 2 to 8 stones, depending upon the quantities of other foods

used. Mr. Horsfall's diet is as follows:--Hay, 9 lbs.; rape-cake, 6

lbs.; malt-combs, 1 lb.; bran, 1 lb.; roots, 28 lbs. These substances

are mixed and cooked, and the animals receive them in a warm state.

In addition to this food, Mr. Horsfall's cows get bean-meal--a cow in

full milk 2 lbs., others from 1/2 lb. to 1-1/2 lbs.; cost per week per

cow, 8s. 7d.[21] Mr. Alcock, of Skipton, feeds his cows as follows:--Raw

mangels, 20 lbs.; carob beans, 3 lbs.; bran and malt-combs, 1-3/4 lbs.;

bean-meal, 3-1/2 lbs.; rape-cake, 3 lbs.; per diem. A steamed mixture

of wheat and bean straws and shells of oats _ad libitum_. Oats, to the

extent of 2 or 3 lbs. daily, are an excellent food for cows.

An important point in dairy economics is the feeding of the cows at

_regular_ intervals. If the usual time for the feed be allowed to pass,

the animals are almost certain to become very uneasy--to _worry_; and

every feeder knows, or ought to know, that a fretting beast will neither

fatten nor yield milk satisfactorily. The cow-house ought to be kept as

clean as possible; and the excreta, therefore, should be removed several

times a day.

Mr. Harvey, of Glasgow, has probably one of the largest dairies

in the world. His cow byres, 56 yards long, and from 12 to 24 feet

wide--according as one or two rows of cows are to be accommodated--stand

closely packed, the whole surface of the ground being thus covered by

a kind of roof. From 900 to 1,000 cows are constantly in milk. They are

fed during winter partly on steamed turnips (7 tons being steamed daily

in order to give one meal daily to 900 cows), partly on coarse hay, of

which, as of straw, they get between 20 and 30 lbs. a day each. They are

also fed on draff, of which they receive half a bushel daily each; on

Indian corn meal, of which they have 3 lbs. daily each; and on pot-ale,

of which they receive three times a day nearly as much as they will

consume, _i.e._, from 6 to 10 gallons daily. During the summer they are

let out, a byreful at a time, for half a day to grass, and on coming

in receive their spent malt and still liquor, and hay in addition. They

are managed, cleaned, and fed by two men to each byre holding about 100

cows. The milking is done three times a day, by women who take charge

of 13 cows in full milk, or double that number in half milk, apiece.

Between 4 and 5 o'clock a.m. (taking the winter management), the byres

are cleaned out, and the cows receive a "big shovelful" of draff

apiece, and half their steamed turnips and meal, and a "half stoupful,"

(probably 2 gallons) of pot-ale. They are milked very early. At 7 they

receive their fodder-straw or hay. At 10 they get a "full stoupful"

(probably 3 or 4 gallons) of pot-ale. They are milked at noon. At 2

p.m., or thereabouts, they are foddered again, and at 4 p.m. receive

the same food as at the morning meal. They are again milked at 5 to 6,

cleaned out and left till morning. The average produce is stated to be

2 gallons a day per cow.

Mrs. Scott, of Weekston, Peebles, who keeps one of the best managed

dairy farms in the United Kingdom, thus conducts her operations in

the winter:--At 6 o'clock in the morning the cows are well wiped or

scrubbed, have their bedding removed, and receive each about 4 or 5 lbs.

of straw. At 8 o'clock the cows are milked, and Mrs. Scott examines each

to ascertain whether or not the milk-maid has left any fluid in the

udder--and woe betide the careless maid if her work has been carelessly

done! At 10 o'clock a barrowful of turnips is divided amongst three

cows, and when these roots are not available, a quantity of peas or bean

meal, with a pint of cold water, takes their place. At 1 o'clock the

cows are allowed out to be watered, and during their absence from the

byre it is thoroughly cleansed and ventilated. When the state of the

weather prevents the cows from being turned out, they receive twice a

day a handful of oatmeal diffused throughout three pints of water--a

handful of salt being given in the first of these drinks. When the cows

return to the byre, they receive each about 4 or 5 lbs. of straw, and at

4 or 5 o'clock an evening meal of turnips equal to their morning feed.

At 8 o'clock a "windling" of meadow hay is given to each pair of cows,

the quantity being always regulated according to the requirements of

each cow. The cows upon calving receive, in addition to this allowance

of hay, half a pailful of boiled turnips, mixed with a quart of peas

or bean-meal. This mess is given in a lukewarm state. Mrs. Scott's

system may be thus epitomised: Regularity in feeding; sufficient but

not excessive food; regularity in milking; and minute attention to

cleanliness and ventilation.

_Stall-feeding._--What becomes of the 90 per cent. of the weight of

the non-nitrogenous constituents of the food of the sheep, and of the

80 per cent. of that of the nutriment of the pig, which they consume

but do not store up? I have already partly answered this question. This

portion of the food is chiefly expended in the production of the heat

with which the high temperature of the animal's body is maintained. Part

of it, no doubt, passes unchanged through its body, either owing to its

indigestibility, or to its being given in excess. The quantity of

non-nitrogenous matters consumed by a man is influenced greatly by the

temperature of the air which he habitually breathes, and by the nature

of the artificial covering of his body; there may be other conditions

at present unknown to us, but these are amongst the chief ones. Now, as

there is sufficient reason to lead us to believe that the consumption

of carbonaceous food by the lower animals is influenced in the same

way by the temperature of the medium in which they exist, the question

naturally suggests itself, would it not be cheaper to maintain the heat

of the animal by burning the carbon of cheap coal or turf outside its

body, than by consuming the carbon of costly fat within it? The answer

to this question is not so simple as at first sight it appears to be. We

must not consider that, because 10 lbs. weight of carbon, as coal, costs

but a penny, whilst an equal weight of the same element in starch costs

twenty pence, heat may be furnished to a fattening animal twenty times

cheaper by the combustion of coal than by that of starch. No doubt the

amount of heat evolved by the conversion of a pound-weight of carbon

into carbonic acid is the same, whether it be a constituent of starch or

of coal; but the application of the heat so produced is less under our

control in the latter case. All the heat evolved during the combustion

of the starch within the animal's body is made use of; whilst a very

large proportion of that developed by the combustion of coal in a

furnace cannot in practice be applied to the purpose of heating the

animal's body.

It is only the handiwork of the Creator which is perfect, and no machine

constructed by the skill of man, for the direction of force, can rival

that wondrous heat-producing, force-directing mechanism--the animal

organism. According to Dumas, the combustion of about 2-1/2 lbs. of

carbon in a steam-engine is required to generate sufficient force to

convey a man from the level of the sea to the summit of Mont Blanc; but

a man will ascend the mountain in two days, and burn in his mechanism

only half a pound of carbon. There is no machine in which heat and

force are more completely made available than the animal organism; and

were it not--thanks to the influence of antediluvian sunshine--that

the carbon of fuel in these countries is so very much cheaper than the

carbon of food, there is no doubt but that the cheapest mode of keeping

an animal warm would be to allow it to burn its carbon within its

body. As the matter stands, however, there is no question as to the

advisability of keeping fattening animals in a warm place. If the

temperature of the stall be equal to that of the animal's body there

will be less food consumed in the increase of its fat; because less of

the fat-forming materials will be expended in the production of heat.

In this sense, therefore, heat is an equivalent to food, but only within

certain limits; because heat is developed in large quantity within the

animal body independently of the temperature of the air. There is,

therefore, no object to be attained by having the stalls heated beyond

70 or 80 degrees. Indeed, it is to be questioned whether or not stalls

artificially heated are ever properly ventilated. If they be not, the

health of the animal will suffer, and its appetite--so essential a point

in fattening stock--will become impaired. We may conclude--firstly,

that animals, when fattening, should be kept at a temperature not under

70 degrees nor above 90 degrees Fahrenheit; secondly, that the mode of

heating must be such that there is as little wasteful combustion of fuel

as is possible under the circumstances; and, lastly, that no motives of

economy of fuel should prevent the feeding places from being thoroughly

ventilated.

Stall-feeding is not so extensively carried on in Ireland as it is in

Great Britain. There is a general impression that it does not pay in the

former country; but if such be the case, it is simply owing to the want

of skill on the part of the Irish feeders.

The cattle intended for stall-feeding should be removed (if out) from

the field in October, and put into the house, or court, or crib, or

hammel, as the case may be. They are fed upon roots, straw, hay, grain,

and artificial food. The greatest skill is required in their treatment.

It is a nice point to determine which foods are the most economical,

and also to ascertain in what foods excessive proportions of certain

nutritive elements exist. Sufficient food should be given; but any

approach to waste should be avoided. Three feeds a day are usually

given, and should be supplied at the same hours each day. For about two

weeks the animals are furnished with white turnips _ad libitum_; but

after the expiration of that time they receive Swedish turnips, straw,

and grain, or oil-cake. Late in the season mangels will replace turnips.

Almost every extensive feeder now uses oil-cakes in large quantities;

but when oats are low in price, they will in general be found a cheap

equivalent for a large proportion of the oil-cake. Different feeders

have different dietaries, and the nature of the aliments supplied to

fattening stock depends very much upon the market prices of food-stuffs,

and the locality in which the feeding-house is situated. The following

dietaries are but examples of the methods of feeding adopted in

different districts and by different persons:--

Mr. McCombie, of Tillyfour, fattens from 300 to 400 beasts annually,

and obtained for them in 1861 L35 per head. He never exceeds 4 lbs. of

oil-cake per diem, nor 2 lbs. of bruised oats, for each beast. He gives

as much turnip and straw as they can consume. He realises L12 per acre

in feeding on Aberdeen and Swedish turnips.

"For fatting cattle," says Mr. Edmonds, of Cirencester, "I should

recommend two parts hay and one part straw, or in forward animals

three parts hay and one part straw cut in chaff. Those of average size

will eat somewhere about five bushels per day, with 4 lbs. to 5 lbs.

oil-cake, and half a peck of mixed meal, barley and peas, or beans, and,

if cheap, a proportion of wheat also, to be increased to one peck per

day in a month or six weeks after they have come to stall, the oil-cake

and meal to be boiled in water for half-an-hour or three-quarters, and

thrown in the form of rich soup over the chaff, and well mixed, to which

add a little salt."

Colonel M'Douall, of Logan, Wigtonshire, gives 3 lbs. of bean-meal and

3 lbs. of cut straw cooked together, and 84 lbs. of Swedish turnips.

According to the researches of Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert, an ox weighing

1,400 lbs. ought to gain 20 lbs. weekly when fed under cover with 8 lbs.

of crushed oil-cake, 13 lbs. of chopped clover hay, and 47 lbs. of

turnips. The chemical constituents (in a dried state) of this allowance

are as follows:--

Ounces.

Fat-formers, or heat givers 232

Flesh-formers 55

Mineral matter 29

_Cost of Maintaining Animals._--The animal mechanism, which exhibits

the least tendency to fatten, is the most costly to keep in repair, in

relation to the work performed by it. If, for example, a sheep store up

in its increase one-fifth of its food, then the remaining four-fifths

are expended in preserving it alive, and their cost represents, so to

speak, the expense of preserving the animal's body in repair. If another

sheep store up only one-tenth of its food, then the cost of its

maintenance may be said to be double that of the animal which retains

the larger proportion of its nutriment in the form of flesh. Of course

in both cases the value of the manure will to a great extent compensate

for the cost of the food expended in merely keeping the animal alive;

but that does not affect the proposition, that the less food expended by

an animal in carrying on its vital functions the more valuable is it as

a "meat-manufacturing machine." From the moment it is brought into the

world until it is "ripe" for the shambles, an animal should steadily

increase in weight: every week that it does not store up a portion of

its food in permanent increase is the loss of a week's food to the

feeder; for all the fodder consumed during that time by the animal is,

so to speak, devoted to its own private purposes. Sheep overcrowded

on pastures, milch cows on "short commons," calves kept on bulky

innutritious food, are all so many sources of positive loss to the

feeder--and as many proofs that he who aspires to be a successful

producer of meat, must, in one respect at least, be a devout believer

in the doctrine of Progressive Development.

_Cooking and Bruising Food._--The cooking, or the otherwise preparing,

of the food of the domesticated animals is a subject which until

recently was completely ignored by the vast majority of stock feeders.

It is now, however, beginning to attract a fair amount of attention; and

no doubt ere long the best modes of treating the food of cattle will be

discovered.

As might be expected from our limited experience of the subject, there

exists considerable difference of opinion relative to the proper method

of cooking cattle food; and there are many very extensive feeders who

object to the plan altogether, and contend that as the food of the

inferior animals is naturally supplied to them in a raw condition,

it would be quite unnatural to give it to them in a cooked state.

Whatever difference of opinion there may be with regard to the propriety

of cooking the food of stock, we believe there ought not to be a doubt

as to the desirability of mechanically treating the harder kinds of

feeding stuff. It is quite evident that a horse fed upon hard grains of

oats and wiry fibres of uncut hay or straw must expend no inconsiderable

proportion of his motive power in the process of mastication. After a

hard day's work of eight or ten hours he has before him the laborious

task of reducing to a pulp from 12 lbs. to 20 lbs. weight of exceedingly

hard and tough vegetable matter; and as this operation is carried on

during the hours which should be devoted to rest, the repose of the

animal is to some extent interfered with. Indeed, it not unfrequently

happens that a horse, after a hard day's work, is too tired to chew his

food properly; he consequently bolts his oats, a large proportion of

which, as a matter of course, passes unchanged through the animal's

body.

In order to render fully effective the motive power of the horse, it is

absolutely necessary to pay attention to the condition, as well as to

the quantity and quality of his nutriment. The force wasted by a horse

in the comminution of his food, when composed of whole oats and uncut

hay and straw, cannot, at the lowest estimate, be less than that which

he expends in an hour of ordinary work, such as, for example, in

ploughing. The preparation of his food by means of water or steam power,

or even by animal motive power, would economise by at least 50 per cent.

the labor expended in its mastication; and this would be equivalent to

nearly half a day's work in each week, and, consequently, a clear gain

of so much labor to the owner of the animal. In the present time of

water-power and steam-power corn-mills, one man is able to grind the

flour necessary for the support of several thousand men; in early ages

the labor of one person in the grinding of wheat served but to supply

the wants of twenty others. In both cases machinery was employed

for reducing the grain to flour; but in the one case, the mechanisms

employed were more than a hundred times more effective than in the

other. But even the most imperfect flour mill is by far a more

economical system of comminuting corn than the jaws of animals; and if

every man were obliged, as the horse is, to grind his corn by means of

his teeth alone, he would find his powers for the performance of other

kinds of labor considerably lessened.

It has been urged as an objection to the use of bruised oats by horses,

that they exercise in that state a laxative influence upon the animal's

bowels. I doubt very much that such is frequently the case, when the

animal is fed only upon oats and hay and straw; but even if the oats

produce such an effect, the addition of a small proportion of beans--the

binding properties of which are well known--will obviate the

disadvantage.

The desirability of mechanically acting upon soft food is not so

apparent as the necessity for the bruising of oats is. Roots are so

easily masticable that if they are rendered more so there is danger of

their being so hastily swallowed as to escape thorough insalivation,

which is so necessary to ensure perfect digestion. To guard against this

danger, perhaps the best way would be to give pulped mangels and turnips

mixed with cut straw; a mixture which could not easily be bolted.

Mr. Charles Lawrence, of Cirencester, who is a great advocate for the

cooking of food, and has frequently published his experience of the

benefits derivable therefrom, thus describes his method of combining

pulped roots with dry fodder:--

We find that, taking a score of bullocks together fattening,

they consume per head per diem three bushels of chaff, mixed

with just half a cwt. of pulped roots, exclusive of cakes of

corn; that is to say, rather more than two bushels of chaff

are mixed with the roots, and given at two feeds, morning and

evening, and the remainder is given with the cake, &c., at the

middle-day feed, thus:--We use the steaming apparatus of Stanley,

of Peterborough, consisting of a boiler in the centre, in which

the steam is generated, and which is connected by a pipe on the

left hand with a large galvanised iron receptacle for steaming

food for pigs, and on the right with a large wooden tub, lined

with copper, in which the cake, mixed with water, is made into

a thick soup. Adjoining this is a slate tank, of sufficient size

to contain one feed for the entire lot of bullocks feeding. Into

this tank is laid chaff with a three-grained fork, and pressed

down firmly; and this process is repeated until the slate tank

is full, when it is covered down for an hour or two before

feeding time. The soup is then found entirely absorbed by the

chaff, which has become softened and prepared for ready digestion.

Mr. Wright, near Dunbar, gives the following account of an experiment

with pulped roots and straw and oil-cake. It appears to prove the

superiority of mixed foods over the same foods consumed separately:--

Two lots of year-old cattle were fed; the one in the usual

way--sliced turnips and straw, _ad libitum_--the others with

the minced turnips, mixed with cut straw. The first lot consumed

daily 84 lbs. sliced turnips, 1 lb. oil-cake, 1 lb. rape-cake,

1/2 lb. bean-meal, broken small and mixed with a little salt,

and what straw they liked. The second lot ate, each, daily,

50 lbs. minced turnips, 1 lb. oil-cake, 1 lb. rape-cake, 1/2 lb.

bean-meal, and a little salt, the whole being mixed with double

the bulk of cut straw or wheat chaff. In spring, the lot of

cattle which had the mixed food were in good condition, and

equally well grown as others, though they had consumed in five

months two tons less of roots apiece. The reporter does not

advise the mincing process to be commenced when cattle are very

forward in condition, as any change of food requires a certain

time to accustom the animals to it, and in the meantime fat

cattle are apt to fall off in condition. It ought to be begun

when they are young and lean.

Mr. Duckham, of Baysham Court, Ross, Herefordshire, says:--

The advantages of pulping roots for cattle are--1st, Economy

of food; for the roots being pulped and mixed with the chaff,

either from threshing or cut hay or straw, the whole is consumed

without waste, the animals not being able to separate the chaff

from the pulped roots, as is the case when the roots are merely

sliced by the common cutter, neither do they waste the fodder as

when given without being cut.

2. The use of ordinary hay or straw. After being mixed with the

pulp for about twelve hours, fermentation commences, and this

soon renders the most mouldy hay palatable, and animals eat with

avidity that which they would otherwise reject. This fermentation

softens the straw, makes it more palatable, and puts it in a state

to assimilate more readily with the other food. In this respect

I think the pulper of great value, particularly upon corn farms

where large crops of straw are grown, and where there is a limited

acreage of pasture, as by its use the pastures may be grazed, the

expensive process of haymaking reduced, and, consequently, an

increased number of cattle kept. I keep one-third more, giving

the young stock a small quantity of oil-cake, which I mix with

the chaff, &c.

3. Choking is utterly impossible, and I have only had one case of

hoove in three years, and that occurred when the mixture had not

fermented.

4. There is an advantage in mixing the meal with the chaff and

pulped roots for fattening animals, as thereby they cannot separate

it, and the moisture from the fermentation softens the meal and

ensures its thorough digestion, whereas, when given in a dry state

without any mixture, frequently a great portion passes away in the

manure.

On the value of the process for a grazing farm with but a small quantity

of plough-land, Mr. Corner, of Woodlands, Holford, Bridgewater, thus

speaks:--

My plan is, first commencing with the grazing beasts, to cut about

an equal quantity of hay and straw and mix with a sufficient

quantity of roots (mostly mangel) to well moisten the chaff; and as

the beasts advance in condition, I lessen the straw and increase

the hay, and in their further progress I mix--in addition to all

hay, chaff, and roots--from 6 to 10 lb. per day to each bullock of

barley and bean-meal, according to its size--and I have them large

sometimes. I sold last week for the London market a lot of Devon

oxen of very prime quality, averaging in weight upwards of 100 stone

imperial each.

For my horses, cows, yearlings, and oxen--the latter to be kept in

a thriving condition, and turned to grass, and kept through the

summer for Christmas, 1860--I cut nearly all straw, with a very

small quantity of hay, and this the offal of the rick. These also

have as many pulped roots as will moisten the chaff, except the

horses, and to them I give, along with bruised oats, just enough

roots to keep their bowels in a proper condition. To the two or

three-year-old beasts I give some long straw and a part chaff,

and the offal (if any) of the food of the above lots of stock.

My farm is but a small one--under 200 acres. My predecessor always

mowed nearly all the pastures for hay, which is about half the

farm, and with this scarcely ever grazed any beasts, and kept but

very few sheep. Since my occupation I scarcely ever exceed ten acres

of meadow with one field of seeds for hay. I keep from 250 to 300

large-size Leicester sheep, and graze from 20 to 25 large-size

beasts a year, with other breeding stock in proportion.

I consider the pulping of roots is better for fatting pigs than

anything else. My plan is to have a large two-hogshead vat as near

the pulping machine as possible, so as to fill it with a malt

shovel as it comes from the machine; at the same time I keep a lad

sprinkling meal (either barley or Indian corn) with the roots; and

this is all done in fifteen or twenty minutes. It is then ready for

use, to be carried to the pigs in the stalls alongside the fatting

beasts. I never could fatten a pig with profit until I used pulped

roots.

Although the practice of cooking food has been advocated by several

eminent feeders, it has been condemned by others. Mr. Lawes is not

favorable to the cooking of food unless when it is scarce. The results

of Colonel M'Douall's experiments go to prove that cattle can be more

economically kept upon a mixture of raw and cooked foods than upon

either raw or cooked fodder given separately. One meal of cooked food

and two feeds of raw turnips gave better results than three feeds of

raw turnips; whilst two cooked feeds and a raw one resulted in a loss.

The fermentation of food, if not the best, is certainly the cheapest

mode of preparing it. If the process be not pushed too far the loss of

nutriment sustained is inconsiderable. When a mixture of straw and roots

is fermented, the hard fibres of the latter are, to a great extent,

broken up, and the nutrient particles which they envelop are fully

exposed to the action of the solvent juices of the stomach.

A great advantage in cooking or fermenting food is that the most

rubbishy materials can be used up. Indeed, as a general rule, the better

soft food is, the less the necessity for cooking it; but washed out hay

and hard, over-ripened straw are of but little value, except when cooked

and given in combination with some agreeably-flavored substance.

VALUE FOR FEEDING PURPOSES OF VARIOUS FOODS.[22]

+--------------------------------------------------------+

| KEY: |

| A.--Starch, Sugar, &c. |

| B.--Oil, Starch, &c., computed as Oil. |

| C.--Weight. |

| D.--Value. |

| E.--Value of Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid, and Potash. |

| F.--Deduct Nitrogen for perspiration. |

| G.--Net Value for Manure. |

| |

+---------------+------------------+-------------------------------------+

| | COST. | 100 LBS. CONTAIN. |

| +----------+-------+------+-------+-------+--------------+

| | | Per | | | | |

| | Per | 100 | | | +------+-------+

| | ton. | lbs. | Oil. | A. | B. | C. | D. |

+---------------+----------+-------+------+-------+-------+------+-------+

| | L s. d.| s. d. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | d. |

| | | | | | | | |

|Meadow-hay | 4 0 0 | 3 7 | 2.68 | 39.75 | 24.63 | 1.48 | 10.62 |

| | | | | | | | |

|Wheat-straw | 1 15 0 | 1 7 | 0.50 | 32.0 | 18.50 | 0.42 | 3.0 |

| | | | | | | | |

|Swedish Turnips| 4 10 0 | 4 0 | 2.0 | 60.0 | 35.0 | 2.40 | 17.28 |

| | | | | | | | |

|Oil-cake | 9 6 8 | 8 4 |12.0 | 38.0 | 33.0 | 5.0 | 36.0 |

| | | | | | | | |

|Beans | 9 6 8 | 8 4 | 2.0 | 42.0 | 25.30 | 4.45 | 32.0 |

| | | | | | | | |

|Indian Meal | 9 6 8 | 8 4 | 7.0 | 60.0 | 40.0 | 2.25 | 16.20 |

| | | | | | | | |

| Locust Bean | 9 6 8 | 8 4 | 6.76 | 57.0 | 35.0 | 0.64 | 3.75 |

+---------------+----------+-------+------+-------+-------+------+-------+

+---------------+---------------------------+----------------------------+

| | 100 LBS. CONTAIN. | |

| +-------------+-------------+----------+-------+---------+

| +------+------+------+------+ | | |

| | C. | D. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. |

+---------------+------+------+------+------+----------+-------+---------+

| | lbs. | d. | lbs. | d. | s. d. | d. | s. d. |

| | | | | | | | |

|Meadow-hay | 0.90 | 1.35 | 1.50 | 4.50 | 1 4-1/2 | 2-1/12| 1 2-1/4 |

| | | | | | | | |

|Wheat-straw | 0.14 | 0.21 | 0.65 | 2.16 | 0 5 | 1/2 | 0 5 |

| | | | | | | | |

|Swedish Turnips| 0.80 | 1.20 | 2.25 | 6.75 | 2 1-1/4 | 3-1/2 | 1 9-3/4 |

| | | | | | | | |

|Oil-cake | 2.25 | 3.37 | 1.75 | 5.25 | 3 8-1/2 | 7-1/4 | 3 1-3/4 |

| | | | | | | | |

|Beans | 0.86 | 1.29 | 1.11 | 3.33 | 3 0-1/2 | 6-1/2 | 2 6 |

| | | | | | | | |

|Indian Meal | 0.19 | 0.28 | 0.17 | 0.51 | 1 5 | 3-1/4 | 1 1-3/4 |

| | | | | | |

| Locust Bean | of ash. | |say 5-3/4 | -- | 0 5 |

+---------------+--------------------+------+----------+-------+---------+

_Bedding Cattle._--Instead of wasting straw in bedding cattle, it would

be much better to pass it through their bodies. If straw must be used

for litter, let it be employed as economically as possible. Good

substitutes, wholly or in part, for straw bedding may be found in

sawdust, ashes, tan and ferns. Leaves of trees if procurable in

quantity constitute an excellent litter.

SECTION II.

THE SHEEP.

The management of sheep varies greatly--depending upon the breeds of

the animal, the localities in which they are reared and fattened, and

various economic conditions. The tupping season varies of course with

the country: in Ireland it commences about the middle of September and

lasts for two months; in England and parts of Scotland, the season is

about a month earlier. The best kinds of sheep admit of being very early

put to breed. Both ram and ewe are ready for this purpose when about

fifteen months old. One ram is sufficient for about 80 ewes. The

breeding flock should be in a sound, healthy condition, and the ram

ought to be as near perfection as possible. The condition of the sire

ought to be good, but at the same time it is not desirable to have him

over fat. The more striking indications of good health in the sheep are

dry eyes, red gums, sound teeth, smooth, oily skin, and regular

rumination. The color of the excreta should be natural.

_Breeding Ewes._--After the tupping season, which generally lasts for

a month, the sheep are usually put on a pasture, which need not be

very rich. In cold situations ample shelter should be afforded to the

breeding flocks; and in severe weather they should, if possible, be

removed to sheds. When snow covers the ground, the animals must be

supplied with turnips, or cooked food of some kind. At such time a

little oil-cake will be found very useful.

_Yeaning._--In March the yeaning season sets in; and as this time

approaches, the food of the animals should be improved, and the greatest

care must be taken of them. The shepherd should be unceasing in his

watchfulness, frequently examining every individual animal. The lambing,

if possible, ought to take place in sheds, or some covered place.

_Rearing of Lambs._--Delicate lambs require great care. Very weak ones

often require to be hand fed. Should a mother die, her offspring may be

placed with another ewe; on the other hand, should a lamb perish, its

mother may be appointed to rear one of another ewe's twins (if such

be available). The ram lambs, not intended for breeding purposes, are

subjected to a necessary mutilation when they are about three weeks old.

If this operation be performed later, there is great danger that fatal

inflammatory action may set in; on the other hand, a lamb much younger

than three weeks is hardly strong enough to bear the pain of the

operation. The tails of the lambs are shortened about the same time;

but it would be better in the case of the rams not to perform both

operations on the same day. These operations are best performed during

moist or cloudy weather; if they must be done on frosty or stormy

days, the lambs should be kept under shelter for two or three days, as

otherwise the cold might induce inflammation. The lambs remain with

their mothers for about four months, after which they are weaned, and

put upon a good pasture. When the herbage is poor, oil-cake, say 1/4 lb.

daily, or some other nutritious food, should be used to supplement it.

During the summer and part of the autumn the young stock, as a rule,

subsist upon grass; but many flock-masters give them other kinds of food

in addition. As winter approaches, the young sheep on tillage farms

receive soft turnips, and sometimes a little hay or straw. The allowance

of oil-cake may be increased to 1/2 lb., or if corn be cheap, it may be

substituted for the oil-cake. After Christmas Swedish turnips are used.

Mr. Mechi gives the following information on the subject of rearing

lambs during a season when roots are scarce:--

Two hundred lambs, which cost 22s. 6d. each on September 12th,

were kept on leas and stubble until November 3rd, then on

turnips until December 19th, when fifty of them were drafted to

another flock getting a little cotton-cake. On the 3rd of February

fatting commenced with linseed-cake in addition to cut Swedes. On

the 7th of April the fifty tegs were put on rye with mangels, and

they were sold on the 4th of May at 61s. each.

The remaining 150 lambs were wintered as stores at little cost,

on inferior turnips uncut; they were put on rye from March 8th

till May 4th, when they were valued at 48s. each.

The district just referred to became so exhausted of its stock,

that at some of the later fairs the number of lambs and of ewes

exhibited was less than one-fourth of the average. But in Essex,

on six adjoining farms, including that from which I write, the

number of sheep wintered has been greater than these heavy lands

ever carried before. This has been effected by the extension of

a system of management often practised on heavy land, that of

eking out a scanty supply of green food by a liberal allowance

of straw, chaff, and grain; which happily were good in quality,

as well as plentiful and low in price in 1864.

By these means we were enabled last winter to keep 1,500 sheep

on about 650 acres of arable, and 350 acres of dry upland

pasture--chiefly park surrounding a mansion. The arable land

does not very well bear folding in winter, as a preparation for

spring corn. Neither climate nor soil are favorable to turnips,

and notwithstanding our efforts in assisting Nature, our crops

of turnips, rape, or Swedes, are never first-rate, and sometimes

very bad. Strong stubbles, good beans, clover-seed, and mangel,

are the specialities of the locality, and they indicate heavy

land, corn-growing, and yard-feeding. Sheep have been generally

"conspicuous by their absence," though even the heavy-land farmer

is glad to winter a yard of them instead of cattle, that he may

keep some, at least, of the stock that pays best.

In the autumn of 1864 our root crops consisted of some white

turnips and rape, eaten by the ewes in September, and of a very

bad crop of mangel, the whole of which was reserved for the ewes

at lambing-time. In this predicament we wintered about 1,000

half-bred lambs, more than 400 ewes, and some fatting sheep.

All, except the fatting sheep, were folded on the stubbles, and

allowed a daily run on the park of about an hour for each flock.

The freshest grass was reserved for the ewes, and a very meagre

bite remained for the lambs; in fact, except for a few weeks

in autumn, the parks afforded them little or nothing except

exercise and water.

The flocks were divided between three separate farms, and their

food was prepared at the respective homesteads. The treatment

was in every respect similar; we shall therefore only notice in

detail the management at one farm.

The following details are taken from our "Live Stock Book:"--

EXTRACTS FROM STOCK BOOK.

_Lambs._

Payments. Remarks.

_November 4th, 1864._

L s. d.

352 lambs, cost at date, 30s. 9-1/2d. each 542 2 3 (a)

_Cost of keeping 24 weeks to April 21, 1865_:-- (b)

Corn and cake, as per granary book 245 16 9 (c)

Cutting 25 tons of chaff, at 6s. 7 13 0 (d)

Grinding 96 qrs. 6 bshls. of corn, at 9d. 3 12 6

Attendance, at 19s. 10d. per week 23 16 0 (e)

Horse labor, at 6s. per week 7 4 0

Coal, 3s. 2d. per week 3 16 0 (f)

Use of 21 troughs, at 3d. each per month 1 11 6 (g)

Use of 180 hurdles, at 1d. each per month 4 10 0

1-1/2 cwt. of rock salt 0 4 6

==========

L840 6 6

Remarks.

(a) Total cost of keeping 352 lambs for 24 weeks, L298 4s. 3d.

(b) Cost per head, 16s. 11d.

(d) Value of the manure, reckoned at one-fifth the cost of the

corn and cake, L49 3s. 4d.

(e) Cost of the lambs, per head, L2 7s. 8d.

(f) Value of manure, per head, 2s. 10d.

(g) No charge made for the straw-chaff eaten on the land.

The tegs would probably have been sold at a profit in April;

they were, however, put on grass and clover, and were fattened

in the summer.

_September 29th._--352 lambs in the parks, on a little cotton-cake

and some oats, until November 4th, when they were folded on a wheat

stubble. Gave them 5 bushels of meal daily, mixed with 468 lb. of

straw chaff. Cost 3-1/2d. each per week for meal.

_December 20th._--Increased the food to 6-1/2 bushels of meal and

1 bushel of oil-cake.

_December 18th._--

lb.

2-3/4 bushels of maize crushed and boiled 143

4-1/2 bushels of mixed meal 200

1 bushel of oil-cake 50

---

393

===

Cost 5-1/2d. per week for corn and cake; chaff, 2-1/4 lb. each,

between these and the ewes, the lambs eating rather less than

2 lb. each.

Eight pounds of rock-salt licked up by the 352 lambs per week.

_January 23rd._--The food was increased to 7-1/2 bushels of meal,

2 bushels of oil-cake, and 2 bushels of rape-cake.

Mixture of Corn.

Wheat 4 parts.

Barley 4 "

Oats 2 "

Maize 4 "

Cost per stone (14 lb.)

s. d.

Wheat 1 0

Barley 0 10

Oats 1 0

Maize 0 10

Oil-cake 1 4-1/4

Rape-cake 0 9

_Sheep Feeding._--In Ireland sheep are often exclusively fed on grass;

but in most cases the addition of other food is desirable, and more

especially is it necessary during winter. When confined to roots, sheep,

on an average, consume about 26 lbs. daily, unless when under shelter,

which diminishes the quantity by from five to ten per cent. Some sheep

on which Dr. Voelcker experimented were fed as follows:--

lbs. ounces.

Mangel wurtzel 19 8

Chopped clover hay 1 3/10

Linseed cake 0 4-8/100

--------------

Total 20 15-38/100

On this diet four sheep were maintained from the 22nd of March until

the 10th of May, a period of forty-seven days. The weights were as

follows:--

22nd Mar. 10th May. Gain.

No. 1 153 170-1/2 17-1/2

No. 2 134 151-1/2 17-1/2

No. 3 170 187 17-1/2

No. 4 136 155 19

This experiment shows that the sheep can increase in weight on a daily

allowance of food, much less than is usually given to them; but it will

be found that growing sheep will usually consume a greater quantity of

food than that used by Dr. Voelcker's fattening animals.

Sheep washing is performed before the animal is shorn. It is a process

which should never be neglected, as dirty wool is certain to bring a

less price than the same quality would if clean. After being washed,

sheep should be kept in dry pasture for about ten days in order to allow

the loss of yolk removed by the washing to be repaired; they will then

be in proper condition for the shearer.

_Sheep Dips_ are used for the purpose of removing parasites from the

animal's skin. They often contain arsenic, or bichloride of mercury

(corrosive sublimate), which are very objectionable ingredients. The

glycerine sheep dip, prepared by Messrs. Hendrick and Guerin, of London,

is a safe mixture, as it is free from mineral poisons, whilst the tar

substances which it includes, act as a powerful cleanser of the skin,

without injuriously affecting the yolk of the wool.

SECTION III.

THE PIG.

In the breeding of pigs, as in the breeding of other kinds of stock,

great care should be taken in the selection of both sire and dam. A good

pig should have a small head, short nose, plump cheek, a compact body,

short neck, and thin but very hairy skin, and short legs. The black

breed is considered to be more hardy than the white; and pure--all black

or all white--colors as a rule indicate the purest blood.

The sow should not be bred from until she is a year old, and the boar

especially should not be employed at an earlier age. Although one boar

is sometimes left with forty pigs and even a greater number, he will not

be able to serve more than a dozen about the same time, if vigorous

progeny be expected. The sow's regular period of gestation is 113 days;

she can have two litters a year, and in each there are from five to

fourteen young. Moderate sized litters are the best, the young of very

numerous ones being often weakly. The best time to rear young pigs is

during the warm or mild parts of the year.

During gestation the sow should be liberally fed, but not with excessive

amounts. The food at this time should rather excel in quality than in

quantity; but so soon as she begins to nurse, her allowance must be

increased, and may be rendered more stimulating. For a week or so before

farrowing, the sow ought to be kept alone. Its sty should not be too

small--not less than 8 or 10 feet square--for pigs require good air in

abundance as well as other animals.

The straw used for litter should neither be too abundant nor too long;

in the latter case some of the young might be covered by it, and

escaping the notice of the sow, might unconsciously be crushed by the

latter. If the young are very feeble, it may become necessary to

hand-feed them. Some sows eat their young: and when they have this

habit, the better plan is to cease breeding from them; for it appears to

be incurable. After parturition some bran and liquid or semi-liquid food

should be given to the sow.

_Young Pigs_ subsist exclusively on their mother's milk but for a short

time. In two or three weeks they may receive skimmed or butter-milk from

the dairy. At a month old such of them as are not designed for breeding

purposes may be subjected to the usual mutilations; and at from five to

six weeks old the young are weaned, and converted into _stores_.

_Store Pigs_, when young, are best fed upon skimmed milk, oatmeal,

and potatoes, in a cooked state. When they are approaching three months

old, they may be supplied with raw food, if the weather be warm;

but in winter, cooked and warm food will be found the more economical.

Cabbages, roots, potatoes, and all kinds of grain that are cheap are

used in pig feeding. The number of meals varies from six or seven in the

case of very young animals, to three in the case of those nearly ready

for fattening. Store pigs should be allowed a few hours' exercise daily

in a paddock, or field, or at least in a large yard.

The dietaries of store pigs vary greatly, for these animals being

omnivorous readily eat almost every kind of food. Mr. Baldwin, of Bredon

House, near Birmingham, an extensive pig breeder, gave (in 1862) stores

the following allowance:--At three months old, a quart of peas, Egyptian

beans, or Indian corn. He considered English beans to be too _heating_

for young pigs. The animals were allowed the _run_ of a grass field.

On this diet the stores were kept until they were eight months old

(increasing at the average rate of five pounds per week), after which

they were allowed an extra half-pint of corn. He calculated the weekly

cost as follows:--Dry food, 1s.; grass, 2d.; man's time, 1d.; total, 1s.

3d. These results yielded a profit of 1s. per week per pig, pork being

at the time 6d. per lb. Some feeders give young store pigs half-a-pint

of peas, mixed with pulped mangel, and the quantum of peas is gradually

increased to one pint per diem. All kinds of food-refuse from the house

are welcomed by the pig. Skins, dripping, damaged potatoes, cabbage,

&c., may be given to them; but they should not be altogether substituted

for the ordinary food-stuffs. Coal-dust, cinders, mortar rubbish, and

similar substances are often swallowed by pigs, and sometimes even

given to them by the feeder. In certain cases Lawes and Gilbert found

that superphosphate of lime was a useful addition to the food of pigs.

A little salt should invariably be given, more especially if mangels

(which are rich in salt) do not enter into the animals' dietary.

_Fattening Pigs._--For some time before store pigs are put up to be

fattened, the quality and quantity of their food should be increased,

for it is not economy to put a rather lean animal suddenly upon a very

fattening diet. The sty should be well supplied with clean litter, and

should be darkened. Three feeds per diem will be a sufficient number,

and the remains (if any) of one should be removed from the trough before

the fresh feed is put into it. The feeding trough (which should be made

of iron) should be so constructed that the animals cannot place their

fore feet in it. The pig is naturally a clean animal, and therefore

it should be washed occasionally, as there is every reason to believe

that such a procedure will tend to promote the animal's health. It

should be supplied with clean water.

In Stephen's "Book of the Farm," it is stated that two pecks of

steamed potatoes, and 9 lbs. of barley-meal, given every day to a pig

weighing from 24 to 28 stones, will fatten it perfectly in nine weeks.

Barley-meal is largely used in England as food for pigs. It is given

generally in the form of a thin paste, and in large quantities. Lawes

and Gilbert found that 1 cwt. of barley-meal given to pigs increased

their weight by 22-1/2 lbs. Indian meal is fully equal, if it is not

superior to barley-meal, as food for pigs; and for this purpose it is

far more extensively employed in Ireland. Every kind of grain given to

pigs should be ground and cooked. In Scotland pigs are often fattened

solely on from 28 to 35 lbs. of barley-meal weekly, and mangels or

turnips _ad libitum_. Pollard is a good food for pigs, being rich in

muscle-forming materials; it is a good addition to very fatty or starchy

food. A mixture of pollard and palm-nut meal is an excellent fattening

food. Potatoes are now so dear, that they are seldom--unless the very

worst and diseased kinds--used in pig feeding. They should never be

given raw. The more inferior feeding-stuffs should be used up first in

the fattening of pigs, and the more valuable and concentrated kinds

during the latter part of the process.

SECTION IV.

THE HORSE.

The horse is subject to many diseases, not a few of which arise from the

defective state of his stable. The best kinds of stables are large and

lofty, well ventilated and drained, smoothly paved, and well provided

with means for admitting the direct sunlight. The walls should be

whitewashed occasionally, and for disinfecting and general sanitary

purposes, four ounces of chloride of lime (bleaching powder) mixed with

each bucket of whitewash, will be found extremely useful.

Farm horses are kept in stalls, which should not be less than six feet

wide, and (exclusive of rack and rere passage) 10 feet long. For hunters

and thorough-breds, _loose boxes_ are now generally used.

The mare commences to breed at four years, and the period of gestation

is 340 days. She may be worked until within a fortnight of the time at

which parturition is expected to occur. After foaling, the mare should

be turned into a grass field (unless the weather is severe) and kept

there idly for three or four weeks.

_Foals_ are kept with their mothers until they are about five or six

months old: after weaning, their food must be tender and nutritious--well

bruised oats, cut hay, bean or oatmeal mashes; carrots are very

suitable.

Working horses are fed chiefly upon oats and hay, which undoubtedly are

the best foods for these animals, both being rich in muscle-forming

materials. Bruised oats are far more economical than the whole grains:

and if the animals eat too rapidly, that habit is easily overcome by

mixing chopped straw or hay with the grain.

According to Playfair, a horse not working can subsist and remain in

fair condition on a daily allowance of 12 lbs. of hay and 5 lbs. of

oats. According to the same authority, a working horse should receive

14 lbs. of hay, 12 lbs. of oats, and 2 lbs. of beans.

Beans are a very concentrated food, rich in flesh-formers, and are,

therefore, well adapted for sustaining hard-working horses. They are

rather _binding_; but this property is easily neutralised by combining

the beans with some laxative food. Turnips, carrots, furze, and various

other foods are given to the horse, often in large quantities. The

following are some among the many dietaries on which this animal

is kept:--

Professor Low's formula is, 30 to 35 lbs. of a mixture of equal parts

of chopped straw, chopped hay, bruised grain, and steamed potatoes.

The daily rations of horses of the London Omnibus Company, are 16 lbs.

of bruised oats, 7-1/2 lbs. of cut hay, and 2-1/2 lbs. of chopped straw.

Stage coach-horses in the United States receive daily about 19 lbs. of

Indian meal and 13 lbs. of cut hay.

Mr. Robertson, of Clandeboye, near Belfast, gives the following

information on the subject of horse-keeping:--

The year we divide into three periods--October, November to

May inclusive, June to September inclusive. During the first

period, the horses get about 18 lb. of chaff and 12 lb. of

crushed oats and beans; "10-1/2 oats and 1-1/2 beans" per head

per day. During the second period they get about 15 lb. of hay

chaff, 12 lb. of crushed oats and beans, and about 3 gallons

of boiled turnips per head per day. During the third period

they were turned out to graze during the night. In the day time,

whilst in the stable, each animal is allowed about 50 lb. of cut

clover, and about 12 lb. of crushed oats and beans per day. The

feeding is all under the charge of one person. He uses his own

discretion in feeding the animals, though he is not allowed to

exceed the quantities named. The horses to which I allude are the

same on which the experiments commenced two years ago--six cart

horses, one cart pony, and one riding horse. From Sept. 1, 1865,

to and including August 31, 1866, the cost of maintaining these

horses in good working condition; keeping the carts, harness,

&c., in repair; shoeing, c., was as follows:--

Oats, 14 tons, at 16s. per cwt. L112 0 0

Beans, 2 tons, at 18s. per cwt. 18 0 0

Hay, 13 tons, at 30s. per ton 19 10 0

Green Clover 15 0 0

Turnips 5 0 0

Night grazing 18 0 0

Engine, cutting chaff, crushing oats, &c. 7 4 0

Attendance 26 0 0

Blacksmith 12 0 0

Saddler 12 0 0

Carpenter 10 0 0

Five per cent. interest on value, L110 5 10 0

Depreciation in value 10 per cent. 11 0 0

------------

L271 4 0

Deduct cost of riding horse 35 0 0

------------

L236 4 0

L33 11s. 10d. per head; if we suppose the available working

days to be 300, allowing 13 for wet days, holidays, &c., the

daily cost will be 2s. 2-1/2d.; to this if we add 1s. 8d.,

the wages of the driver, we shall have a total of 3s. 10-1/2d.

as the cost of a horse, cart, and driver per day. I would only

add, in conclusion, that the horses are kept in good working

condition; and, as a proof of their good health under this

system, I may state that during the past two years we have not

had occasion to require the services of a veterinary surgeon.

Musty hay or straw should not be given to horses. Furze is said to be

a heating food; but it is very nutritious, and when young, may be given

as _part_ of the food of the horse.

Boiled turnips and mangels are often given in winter; but they are

not sufficiently nutritious to constitute a substantial portion of the

animal's diet. Oil-cake is occasionally given to horses; but seldom in

larger quantities than 1-1/2 lbs. per diem. On the whole, experience is

in favor of occasionally giving cooked food to horses; and the practice

meets with the full approval of the veterinarian. To most kinds of food

for horses, the addition of one or two ounces of salt is necessary.

In the _Agricultural Gazette_ for November 25, 1865, the following

instructive tables are given:--

STABLE FEEDING DURING AUTUMN.

---+-------------------------+---------+---------+------+-----------+------

No.| of Authorities. | Hay. | Oats. |Beans.| &c. | Cost.

---+-------------------------+---------+---------+------+-----------+------

| | lb. | lb. | lb. | | s. d.

| | | | | |

1 | W. Gater, Botley | 168 | 63* | 32* | ... |12 0

2 | W. C. Spooner | 112 | 84 | 24 | ... |11 0

3 | T. Aitken, Spalding. | ... | 37-1/2 | ... | ad lib. | 7 6?

4 | " " | ... | 37-1/2 | 35 | ad lib. |10 O?

5 | T. P. Dods, Hexham. | ... | 105 | ... | ad lib. |10 6?

6 | " " | ad lib. | 105 | ... | ... |10 6?

7 | A. Ruston, I. of Ely. | ad lib. | 84 | 10 | ad lib. | 9 0

| | 1/2 | | | 1/2 Bran. |

8 | A. Simpson, Beauly | 168 | 70 | 14 | 24 lb. |10 0

9 | H. J. Wilson, Mansfield | ... | 52-1/2 | ... | ad lib. | 7 3?

10 | " " | 42 | 87-1/2 | ... | ad lib. | 9 0

---+-------------------------+---------+---------+------+-----------+------

In this table the asterisk (*) means that the grain is crushed or ground.

STABLE FEEDING DURING WINTER.

---+------------------+------+-------+------+--------+---------+------+------

---+------------------+------+-------+------+--------+---------+------+------

| | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. | s. d.

1 |Professor Low | | | | | | |

| Agriculture | 56* | 56* | ... | 56+ | ... | 56* | 6 6

| | | | | | | |

2 |H. Stephens | | | | | | |

| Farm | 112 | 35 | ... | 112 | ... | ... | 6 0

| | | | | | | |

| --H. Soc. 1850 | ... | 84 | ... | 217+ | 217+ | 112 | 9 0

| | | | | | | |

4 |--Binnie, | | | | Barley | | ad |

| Seaton | ... | 70* | 28* | 243+ | 42+ | lib. |11 6

| | | | | | | |

5 |--Thomson, | | | | | | ad |

| Hangingside | ... | 84 | 14 | 336 | 14 | lib. | 9 6

| | | | | | | |

6 |W. C. Spooner, | | | | | | |

| vol. ix. | ... | 63 | ... | 42 | ... | 196 | 4 9

| | | | | | | |

7 |T. Aitken, | ad | | | | | ad |

| Spalding, | lib. | | | | | lib. |

| Lincolnshire | (2/3)| 37 | 35 | ... | ... |(1/3) | 9 0

| | | | | | | |

8 |G. W. Baker, | | | | | | |

| Bedfordshire | ... | 60* | 20* | ... | ... | ... | 9 8

| | | | | | | |

9 |R. Baker, | | | | | | |

| Writtle, Essex | 70 | 42 | ... | ... | ... | 140 | 5 0

| | | | | | | |

10 |J. Coleman, | | | | | | ad |

| Cirencester | ... | 84 | 16 | ... | ... | lib. | 7 3

| | | | | | | |

11 |T. P. Dods, | | | | | | ad |

| Hexham | ... | 95 | ... | 56 | ... | lib. | 8 0

| | | | | | | |

12 |J. Cobban, | | | | | Linseed | ad |

| Whitfield | 84* | 60* | ... | ... | 3-1/2 | lib.*| 7 3

| | | | | | | |

13 |S. Druce, jun., | | | | Swedes | | 2 |

| Ensham | 112 | 52 | ... | 70 | ... | bu.* | 7 0

| | | | | | | |

| | ad | | | | | ad |

14 |C. Howard, | lib. | | | | | lib. |

| Biddenham | (2/3)| 52 | 17 | 84 | ... | 1/3* | 8 6?

| | | | | | | |

15 |J. J. Mechi, | | | |M.Wurzel| | ad |

| Tiptree. | 49* | 70* | ... | 210 | ... | lib.*| 7 6

| | | | | | | |

16 |W. J. Pope, | | | | | | ad |

| Bridport | 2* | 84 | ... | ... | ... | lib. | 9 0?

| | | | | | | |

17 |S. Rich, | | | | | | |

| Gloucestershire | 168 | 63 | ... | ... | 2 bush. | lib. |10 8

| | | | | | | |

18 |H. E. Sadler, | | | | | | |

| Lavant, Sussex | 140 | 84 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 9 9

| | | | | | | |

19 |J. Morton, | | | |Carrots | | ad |

| Whitfield Farm | ... |126 | ... | 350 | ... | lib. |10 9

| | | | | | | |

20 |E. H. Sandford, | | | | | Bran | ad |

| Dover | 56 | 42 | ... | ... | 12 | lib. | 5 6

| | | | | | | |

21 |A. Simpson, | | | | |Tail Corn| ad |

| Beauly, N.B. | ... | 49 | 7 | 105 | 21 | lib.*| 5 6

| | | | | | | |

22 |H. J. Wilson, | | | | | Bran | ad |

| Mansfield | 42 | 52-1/2| ... | ... | 21 | lib. | 6 6?

| | | | | | | |

23 |F. Sowerby, | | | | | | |

| Aylesby, North | | | | | | ad |

| Lincolnshire | 112 | 28 | Cut Oat Sheaf.| ... | lib.*| 8 0?

---+------------------+------+-------+------+--------+---------+------+------

Where an asterisk (*) is attached to any item, it is to be understood

that the corn has been bruised or ground, or the hay or straw has been

cut into chaff. Where a dagger (+) is appended, the article so marked

has been boiled or steamed. A mark of interrogation (?) indicates that

the result so marked is uncertain, owing to some indefiniteness in the

account given.

On feeding horses with pulped roots, Mr. Slater, of Weston Colville,

Cambridgeshire, says:--

I give all my cart horses a bushel per day of pulped mangel, mixed

with straw and corn-chaff. I begin in September, and continue using

them all winter and until late in the summer, nearly, if not quite,

all the year round, beginning, however, with smaller quantities,

about a peck, and then half a bushel, the first week or two, as too

many of the young-growing mangel would not suit the stock. I believe

pulped mangels, with chaff, are the best, cheapest, and most healthy

food horses can eat. I always find my horses miss them when I have

none, late in the summer. I give them fresh ground every day. Young

store beasts, colts, &c., do well with them.

* * * * *

[Footnote 20: Five pounds of linseed will make about seven gallons of

gruel, and suffice for five good-sized calves; considerable allowance

must, however, be made for differences of quality in the linseed, that

from India not being gelatinous enough, and therefore boiling hard,

instead of "coming down kindly."]

[Footnote 21: "Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society," vol. xxxix.]

[Footnote 22: From Mr. Horsfall's Essay on Dairy Management, in "Journal

of Royal Agricultural Society," vol. xviii., part i.]

PART IV.

MEAT, MILK, AND BUTTER.

SECTION I.

MEAT.

No one ought to feel a greater interest in the subject of meat in

all its branches than the stock feeder. Just in proportion as this

kind of food is agreeable to the taste, easily digestible, and rich in

nutriment, will the demand for it increase. The quality of meat is, in

fact, a primary consideration with the producer of that article; and he

whose beef and mutton are the most tender and the best flavored will

make the most profit.

_Quality of Meat._--The flesh of herbivorous animals is composed of

muscular and adipose (fatty) tissues. The muscles consist of bundles of

elastic fibres (_fibrine_), enclosed in an albuminous tissue formed of

little vessels, termed cells, and intimately commingled with water, and

a mixture of albuminous, fatty, and saline matters. The leanest flesh

(muscles) contains fat, but the latter accumulates in certain parts of

the body--often to such an extent as to seriously interfere with the

functions of life. The red color of flesh is due to a rather large

proportion of blood, which it contains in minute vessels; and the slight

acidity of its juice is owing to the presence of _inosinic_ acid, and

probably of several other acids. The agreeable odour of meat, when it

is subjected to the process of cooking, is developed from a complex

substance termed _osmazome_.[23] This constituent varies in nature and

quantity in the different animals--hence the variety in flavor and odour

of their flesh--and its amount increases with the age of the animal.

The albumen of the muscles, and their fatty and saline constituents,

are digestible; but it is generally believed that the elastic fibres,

and the horny cellular tissue which binds them into bundles, are not

assimilable. It is more certain that the crystalline substances found in

flesh, such as, for example, _kreatine_, are incapable of ministering to

the nutrition of animals.

The composition of flesh varies very much--that of a very obese pig

containing more than half its weight of fat, whilst in some specimens

of "jerked beef," imported from Monte Video, scarcely 5 per cent. of

that substance was found. The flesh of a fat ox has on an average the

following composition:--

Per cent.

Water 45

Fatty substances 35

Lean flesh, or muscle 15

Mineral matters 5

---

Total 100

I have examined for Dr. Morgan several specimens of the corned beef

recently prepared in South America, by "Morgan's process." The following

were the average results of three analyses:--

Per cent.

Water 40

Fatty matters 21

Lean, or muscular flesh 27

Mineral matters (chiefly common salt) 12

---

Total 100

It may not here be out of place to direct attention to the composition

of a kind of animal food extensively purchased by the poorer classes,

and known under the term of slink veal. It is the flesh of calves that

are killed on the first day of their existence, and also, I have reason

to believe, that of very immature animals--of calves that have never

breathed. The flesh is of a very loose texture naturally, and is still

further puffed out by air, which is usually supplied from the lungs of

the operator. This kind of meat, though regarded as a delicacy by some

people, is not held in much estimation, otherwise its price would be

higher than it is. It is at present sold at about 4d. or 5d. per pound,

sometimes even at a lower rate. Apart from the disgusting process of

"blowing" veal, so generally adopted, the use of this food is extremely

objectionable, owing to its great tendency to produce diarrhoea. To

the truth of this assertion every physician who has studied the subject

of dietetics can testify. I have analysed a specimen of it (purchased

from a person who admitted that it was part of a calf a day old), and

obtained the following results:--

100 parts contain--

Per cent.

Water 72.25

Fat 6.17

Lean flesh 18.46

Mineral matter 3.12

------

Total 100.00

I believe that a large portion of the lean flesh is indigestible; and

altogether I may safely say of this kind of meat that it is, especially

during the prevalence of cholera, an unsafe article of diet. Of course

these observations do not apply to _fed_ veal, the only kind which

respectable butchers, as a rule, offer for sale.

Young meat is richer in soluble albumen and poorer in fibrine and

fat than the matured flesh of the same animal. The flesh of the goat

contains _hircic_ acid, which renders it almost uneatable, but this

substance is either altogether absent from, or present but in minute

proportion in, the well-flavored meat of the kid. The flesh of game

contains abundance of osmazome, a substance which is somewhat deficient

in that of the domestic fowl.

Owing to the marked individuality which man exhibits in the selection of

his food, and to the intimate relationship subsisting between food and

the organism it nourishes, it is impossible to arrange the alimental

substances in the strict order of their nutritive values. You can bring

a horse to the water, but you cannot compel him to drink it; you can

swallow any kind of food you please, but you cannot force your stomach

to digest it. It is, therefore, vain to tell a man that a certain kind

of food is shown by chemical analysis to be nutritious, when his stomach

tells him unmistakeably that it is poisonous, and refuses to digest it.

In the matter of dietetics Nature is a safer guide than the chemist.

Many substances, when viewed only in the light shed upon them by

chemical analysis, appear to be rich in the elements of nutrition, yet

when they are introduced into the stomachs of certain individuals, they

disarrange the digestive organs, and sometimes cause the whole system to

go out of order. Every day we see exemplified the truth of the proverb,

that "one man's meat is another man's poison." There are persons who

relish and readily digest fat pork, and yet they cannot eat a single

egg with impunity; others enjoy and easily assimilate eggs, but their

stomachs cannot tolerate a particle of fat bacon.

It is not merely the composition of an aliment and its adaptability to

the organism which determine its nutritive value--its digestibility

and flavor are points which affect it. There are few people in these

countries who are disposed to quarrel with beef; but no one would

prefer the leg of an elderly milch cow to the sirloin of a well-fed

three-year-old bullock: yet if our selection were to be determined by

the analysis of the two kinds of beef, we would be just as likely to

prefer the one as the other. No doubt the relative tenderness of meats

may be ascertained by experiments conducted _outside_ the body; but

tenderness is not in every case synonymous with easy digestibility.

Veal contains more soluble albumen, and is, consequently, far more

tender than beef; yet, as every one knows, it is less digestible. It is

curious that maturity renders the flesh of some animals more digestible,

and that of others less digestible. Flavor has something to do with

these differences. Beef is richer than veal in the agreeably flavorous

osmazome, and the flesh of the kid is destitute of the disagreeable

odour of the fully-developed goat. The superiority of wild-fowl over the

domesticated birds is solely owing to the finer flavor of their flesh.

The habits of animals, and the nature of their food, affect the

quality of their flesh. Exercise increases the amount of osmazome, and

consequently renders the meat more savory. The mutton of Wicklow, Wales,

and other mountainous regions is remarkably sweet, because the animals

that furnish it are almost as nimble as goats, and skip from crag to

crag in quest of their food. The fatty mutton, with pale muscle, which

is so abundant in our markets, is furnished by very young animals forced

prematurely into full development. Those animals have abundance of food

placed within easy reach; their muscular activity is next to _nil_,

and the result is, that their flesh contains less than its natural

proportion of savory ingredients. It is the same with all other animals.

The flesh of the tame rabbit is very insipid, whilst that of the wild

variety is well flavored. Wild fowls cooped up, and rapidly fattened,

lose their characteristic flavor; and when the domesticated birds become

wild their flesh becomes less fatty, and acquires all the peculiarities

of game. Ducks, whether wild or tame, ordinarily yield goodly meat;

but the flesh of some of those that feed on fish smacks strongly of

cod-liver oil. Birds which subsist partly on aromatic berries assimilate

the odour as well as the nutriment of their food. The flesh of grouse

has very commonly a slight flavor of heather. Foster states that in

Tahiti pigs are fed upon fruit, which renders their fat very bland and

their flesh like veal. Animals subjected to certain kinds of mutilation

fatten more rapidly than they do in their natural state. Capons increase

in weight more rapidly than cocks, poulards than hens, bullocks than

bulls, and cows deprived of their ovaries than perfect cows. Why it is

that the flesh of mutilated animals should be fatter and more tender

than that of whole animals, we know not; we only know that such is the

fact. The hunting of animals renders their flesh more tender; the cause

assigned is, that the great exertion of the muscles liquefies their

fibrine, which is the toughest of their constituents. The meat of

animals brought very early to maturity is seldom so valuable as the

naturally developed article. Lawes and Gilbert state that portions of

a sheep that had been fattened upon _steeped_ barley and mangels, and

which gave a very rapid increase, yielded several per cent. less of

cooked meat, and lost more, both in dripping and by the evaporation of

water, than the corresponding portions of a sheep which had been fed

upon _dry_ barley and mangels, and which gave only about half the

amount of gross increase within the same period of time.

Although the digestibility and flavor of meat (and of every other kind

of food) affect its nutritive value, these points are in general of far

less importance than its composition. Potatoes are not so nutritious as

peas, because they contain a smaller amount of fat and flesh-formers;

but they are more digestible. Fish contains less solid matter than

flesh, and is less nutritious, yet a cut of turbot will be, in general,

more easily digested than an equal weight of old beef. The fact is, that

digestibility and flavor are only of great importance to dyspeptic

persons. In the healthy digestive organs a pound weight of (dry) food

of inferior flavor and slow digestibility will be just as useful as the

same weight of well-flavored and easily assimilable aliment, provided

all other conditions be alike. If the food be eaten with a relish, and

tolerated by the stomach, its digestibility will not, except in extreme

cases, affect in a very sensible degree its nutritiveness.

Were one question in animal nutrition satisfactorily answered, it

would then be comparatively easy to arrange aliments in the order of

their nutritive value. That question is--What are the proper relative

proportions of the fat-forming and flesh-forming constituents of our

food? It is constantly urged, that the food of the Irish peasantry

contains an excess of the fat-forming materials in relation to the

muscle-forming substances; and the remedy suggested is, that their

staple article of food--potatoes--should be supplemented with flesh,

peas, and such like substances, in which, it is supposed, the elements

of nutrition are more fairly balanced. In potatoes, the proportion of

fat-formers (calculated as fat) is about five times as much as that

of the flesh-formers; but these principles exist in the same relative

proportions in the fat bacon with which the potato-eater loves

to supplement his bulky food. In bread we find the proportion of

fat-formers to be only 2-1/2 times as much as that of the flesh-formers,

whilst, according to Lawes and Gilbert, the edible portion of the

carcass of a fat sheep contains 6-1/2 times as much fat as nitrogenous

(flesh-forming) compounds. It is evident, then, that meat such as, for

example, the beef recently imported from Monte Video, from which the

fatty elements of nutrition are almost completely absent, cannot be

a suitable adjunct to a farinaceous food.

There is evidence to prove that in the animal food consumed by the

population of these countries, the proportion of fatty to nitrogenous

matters is greater than in the seeds of cereal and leguminous plants,

and but little less than in potatoes. "It would appear to be

unquestionable," say Lawes and Gilbert, "therefore, that the influence

of our staple _animal foods_, to supplement our otherwise mainly

farinaceous diet, is, on the large scale, to _reduce_, and _not to

increase_, the relation of the _assumed_ flesh-forming material to the

more peculiarly respiratory and fat-forming capacity, so to speak, of

the food consumed." It must be remembered, too, that the fat _formers_

are ready _formed_ in animal food, whereas they exist chiefly in the

form of starch, gum, sugar, and such-like substances in vegetables.

According to theory, 2-1/2 parts of starch are equivalent to, _i.e._,

convertible into, 1 part of fat; but it is not certain whether the force

which effects this change is derivable from the 2-1/2 parts of starch,

or from the destruction of tissue, or of another portion of food. If

there be a tax on the system in order to convert starch into fat, it

is evident that 2-1/2 parts of starch, though convertible into, are not

equivalent in nutritive value to one part of fat.

It is quite certain that millions of healthy, vigorous men have

subsisted for years exclusively on potatoes; but it is no less clear

that a diet of meat and potatoes enables the laborer to work harder

and longer than if his food were composed solely of potatoes. But we

have seen that the relation between the flesh-forming and fat-forming

elements is nearly the same in both potatoes and meat; so that the

superiority of a meat or mixed diet cannot be chiefly owing, contrary to

the generally received opinion, to a greater abundance of flesh-forming

materials. As the proportion of flesh-formers to fat-formers is so much

greater in wheaten or oaten bread than in potatoes, and as peas and

other vegetables rich in nitrogenous compounds are practically found to

be an excellent supplement to potatoes, it is probable that the latter

may be somewhat relatively deficient in flesh-forming capacity. It is,

however, in all probability the great bulk of a potato diet, and its

total want of ready formed fat, that render the addition to it of animal

food so very desirable. The concentrated state in which the ingredients

of flesh exist, the intimate way in which they are intermixed, their

agreeable flavor, and their (in general) ready and almost complete

digestibility, appear to be the principal points in which a meat diet

excels a vegetable regimen. There may be others, which, though less

evident, are, perhaps, of equal importance. At all events, the general

experience of mankind testifies to the superiority of a mixed animal

and vegetable diet over a purely vegetable one.

_Is very Fat Meat wholesome?_--The enormous and rapidly increasing

demand for meat which characterises the food markets of these days,

has reacted in a remarkable manner upon the nature of the animals that

supply it. Formerly the animals that furnished pork, mutton, and beef,

were allowed to attain the age of three years old and upwards before

they were considered to be "ripe" for the butcher; but now sheep and pigs

are perfectly _matured_ at the early age of one year, and two-year-old

oxen furnish a large quota of the "roast beef of old England." The

so-called improvement of stock is simply the forcing of them into an

unnatural degree of fatness at an early age; and this end is attained

by dexterous selection and crossing of breeds, by avoidance of cold, by

diminishing as much as possible their muscular activity, and lastly,

and chiefly, by over-feeding them with concentrated aliments.

Every one knows that a man so obese as to be unable to walk cannot be

in a healthy state; yet many feeders of stock look upon the monstrously

fat bulls and cows of cattle show prize celebrity as normal types of the

bovine tribe. It requires but little argument to refute so fallacious

a notion. No doubt it is desirable to encourage the breeding of those

varieties of animals which exhibit the greatest disposition to fatten,

and to arrive early at maturity; but the forcing of individual animals

into an unnatural state of obesity, except for purely experimental

purposes, is a practice which cannot be too strongly deprecated. If

breeders contented themselves with handing over to the butcher their

huge living blocks of fat, the matter would not perhaps be very serious;

but, unfortunately, it is too often the practice to turn them to account

as sires and dams. Were I a judge at a cattle show, I certainly should

disqualify every extremely fat animal entered for competition amongst

the breeding stock. Unless parents are healthy and vigorous, their

progeny are almost certain to be unhealthy and weakly; and it is

inconceivable that an extremely obese bull and an unnaturally fat cow

could be the progenitors of healthy offspring. We should by all means

improve our live stock; but we should be careful not to overdo the

thing. If we must have gaily-decked ponderous bulls and cows at our fat

cattle exhibitions, let us condemn to speedy immolation those unhappy

victims to a most absurd fashion; but in the name of common sense let

us leave the perpetuation of the species to individuals in a normal

state, whose muscles are not replaced by fat, whose hearts are not

hypertrophied, and whose lungs are capable of effectively performing

the function of respiration.

Mr. Gant, in a small volume[24] devoted wholly to the subject, describes

the serious functional and structural disarrangements which over-feeding

produces in stock. He found the heart of a one-year old Southdown

wether, fattened according to the _high-pressure system_, to be little

more than a mass of fat. In several other young, but so-called "matured"

sheep, he found more or less fatty degeneration of the heart, and

extensively spread disease of the liver and of the lungs. A four-year

old Devon heifer, exhibited by the late Prince Consort at a Smithfield

show, was found to be in a highly diseased state. It was slaughtered,

and of course its flesh sold at a high price as "prize beef," but its

internal organs came into Mr. Gant's possession. The substance of both

ventricles of the heart had undergone all but complete conversion into

fat; one of its muscles was broken up, and many of the fibres of the

others were ruptured. In another animal the muscular fibres of the

heart had given way to so great an extent that if the thin lining

membrane (_endocardium_) had burst, death would have instantly ensued.

The slightest exertion was likely to cause this catastrophe; but,

fortunately enough in this case, the animal was not capable of exertion,

for though under three years of age, it weighed upwards of 200 stones:

this animal had received for some time before its exhibition, the

liberal allowance of 21 lbs. of oil-cake (besides other food) per diem.

"A pen of three pigs," says Mr. Gant, "belonging to his Royal Highness

the Prince Consort, happened to be placed in a favorable light for

observation, and I particularly noticed their condition. They lay

helpless on their sides, with their noses propped up against each

other's backs, as if endeavouring to breathe more easily, but their

respiration was loud, suffocating, and at long intervals. Then you heard

a short catching snore, which shook the whole body of the animal, and

passed with the motion of a wave over its fat surface, which, moreover,

felt cold. I thought how much the heart under such circumstances must

be laboring to propel the blood through the lungs and throughout the

body. The gold medal pigs of Mr. Moreland were in a similar condition,

if anything, worse; for they snored and gasped for breath, their mouths

being opened, as well as their nostrils dilated, at each inspiration.

From a pig we only expect a grunt, but not a snore. These animals,

only twelve months and ten days old, were marked '_improved_ Chilton

breed.' They, with their fellows just mentioned, of eleven months and

twenty-three days, had early come to grief. Three pigs of the black

breed were in a similar state, at seven months three weeks and five

days, yet such animals 'the judges highly commended.'"

Dr. Brinton denies the accuracy of several of Mr. Gant's statements

relative to the structural changes in the muscles of obese animals;

but I do not think that he has succeeded in disproving the principal

assertions made by the latter.

There is conclusive evidence to prove that one of the effects of the

present mode of fattening beasts is disease of the internal organs

of the animals; but it is by no means certain that the flesh of those

diseased animals is as unwholesome food as some writers assert it to

be. The flesh of an over-fattened animal differs from that of a lean, or

moderately fat one, in containing an exceedingly high proportion of fat;

but it has not been proved that the fat of prize animals differs from

the fat of lean kine, or that it is less wholesome or nutritious. Be the

flesh of those exceedingly fat animals unwholesome or not, there are

thousands, ay, millions of persons, to whom its greasy quality renders

it peculiarly acceptable; and as for those who dislike fat--they do

not usually invest their money in the flesh of prize sheep or oxen.

At the same time, it must not be understood that all, or even a large

proportion of fully matured stock is in a diseased state; though in most

of them the vital and muscular powers are undoubtedly exceedingly low.

There is no doubt but that sheep and oxen, from three to five years old,

moderately fat, and fairly exercising their locomotive powers, furnish

the most savory, and, perhaps, the most nutritious meat: but if such

were the only kind of meat in demand, it may be fairly doubted that the

supply would be equal to it. The produce of meat in these countries has

been rapidly increasing for many years past; and the weight of meat

annually supplied from a given area of land is now from 80 to 100 per

cent. greater than it furnished thirty or forty years ago. It is chiefly

by means of the so-called forcing system that the produce of meat has

been so considerably increased. If this system were abandoned, the

production would be greatly diminished, and the consequently high price

of the article would place it beyond the reach of the masses of the

population. Besides, it has not been proved that the flesh of the

animals brought early to maturity is much inferior, except somewhat in

flavor, to the meat of three-year-old beasts. There is, no doubt, plenty

of unwholesome meat offered for sale, but it is that of animals which

were affected by diseases as likely to attack the young as the old. On

the whole, then, we may say of the improved system of fattening stock,

that it produces a maximum amount of meat on a given area of land; that

the meat so produced is, except in rare cases, perfectly wholesome; that

it is capable of supplying the ingredient--fat--which is almost wholly

absent from a vegetable diet; and, finally, that it places animal food

within the reach of the working classes.

_Diseased Meat._--The losses occasioned to stockowners by the diseases

of live stock are far greater than is generally supposed. It has been

calculated that in the six years ending 1860, the value of the horned

stock lost by disease amounted to L25,934,650. Pleuro-pneumonia was the

chief cause of these losses. Exclusive of the enormous losses occasioned

by the ravages of the rinderpest, the annual loss by disease in live

stock in these countries for some years past cannot be much under

L6,000,000 sterling.

Whether it is owing to the somewhat abnormal condition under which the

domesticated animals are placed, or to causes which operate upon them

when in a state of nature, it is certain that they are remarkably prone

to disease. It is extremely difficult to get a horse six years old that

is not a roarer or a whistler, or "weak on his pins," or in some way or

other unsound. Oxen, sheep, and pigs have almost as many maladies

afflicting them as human flesh is heir to, notwithstanding the short

period of life which they are permitted to enjoy.

It is a very serious question whether or not the flesh of animals that

have been killed while they are in a diseased condition is injurious to

health. The opinions on this point are conflicting, but the majority of

medical men believe that the flesh of diseased animals is not wholesome.

There are certain maladies which obviously render meat unsaleable, by

causing a sensible alteration in its quality. For example, blackleg

in cattle and measles in the porcine tribe render the flesh of these

animals, as a general rule, unmarketable, or nearly so. But there are

very serious diseases--often proving rapidly fatal--which, whilst

seriously affecting certain internal organs, do not palpably deteriorate

the quality of the flesh. In such cases are we to rely upon the evidence

of our mere senses in judging of the wholesomeness of the meat? If we

find beef possessing a good color and odour, and firm to the touch, and

_appearing_ to be in every respect healthy flesh, are we under such

circumstances to take it for granted that it must be healthy? This is a

very important question, involving as it does the interests of both the

producers and consumers of animal food. If the flesh of all diseased

animals be unwholesome, a very large number of oxen now sold whilst

laboring under pleuro-pneumonia should not be sent into the market.

This, of course, would be a heavy loss to the stockowner, but a still

heavier one to the meat consumer; because, if there were fewer animals

for sale, the price of meat would ascend, in obedience to the law of

supply and demand. The whole question is, then, well worthy of being

considered in the most careful, unbiassed, and scientific manner; for

at present it is in a state which is the reverse of being satisfactory.

A large proportion of the animals conducted to the shambles is in a

diseased condition. Professor Gamgee estimates it at no less than

one-fifth. Dr. Letheby, food analyst to the Corporation of London,

condemns weekly about 2,000 pounds weight of flesh; but as his

jurisdiction is limited to the "City," which contains a population of

only about 114,000, the 2,000 pounds of diseased meat are probably only

about 1-30th of the quantity exposed for sale within the whole area of

the metropolis. Making an estimate of the most moderate kind, we may

assume that 30,000 pounds weight of bad meat are weekly offered for

sale in London--_three million pounds weight annually_.

Many persons have been affected with dysentery and choleraic symptoms

after partaking of butcher's meat of apparently the most healthy kind.

The meat has often been subjected to minute chemical and microscopical

examination, but no poison has been discovered. But these cases are

becoming so frequent that they are exciting uneasiness, and demand an

exhaustive investigation. The unskilful persons who officiate in the

capacity of "clerks of the market" and inspectors of meat can only judge

of the quality of flesh that is obviously inferior to the eye, nose, or

touch; but are there not cases where the flesh may appear to be good,

and yet contain some subtle malign principle? It is an ascertained fact

that young or "slink" veal very frequently gives rise to diarrhoea,

more especially when that disease is epidemic. Dr. Parkes, in his

celebrated work on Hygiene, page 162 (second edition), states that

"the flesh of the pig sometimes produced diarrhoea--a fact I have had

occasion to notice in a regiment in India, and which has often been

noticed by others. The flesh is, probably, affected by the unwholesome

garbage on which the pig feeds." Menschell states that 44 persons were

afflicted with anthrax after eating the flesh of oxen affected with

carbuncular fever. Dr. Kesteren, in the _Medical Times_ for March, 1864,

mentions a case where twelve persons were affected with choleraic

symptoms after the use of pork not obviously diseased. At Newtownards,

county of Down, several persons died after eating veal in which no

poisonous matter of any kind could be detected. One instance has come

under my own notice where a man, two dogs, and a pig died after eating

the flesh of an animal killed whilst suffering from splenic apoplexy.

Several butchers have lost their lives in consequence of the blood of

diseased animals being allowed to come in contact with abrasions or

recently received wounds on their arms. The flesh of over-driven animals

is stated by Professor Gamgee to produce a most serious skin disease,

although the meat appeared to be perfectly healthy. The Belgian Academy

of Medicine has decided that the flesh of animals suffering from

carbuncular fever is unwholesome, and its sale in that country is

prohibited.

Many persons have died in Germany and a few in England from a disease

produced by eating pork containing a small internal parasite termed

_trichina spiralis_. I have recently met with a case of _trichiniasis_

in the human subject. The body of the unfortunate person--who had

been an inmate of the South Dublin Union Workhouse--was found to

contain thousands of the trichinae. In Iceland a large proportion of

the population suffers from a parasitic disease traceable to the use

of the flesh of sheep and cattle in which flukes abound.

Pleuro-pneumonia is in this country the disease which most frequently

affects the ox. It is probable that about 5 per cent. of these animals

sold in Dublin are more or less affected by this malady. There are two

forms of pleuro-pneumonia--the sporadic, or indigenous, and the foreign,

or contagious. It is the latter form which has become the scourge of the

ox tribe in this country, though unknown here until the year 1841, when

it appeared as an epizooetic, and carried off vast numbers of animals.

The contagious pleuro-pneumonia is an extremely severe inflammatory

disease, and is produced--not in the same way that common pleuro-pneumonia

is, by exposure to excessive cold, &c.--but by a blood poison received

from an infected animal. In the congestive stage of the disease there is

no structural alteration in the organs of the animal, and if well bled

its flesh might (probably) be safely eaten; but when a large portion of

the lungs becomes solidified, and rendered incapable of purifying the

blood, is it not doubtful, to say the least, that the blood or flesh is

perfectly wholesome? The blood, during the life of the animal, is in a

state of fermentation; there is extreme fever, and the animal presents

all the characteristic symptoms of acute disease. On being killed, the

flesh, if the disease be of a fortnight's duration, will usually be

extremely dark, but in a less advanced stage of the malady the flesh

will generally present a healthy appearance. Is it really so? That

is the question which science has to determine. Going upon a broad

principle, I can hardly conceive that so serious a disease as

pleuro-pneumonia does not injuriously affect the quality of the flesh.

It is no argument to say that thousands consume such flesh, and yet

enjoy good health. Millions of people drink water and breathe air that

are extremely impure, and yet they do not speedily die. It is one thing

to be poisonous, another to be unwholesome. The flesh of animals killed

whilst suffering from lung distemper is not directly poisonous, but who

can prove that it is not, like bad water, unwholesome?

As analyst to the city of Dublin, I am almost daily called upon to

inspect meat suspected to be unwholesome; and I have always condemned

as being unfit for human food:--

1. Animals slaughtered at the time of bringing forth their young.

2. Oxen affected with pleuro-pneumonia, when pus is present in the

lungs, or the flesh obviously affected; animals suffering from

murrain, black-quarter, and the different forms of anthrax.

3. Animals in an anaemic, or wasted condition.

4. Meat in a state of putrefaction.

During the present year about 20,000 pounds weight of meat have been

seized and condemned in the city of Dublin.

SECTION II.

MILK.

Milk is a peculiar fluid secreted by the females of all animals

belonging to the class _Mammalia_; and, being designed for the

nourishment of their offspring, contains all the constituents which

enter into the composition of the animal body.

The milk of different animals varies very much in color, taste, and

nutritive value. That of the cow is a little heavier than water--its

specific gravity being, on the average, about 1.030, water being

1.000. It is composed of three constituents--namely, butter, curd, and

whey--each of which is also composed of a number of substances. These

three constituents are of unequal weight, or specific gravity, and their

separation is the chief process carried on in the dairy. The butter is

the lightest and the curd is the heaviest constituent.

The following table represents the composition of the milk of different

animals:--

COMPOSITION OF THE MILK OF DIFFERENT ANIMALS.

1,000 PARTS CONTAIN--

------+---------+--------+------------+--------+-------+-------+-------

------+---------+--------+------------+--------+-------+-------+-------

Woman | 1032.67 | 889.08 | 110.92 | 39.30 | 43.68 | 26.66 | 1.30

Cow | 1030 | 864.20 | 135.80 | 48.80 | 47.70 | 31.30 | 6.00

Goat | 1033.53 | 844.90 | 155.10 | 35.14 | 36.91 | 56.87 | 6.18

Ewe | 1040.98 | 832.32 | 167.68 | 69.78 | 39.43 | 51.31 | 7.16

Mare | 1033.74 | 904.30 | 95.70 | 33.35 | 32.76 | 24.36 | 5.23

Ass | 1034.57 | 890.12 | 109.88 | 35.65 | 50.46 | 18.53 | 5.24

Bitch | 1041.62 | 772.08 | 227.92 | 116.88 | 15.29 | 87.95 | 7.80

------+---------+--------+------------+--------+-------+-------+-------

Milk examined through a microscope is a colorless fluid, containing a

large number of little vesicles, or bags, filled with butter--a mixture

of oily and fatty matters. When the milk stands for some time, the

globules, being lighter than the other constituents, ascend to the top,

and, mixed with a certain proportion of milk, are removed as cream.

The curd is termed in scientific parlance _casein_, and is in fresh milk

in a state of solution--that is to say, is dissolved in milk in the same

way that we dissolve sugar in water. When milk becomes sour, either

naturally or by the addition of rennet, it can no longer hold casein in

solution, and the curd consequently separates. Casein is the substance

which forms the basis of cheese. The substance that remains after the

removal of the butter and cheese is called _serum_, or whey, and is

composed of a sweetish substance termed _sugar of milk_, and certain

saline bodies, termed the ash, dissolved in water.

The butter and the sugar of milk are employed in the animal economy in

the production of fat, and are what have been styled by physiologists

_heat-producers_ and _fat-formers_. The casein resembles the gluten of

wheat in composition; it belongs to the class of food substances termed

_flesh-formers_. The ash, or mineral part of the milk, is chiefly

employed in forming the bones of the young animals it is destined to

nourish.

The quality of milk is influenced by the quantity and quality of the

food given to the animal. The milk of cows fed on distillery wash,

turnip, and mangel tops, coarse herbage, and other kinds of inferior

food, is always of inferior quality. Hence it is of great importance

that dairy stock be kept in good old pastures in summer, and fed on

Swedish turnips, mangel-wurtzel, and oil-cake during winter. It is true

economy to supply dairy cows with abundance of nutritious food; and it

should be constantly borne in mind that the milk from two well-fed cows

will give more butter than can be obtained from the produce of three

badly-fed animals.

The butter is the constituent of milk which is most affected by the

nature and amount of the animal's food; and butter is precisely the

article which is of the greatest importance to the Irish dairy farmer,

as the quantity of cheese prepared in this country is inconsiderable.

When, therefore, it is found that a cow pastured on inferior land, or

badly fed in the byre, yields a large supply of milk of a high specific

quantity (which, however, is rarely the case), it must not be concluded

that the result is satisfactory; for if such milk be tested by the

lactometer it will certainly be found wanting in butter. The average

composition of English milk, according to Way, is:--

Water 87.02

Butter 3.23

Casein 4.48

Sugar of milk 4.67

Ash 0.60

------

100.00

In several analyses of milk published by Professor Voelcker, the highest

proportion of butter is stated to be 7.62. In that of cows kept on

poor and over-stocked pastures less than 2 per cent. was found. I have

examined in my capacity of Food Analyst to the City of Dublin several

hundred samples of milk, in not one of which have I found the proportion

of butter to amount to more than 5.6 per cent. In no sample did I find

a higher per-centage of solid matter than 13.15, or (when pure) lower

than 12.08. The quality of the food of the milch cow exercises a great

influence on the quality and yield of her milk. Aliments rich in fat and

sugar favor the production of butter, and augment the supply of milk.

Locust-beans, malt, and molasses are good milk-producing foods; but the

chief condition in the production of milk rich in butter is simply that

the animals which yield it must be fed with abundance of nutritious

food. Nor must it be supposed that the richness of milk is due to the

smallness of the yield, for whenever the quality of the secretion is

inferior, it is almost certain to be deficient in quantity. Those cows

which give the richest milk, generally yield the largest quantity.

_Yield of Milk._--According to Boussingault, a cow daily yields on the

average 10.4 parts of milk per 1,000 parts of her weight. Morton, in his

"Cyclopaedia of Agriculture," p. 621, states that Mr. Young, a Scotch

dairy keeper, obtained 680 gallons per cow per annum. Voelcker found

that some common dairy stock gave each of them fifty-two pints of milk

per diem, whilst three pedigree cows yielded respectively forty-nine

pints.

Professor Wilson gives the following information on this point:--

Our principal dairy breeds are the Ayrshire, the Channel Islands,

the Short-horn, the Suffolk, and the Kerry. Some published returns

of two dairies of Ayrshire cows give the annual milk produce per

cow at 650 and 632 gallons respectively. Three returns of dairies,

consisting wholly of Short-horns, show a produce of 540 gallons,

630 gallons, and 765 gallons respectively, or an average of 625

gallons per annum for each cow. In two dairies, where half-bred

Short-horns were kept, the yield was 810 and 866 gallons

respectively for each cow. In four dairies in Ireland, where pure

Kerrys and crosses with Short-horns and Ayrshires were kept, the

annual produce per cow was returned at 500 gallons, 600 gallons,

675 gallons, and 740 gallons respectively; or an average, on the

four dairies, of 630 gallons per annum for each cow. A dairy of

"pure Kerrys" gave an average of 488 gallons per cow, and another

of the larger Irish breed gave an average of 583 gallons per head

per annum. In the great London dairies, now well-nigh extinguished

by the ravages of the cattle disease, these returns are greatly

exceeded. The cows kept are large framed Short-horns and Yorkshire

crosses, which, by good feeding, bring the returns to nearly

1,000 gallons per annum for each cow kept. The custom in these

establishments is to dispose of a cow directly her milk falls

below two gallons a-day, and buy another in her place.

The following milk return of one of our best managed dairy farms

(Frocester Court) shows the relative produce of cows in the

successive years of their milking. The first lot was bought in

at two-years old; all the others at three years:--

No. of Cows. Year of Milk. Produce per head.

8 1st 317 gals.

15 1st 472 "

14 2nd 353 "

15 3rd 616 "

20 4th 665 "

18 5th 635 "

9 6th 708 "

15 Old 651 "

The maximum reliable milk produce that we have recorded was that

of a single cow belonging to the keeper of the gaol at Lewes, the

details of which were authenticated by the Board of Agriculture.

In eight consecutive years she gave 9,720 gallons, or at the rate

of more than 1,210 gallons per annum. In one year she milked 328

days, and gave 1,230 gallons, which yielded 540 lbs. of butter,

or at the rate of 1 lb. of butter to 22-3/4 lb. of milk. In the

early part of the present year (1866) a return was published of

the produce of a cow in a Vermont (U.S.) dairy, which was stated

to have given, in the previous year, a butter yield of 504 lbs.,

at the rate of 1 lb. of butter to 20 lbs. of milk.[25]

_Preserved Milk._--Various plans have been proposed to render milk more

portable, and to preserve it sweet for days and even months. Mr. Borden

of Connecticut, United States, prepares a concentrated milk by boiling

the fluid down in vacuo, at a temperature under 140 deg. Fahrenheit, mixing

the resulting solid with sugar, and rapidly placing the compound in

tins, which are then hermetically sealed. It is said that solidified

milk prepared by this process remains sweet for many months. In France,

solidified and concentrated milk are largely prepared; and it is certain

that London and other large towns will yet be supplied with milk

rendered portable and more stable, by the removal of a large proportion

of its water. In many parts of Ireland pure milk could be bought at from

7d. to 8d. per gallon. I do not despair to see factories established in

such places for the manufacture of preserved milk as a substitute for

the dear and impure fluid sold under the name of milk in London and

other large cities. It is stated that solidified milk prepared in

Switzerland is now sold in London.

SECTION III.

BUTTER.

_History of Butter._--The very general use of butter as an article of

food is demonstrated by the familiar saying--"We should not quarrel with

our bread and butter"; yet this article, now so commonly used throughout

the greater part of Europe, was either unknown or but imperfectly known

to the ancients. In the English translation of the Holy Scriptures the

word butter does certainly frequently occur; but the Hebrew original

is _chamea_, which, according to the most eminent Biblical critics,

signifies cream, or thick, sour milk. In the 20th chapter of Job the

following passage occurs:--"He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the

brooks of honey and butter." Now, we can conceive streams of thin cream,

but we cannot imagine a river of butter. The oldest mention of butter

is found in the works of Herodotus. In the description of the Scythians

given by this ancient author, reference is made to their practice of

violently shaking the milk of their mares, for the purpose of causing a

solid fatty matter to ascend to its surface, which, when removed from

the milk, they considered a delicious article of food. Hippocrates, who

wrote a little later than Herodotus, describes, but in clearer language,

the manufacture of butter by the Scythians; he also alludes to the

preparation of cheese by the same people. The word, butter, does not

occur in any of Aristotle's writings, and although mention is made of it

in the works of Anaxandrides, Plutarch, and AElian, it is evident that

they considered it only in the light of a curious substance, employed

partly as an article of food, partly as a medicinal salve, by certain

barbarous nations. About the second or third century, butter was but

little known to the Greeks and Romans, and there is no reason to believe

that it was ever generally used as an article of food by the classic

nations of antiquity; it is noteworthy, that the inhabitants of the

south of Europe even at the present time use butter in very small

quantities, which, indeed, is often sold for medicinal purposes in the

apothecaries' shops in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. From the foregoing

statements it is evident that the butter manufacture can lay no claim to

a classic origin; but that it took its rise in the countries of savage,

of semi-civilised, and barbarous nations. It is probable that the Greeks

were made acquainted with butter by the Thracians, Phrygians, and

Scythians; and that the knowledge of this substance was conveyed to

Rome by visitors from Germany. During the middle ages the practice of

butter-making spread throughout Northern, Central, and Western Europe;

but in many parts the commodity was very scarce and highly valued,

notwithstanding its being almost, if not quite, in a semi-fluid state,

instead of possessing the firm consistence of the butter of the present

day.

_Irish Butter._--Butter is produced in such large quantities in Ireland

that, after the home demand has been supplied, there remains a large

excess--so considerable, indeed, as to constitute one of the more

important of our few commercial staples. The precise quantity of butter

which, during late years, has been annually exported from Ireland is

unknown. The greater part of the commodity is sent to trans-Channel

ports; and, there being no duty on butter in the cross-Channel trade

since 1826, we have no means of accurately estimating the amount of our

exports to Great Britain. If, however, we refer to the statistics of our

commerce for the period beginning in 1787, and ending in 1826, we shall

find that the exportation of butter was enormous, and that a large

proportion of that commodity consumed by the army and navy was supplied

from the dairies of Ireland. During the three years ended on the 5th of

January, 1826, the average annual amount of butter exported was as

follows:--

cwts.

To Great Britain 441,226

To foreign countries 51,637

Of late years the exportation to foreign and colonial countries has

fallen off; still the export trade is very considerable, probably

amounting to 450,000 cwts. per annum. During the year 1867, the imports

of foreign butter into Great Britain amounted to 1,142,262 cwts.

I have quoted the above statistics for the purpose of demonstrating

the great importance of the butter trade to this country. Not only is a

large proportion of the agricultural community pecuniarily interested in

the production of this article, but the exportation is the chief cause

of the commercial prosperity of a city, which, in point of population,

ranks third in the kingdom. If butter, then, be an article of so much

importance, it is obvious that the greatest care should be taken in its

preparation, and that the efforts of both scientific and practical men

should be directed towards the best mode of improving its quality. If

the principles involved in the production of butter were thoroughly

understood, and generally known, I believe that such terms as "seconds,"

"thirds," and "fourths," would speedily fall into disuse; that there

would be only one kind of butter sent into the market; and that the

article would always be of the best quality, in other words, "firsts."

_Composition of Butter._--The composition and quality of butter depend

to a great extent upon the condition of the milk or cream from which it

is prepared, and on the skill and cleanliness of the dairy-maid. It

consists essentially of fatty and oily matters, but it is always found

in combination with casein (cheesy matter) and water. The following

analyses, made by Mr. Way, late consulting chemist to the Royal

Agricultural Society of England, shows its composition:--

INGREDIENTS PER CENT.

1. 2. 3.

Fatty matters 82.70 79.67 79.12

Casein 2.45 3.38 3.37

Water 14.85 16.95 17.51

No. 1 analysis shows the composition of a specimen obtained from the

well-known Mr. Horsfall's dairy. It was made from raw cream. The other

specimens were the produce of a Devonshire dairy, and were prepared from

scalded cream. In several specimens of well-made and unsalted Irish

butter which I have analysed, I found the proportion of casein or cheesy

matter never to exceed 1 per cent., whilst in the analysis above stated

the centesimal amount is on the average more than 3 per cent.

The fatty matter is composed of two substances--one, a solid, termed

_margarin_; the other fluid, and styled by chemists _elaine_. The solid

fat is identical in composition with the solid fat of the human body.

The elaine is peculiar to milk, but it differs very slightly from

_olein_, or fluid fat. The relative proportions of the fluid and solid

fats vary with the seasons. According to Braconnot, the solid fat forms

in summer 40 per cent. of the butter, but in winter the proportion rises

to 65. This decrease in the proportion of the liquid fat in winter is

the cause of the greater hardness of the butter in that season, which is

often incorrectly attributed solely to the cold.

The cheesy and acid matters contained in butter are by no means

essential; on the contrary, if it were quite free from them, it might

be retained with little or no salt for a very long period without

becoming rancid. The cheesy matter contains nitrogen; and nearly all

the substances into which this element enters as a constituent are

remarkably prone to decomposition. Yeast, and ferments of every

kind--gunpowder, fulminating silver, chloride of nitrogen--and almost

every explosive compound, contain this element. The cheesy matter is

a very nitrogenous body, and in presence of air and moisture not only

rapidly decomposes, or decays, itself, but induces by mere contact a

like state of decomposition in other substances--such, for instance, as

fat, sugar, and starch, which naturally have no tendency to change their

state. Bearing the foregoing facts in mind, it is obvious that the chief

precautions to be observed in the manufacture of butter are:--Firstly,

to separate to as great an extent as practicable the casein from the

butter; and, secondly, as in practice a small portion of the curd

remains in the butter, to prevent it from undergoing any change--at

least for a prolonged period. How these desiderata may best be

accomplished I shall now proceed to point out.

_The Butter Manufacture._--The theory of the process of churning is very

simple. By violently agitating the milk or cream the little vesicles, or

bags containing the butter, are broken, and, the fatty matter adhering,

_lumps of butter_ are formed. The operation of churning also introduces

atmospheric air into the milk, which, aided by the high temperature to

which the fluid is raised, converts a portion of the _sweet_ sugar of

milk into the _sour_ lactic acid. By the alteration produced in this way

in the composition of the milk, it is no longer capable of holding the

casein in solution, and the curd therefore separates.

The churn and other vessels in which the milk is placed cannot be kept

too clean. No amount of labor bestowed on the scalding and scrubbing

of the vessels is excessive. When wood is the material used in the

milk-pans the utmost care should be taken in cleaning them, as the

porous nature of the material favors the retention of small quantities

of the milk. A simple washing will not suffice to clean such vessels.

They must be thoroughly scrubbed and afterwards well scalded with

_boiling_ water. Tin pans are preferable to wooden ones, as they are

more easily cleaned, but in their turn they are inferior to glass

vessels, which ought to supersede every other kind. Earthenware, lead,

and zinc pans are in rather frequent use. The last-mentioned material

is easily acted upon by the lactic acid of the sour milk, and is,

therefore, objectionable. It is a matter of great importance that the

dairy should not be situated near a pig-stye, sewer, or water-closet,

the effluvia from which would be likely to taint the milk. It is

surprising how small a quantity of putrescent matter is sufficient

to taint a whole churn of milk; and as it has been demonstrated that

the almost inappreciable emanations from a cesspool are capable of

conferring a bad flavor on milk, it is in the highest degree important

to remove from the churn and milk-pail every trace of the sour milk. I

go further, it is even desirable that no one whose hands have a tendency

to perspire should be allowed to manipulate in the dairy; and it should

be constantly borne in mind that the dairy-maid's fingers and hot water

should be on the most intimate visiting terms.

Butter is made either from cream--sour and sweet--or from whole milk

which has stood sufficiently long to become distinctly sour. It is

asserted by some makers that butter prepared from whole milk, or

from scalded cream, contains a large proportion of curd. If this be

true--which I greatly doubt--it is a serious matter, for such butter

would speedily become rancid in consequence of the casein acting as

a ferment. I believe that experience points to an exactly opposite

conclusion. From the results of careful inquiries I feel no hesitation

in asserting that the butter should not be made from the cream, but from

the _whole milk_. When made from the cream alone it is much more likely

to acquire a bad taste, and is generally wanting in keeping qualities.

I have no doubt but that in the process of churning the whole milk there

is a large amount of lactic acid formed, and a much higher temperature

attained, than in the churning of cream; consequently, the separation of

caseous matter must be more perfectly effected in the former than in the

latter case. It is a mistake to think that there is very little casein

in cream: out of 7 or 8 lbs. of thick cream only a couple of pounds of

butter are obtainable; the rest is made up of water, casein, and sugar

of milk. The yield of butter is greater when the whole milk is churned

than when the cream alone is operated upon, and, what is of great

importance, the quality of the butter is uniform during the whole year.

The labor of churning whole milk is, of course, much greater than if the

cream alone were employed, but the increased yield and unvarying quality

of the butter more than compensate for the extra expenditure of labor.

The proper temperature of the milk or cream is a point of great

practical importance. If the fluid be too warm or too cold the buttery

particles will only by great trouble be made to cohere; and the quality

of the butter is almost certain to be inferior. When the whole milk

is operated on, the temperature should be from 55 to 60 degs. of

Fahrenheit's thermometer; and if cream be employed the temperature

should never exceed 55 degs. nor be lower than 50 degs. Hence it follows

that in summer the dairy should be kept cooler, and in winter warmer,

than the atmosphere. The temperature of milk is raised or lowered as may

be found necessary, by the addition of hot or cold water--in performing

which operations properly, a good thermometer is indispensable; one

should always be kept in the dairy, and should be so constructed as to

admit of being plunged into the milk. In some dairies the water, instead

of being mixed with the milk, is put into a tub in which the churn is

placed. There is a good kind of churn, which consists of two cylinders,

the one within the other--the interval between them being intended for

the reception of hot or cold water. The influence of temperature upon

the production of butter has been placed beyond all doubt by numerous

carefully-conducted experiments. Mr. Horsfall, a celebrated dairy

farmer, in discussing this question, sums up as follows:--"By a series

of carefully-conducted experiments at varying temperatures, I am of

opinion that a correct scale of the comparative yield of butter at

different temperatures might be arrived at; as thus: From a very low

degree of temperature little or no butter; from a temperature of about

38 degs., 16 oz. from 16 quarts of milk; ditto, 45 degs., 21 oz. from 16

quarts of milk; ditto, 55 degs., 26 to 27 oz. from 16 quarts of milk."

This is a higher yield of butter than, I suspect, most dairymen get: but

Mr. Horsfall's cows being of the best kind for milking, and well fed,

the milk is, of course, rich in butter; and his experiments prove that

even the richest milk will not throw up its butter unless at a certain

temperature.

In the churning of cream the motion should be slow at first until the

cream is thoroughly broken up. In churning milk the agitation should

neither be violent nor irregular; about 40 or 50 motions of the plunger

or board per minute will be sufficient. In steam-worked churns the

motion is often excessively rapid, and the separation of the butter

is effected in a few minutes; but the article obtained in this hasty

way very quickly becomes rancid, and must be disposed of at once. An

hour's churning of sour cream appears in general to produce good butter.

Sweet cream and whole milk require a longer period--the latter about 3

hours--but in any case prolonged churning is certain, by incorporating

cheesy matter with the butter, to produce an inferior article.

Sweet milk becomes sour, evolves a considerable quantity of gas during

churning, and its temperature ascends four or five degrees. Oxygen is

unquestionably absorbed, and it is probable that a portion of the sugar

of milk is converted into acid products.

I have already stated that even the most carefully prepared butter

contains a small proportion of casein and sugar of milk. This casein

is the good genius of the cheese-maker, but the evil genius of the

butter manufacturer. How? In this way:--When butter containing a

notable proportion of casein and sugar of milk is exposed to the air,

the following changes take place: the casein passes into a state of

fermentation, and acting upon the sugar of milk, converts it, firstly

into the bad-flavored lactic acid, and secondly into the bad odorous

butyric, capric, and caproic acids. The first of these compounds in a

state of purity emits an odor resembling a mixture of vinegar and rancid

butter; the second possesses an odor resembling that of a goat--hence

the name _capric_; the third has an odor like that of perspiration. In

addition to these acids, there is another simultaneously generated--the

caprylic, but it does not unpleasantly affect the olfactory nerve.

The casein also injuriously affects the fatty constituents of the

butter; under its influence they absorb oxygen from the air, and become

converted into strong-smelling compounds. The washing of butter is

intended to free it from the casein and unaltered cream, and the more

perfectly it is freed from those impurities the better will be its

flavor, and the longer it will remain without becoming rancid. Some

people believe that too much water injures the quality and lessens the

quantity of butter. It cannot do the former, because the essential

constituents of butter are totally insoluble in water; it may do the

latter, but, if it do, so much the better, because the loss of weight

represents the amount of impurities--milk, sugar of milk, &c.--removed.

I have already remarked that butter is so susceptible of taint that even

a perspiring hand is sufficient to spoil it; naturally cool hands should

alone be allowed to come in contact with this delicate commodity, and

the hands should be made thoroughly clean by repeated washings with warm

water and oatmeal--the use of soap in the lavatory of the dairymaid

being highly objectionable. Wooden spades are now being commonly made

use of in manipulating the butter, and there is no good reason why they

should not come into universal use.

The yield of butter per cow is subject to great variation. Some breeds

of the animal are remarkable as milkers; such, for instance, as the

Alderneys and Kerrys--indeed, I may say all the small varieties of the

bovine race. There are instances of cows yielding upwards of twenty

pounds of butter per week, but these are extraordinary cases. In Holland

a good cow will produce, during the summer months, more than 180 lbs.

of butter. In these countries I think the average annual yield of a

cow is not more than 170 lbs. It sometimes happens that cows yield

a large quantity of milk and a small amount of butter, but it far more

frequently occurs that the cow which gives most milk also yields most

butter.

An estimate of the amount of butter contained in milk may be made by

determining the amount of cream. This may be effected by means of an

instrument termed a _lactometer_, which is simply a glass tube about

five inches long, and graduated into a hundred parts. The specimen to be

examined is poured into this tube up to zero or 0, and allowed to stand

for twelve hours in summer and sixteen or eighteen in winter. At the end

of that time the cream will have risen to the top, and its per-centage

may be easily seen. In good milk the cream will generally extend 11 to

15 degrees down from 0. This instrument, although very useful, is not

reliable in every case, especially in detecting the adulteration of

milk.

I have already stated that the complete separation of the butter from

the other constituents of the milk is never accomplished in the dairy.

Now although the proportion of curd in the butter is very small--rarely

more than two per cent. and often not a fourth of one per cent.--yet it

is more than sufficient, under a certain condition, to cause the butter

to become speedily rancid. That condition is simply contact with the

air. If the curd, before it becomes dry and firm, is subjected to the

influence of the air, it rapidly passes into a state of fermentation,

which is very soon communicated to the fatty and saccharine constituents

of the butter (substances not spontaneously liable to sudden changes in

composition) and those peculiar compounds--such, for example, as butyric

and capric acids, are generated, which confer upon rancid butter its

characteristic and very disagreeable odor and flavor. The fermentation

of the curd is prevented by incorporating common salt with the butter,

and by preventing, so far as possible, the access of air to the

vessels in which the article is placed. If fresh butter be placed in

water--which apparently protects it from the influence of the air--it

will soon become rancid. The reason of this is, that water always

contains air, which differs in composition, though derived, from the

atmosphere, by being very rich in oxygen. Now, it is precisely this

oxygen which effects those undesirable changes in the casein, or curd,

to which I have so repeatedly referred; hence its presence in a

concentrated state in water causes that fluid to produce an injurious

effect on the butter placed in it. A saturated solution of salt contains

very little air, and, so long as the curd is immersed therein, it

undergoes no change. The salt, too, acts as a decided preservative; for

although it was long considered to be capable of preserving animal

matters, merely by virtue of its property of absorbing water from them

(the presence of water being a condition in the decomposition of organic

matter), it has lately been shown to possess very antiseptic properties.

The mixing of the salt with the butter is effected in the following

manner:--The butter, after being well washed, in order to free it from

the butter-milk, is spread out in a tub, and the salt shaken over it;

the butter is then turned over on the salt by the lower part of the palm

of the hand, and rubbed down until a uniform mixture is attained. A good

plan in salting is to mix in only one half of the quantity of salt, make

up the butter in lumps, and set them aside until the following day; a

quantity of milk is certain to exude, which is to be poured off, and

then the rest of the salt may be incorporated with the butter.

According to butter-makers, the quality of the article is greatly

dependent on the quality of the salt used in preserving it. I think

there is a good deal of truth in this belief, and I therefore recommend

that only the very best and _driest_ salt should be used in the dairy.

Common salt is essentially composed of the substance termed by chemists

chloride of sodium, but it often contains other saline matters (chloride

of magnesium, &c.), some of which have a tendency to absorb moisture

from the air, and to dissolve in the water so obtained. These salts are

termed _deliquescent_, from the Latin _deliquere_, to melt down. When,

therefore, common salt becomes damp by mere exposure to the air, it is

to be inferred that it contains impurities which, as they possess a very

bitter taste, would, if mixed with butter, confer a bad flavor upon it.

The impurities of salt may be almost completely removed by placing about

a stone weight of it in any convenient vessel, pouring over it a quart

of boiling water, and mixing thoroughly the fluid and solid. In an hour

or two the whole is to be thrown upon a filter made of calico, when the

water will pass through the filter, carrying with it all the impurities,

and the purified salt, in fine crystals, will remain upon the filter.

The solution need not be thrown away: boiled down to dryness it may be

given as salt to cattle; or, if added in solution to the dung-heap, it

will augment the fertilising power of that manure.

The proportion of salt used in preserving butter varies greatly. When

the butter is intended for immediate use, I believe a quarter of an

ounce of salt to the pound is quite sufficient; but when designed for

the market, about half an ounce of salt to the pound of butter will be

sufficient. Irish butter at one time commanded the highest price in the

home and foreign markets, but latterly it has fallen greatly in public

estimation; indeed, at the present moment the price of Irish butter at

London is nearly twenty shillings per cwt. under that of the Dutch

article. It is really painful to be obliged to admit that the Irish

farmer is solely to blame for this remarkable depreciation in the value

of one of our best agricultural staples. In a word, by the stupid (and

_recent_) practice of putting into butter four times the quantity of

salt necessary to its preservation, the Irish dairy farmers--or at least

the great majority of them--have completely ruined the reputation of

Irish butter in those very markets in which, at one time, the Cork

brand on a firkin was sufficient to dispose of its contents at the

very highest price. It is a great mistake to think that the greater the

quantity of salt which can be incorporated with the butter, the greater

will be the profit to the producer. No doubt, every pound of salt sold

as a constituent of butter realises a profit of two thousand per cent.;

but then the addition of every pound of that substance, after a certain

quantity, to the cwt. of butter depreciates the value of the latter to

such an extent as to far more than neutralise the gain on the sale of

salt at the price of butter. In the county of Carlow, less salt is used

in preserving butter than is the case in the county of Cork and the

adjacent counties; the price, therefore, which the Carlow commodity

commands in the London market is higher than that of the Cork butter:

but in every part of Ireland the proportion of salt added to the butter

is excessive.

The results of the analyses of butter supplied to the London market,

made by the _Lancet_ Analytical Commission, showed that the proportion

of salt varied from 0.30 to 8.24 per cent. The largest proportion of

salt found in fresh butter was 2.21 and the least 0.30. In salt butter

the highest proportion of salt was 8.24 and the lowest 1.53. The butter

which contained most salt was also generally largely adulterated with

water. Indeed, in several samples the amount of this constituent reached

so high as nearly 30 per cent. Nothing is easier than the incorporation

of water with salt butter. The butter is melted, and whilst cooling the

salt and water are added, and the mixture kept constantly stirred until

quite cold. In this way nearly 50 per cent. of water may be added to

butter; but of course the quality of the article will be of the very

worst kind.

A correspondent of the _Lancet_ states that, on awakening about

three o'clock in the morning at the house in which he was lodging, he

perceived a light below the door of his room; and apprehending a fire,

he hurried down stairs, and was not a little surprised to discover the

whole family engaged in manipulating butter. He was informed in a jocose

way that they were making Epping butter! For this purpose they used

inferior Irish butter, which, by repeated washings, was freed from its

excessive amount of salt; after which it was frequently bathed in sweet

milk, the addition of a little sugar being the concluding stroke in the

process. This "sweet fresh butter from Epping" was sold at a profit of

100 per cent. Our dairy farmers might take a hint from this anecdote.

Does it not prove that the mere removal of the salt added to Irish

butter doubles the value of the article?

It is as necessary to pay attention to the packing of butter as it is

to its salting. If old firkins be employed, great care should be taken

in cleaning them, and if the staves be loose, the firkins should be

steeped in hot water, in order to cause the wood to swell, and thereby

to bring the edges of the staves into close contact. New firkins often

communicate a disagreeable odour to the butter. In order to guard

against this, it is the practice in many parts to fill the firkins with

very moist garden mould, which, after the lapse of a few days, is thrown

out, and the firkin thoroughly scrubbed with hot water, rinsed with the

same fluid in a cold state, and finally rubbed with salt, just before

being used.

In packing the butter, the chief object to be kept in view is the

exclusion of air. In order to accomplish this, the lumps of butter

should be pressed firmly together, and also against the bottom and sides

of the vessel. When the products of several churnings are placed in the

same firkin, the surface of each churning should be furrowed, so that

the next layer may be mixed with it. A firkin should never be filled in

a single operation. About six inches of butter of each churning will

be quite sufficient, and in a large dairy two or more firkins can be

gradually but simultaneously filled. I strongly recommend the removal

of the pickle jar from the dairy. When the layers of butter have been

carried up to within an inch or so of the top of the firkin, the space

between the surface of the butter and the edge of the vessel should be

filled with fine dry salt, instead of pickle. A common mistake made is

the holding over for too long a time of the butter: the sooner this

article can be disposed of the better, for _it never improves by age_.

* * * * *

[Footnote 23: From two Greek words, signifying odour and soup.]

[Footnote 24: "A New Inquiry, fully illustrated by coloured engravings

of the heart, lungs, &c., of the Diseased Prize Cattle lately exhibited

at the Smithfield Cattle Club, 1857." By Frederick James Gant, M.R.C.S.

London, 1858.]

[Footnote 25: Professor John Wilson's Report of the Agricultural

Exhibition, Aarhuus, 1867.]

PART V.

ON THE COMPOSITION AND NUTRITIVE VALUE OF VEGETABLE FOODS.

SECTION I.

THE MONEY VALUE OF FOOD SUBSTANCES.

The flesh-forming principles of food are, as I have already stated,

almost identical with the principal nitrogenous constituents of animals.

Unlike the non-plastic substances, they are convertible into each other

with little, if any, loss either of matter or of force. Not many

years since it was the fashion to estimate the nutritive value of a

food-substance by its proportion of nitrogen; but this method--not yet

quite abandoned--was based on erroneous views, and yielded results very

far from the truth. No doubt all the more concentrated and valuable

kinds of food are rich in nitrogenous principles; but there are other

varieties, the nutritive value of which is very low, and yet their

proportion of nitrogen is very high. This point requires explanation.

Both the plastic and the non-plastic materials of food exist in two

distinct states--in one of which they are easily digestible, and in the

other either altogether unassimilable or so nearly so as to be almost

useless. Thus, for example, the cellular tissue of plants, when newly

formed, is to a great extent digestible, whilst the old woody fibre is

nearly, if not quite, incapable of assimilation. Gelatine, which in raw

bones is easily digested in the stomachs of the carnivora, loses a large

proportion of its nutritive value on being subjected to the action of

steam. Again, a portion of the nitrogen of young succulent plants is in

a form not sufficiently organic to admit of its being assimilated to

the animal body. But, independently of these strong objections to the

method of estimating the nutritive value of food by its per-centage of

flesh-formers, there are many other reasons which as clearly prove the

fallacy of this rule. If we were, for instance, to estimate the value

of albumen according to the tables of food equivalents which were

constructed some years ago by Boussingault and other chemists, we would

find one pound weight of it to be equivalent to four pounds weight of

oil-cake, or to twelve pounds weight of hay; yet, it is a fact that

a horse would speedily die if confined to a purely albuminous diet,

whereas hay is capable of supporting the animal's life for an indefinite

period.

It is clear, then, from what I have stated, that neither the amount of

flesh-formers, nor of fat-formers, contained in a given quantity of a

substance is a measure of its nutritive value; nevertheless it would

be incorrect to infer from this that the numerous analyses of feeding

substances which have been made are valueless. On the contrary, I am

disposed to believe that the composition of these substances, when

correctly stated by the chemist, enables the physiologist to determine

pretty accurately their relative alimentary value. Theory is certainly

against the assumption that food is valuable in proportion to its

content of nitrogen; nor has practice less strongly disproved its truth.

An illustration drawn from the nutrition of plants will make this matter

more apparent. Every intelligent agriculturist knows that guano contains

nitrogen and phosphoric acid; both substances are indispensable to the

development of plants, and therefore it would be incorrect to estimate

the manurial value of the guano in proportion to the quantity of

nitrogen it was capable of yielding. If the value of manures were

determined only by their per-centage of nitrogen--a mode by which

certain chemists still estimate the nutritive value of food--then

woollen rags would be worth more than bones, and bones would be more

valuable than superphosphate of lime. The truth is, that the analysis of

feeding stuffs and manures is sometimes of little value if the condition

in which the constituents of these substances exist be undetermined. For

example, the analysis of one manure may show it to contain 40 per cent.

of phosphate of lime, and three per cent. of ammonia, whilst, according

to analysis, another fertiliser may include 20 per cent. of phosphate of

lime, and two per cent. of ammonia. Viewed by this light solely, the

first manure would be considered the more valuable of the two, whereas

it might, in reality, be very much inferior. If the phosphate of lime

in the manure, containing 40 per cent. of that body, were derived from

coprolites or apatite, and its ammonia from horns, the former would be

worth little or nothing, and the latter, by reason of its exceedingly

slow evolution from the horns, would possess a very low value. If, on

the contrary, the phosphate of lime, in the manure comparatively poor

in phosphate, were a constituent of bones, and its ammonia ready formed

(say as sulphate of ammonia), then, its value, both commercial and

manurial, would be far greater than the other.

In estimating the money value of an article of food, we should omit

such considerations as the relative adjustment of its flesh-formers and

fat-formers, and its suitability to particular kinds of animals, as well

as to animals in a certain stage of development. The manure supplied to

plants contains several elements indispensable to vegetable nutrition;

and, although the agriculturist most commonly purchases all these

elements combined in the one article, still he frequently buys each

ingredient separately. Ammonia is one of these principles, and, whether

it be bought _per se_, or as a constituent of a compound manure, the

price it commands is invariable. This principle should prevail in the

purchase of food: each constituent of which should have a certain value

placed upon it; and the sums of all the values of the constituents would

then be the value of the article of food taken as a whole. There are, no

doubt, practical difficulties in the way which prevent this method of

valuation from giving more than approximatively correct results; but

are there not precisely similar difficulties in the way of the correct

estimation of the value of a manure according to its analysis? There

are several constituents of food, the money value of which is easily

determinable: these are sugar, starch, and fat. No matter what substance

they are found in, the nutritive value of each varies only within very

narrow limits. The value of cellulose and woody fibre is not so easily

ascertained, as it varies with the age and nature of the vegetable

structure in which these principles occur. There is little doubt but

that the cellulose and fibre of young grass, clover, and other succulent

plants, are, for the most part, digestible; and we should not be far

astray if we were to assume that four pounds weight of soft fibre and

cellulose are equivalent to three pounds weight of starch. As to old

hard fibre, we are not in a position to say whether or not it possesses

any nutrimental value worth taking into account. The estimation of the

value of the flesh-forming materials is far more difficult than that of

sugar, starch, pectine compounds, and fat. The nitrogenous constituents

of food must be in a highly elaborated state before they are capable

of being assimilated. In seeds--in which vegetable substances attain

their highest degree of development--they probably exist in the most

digestible form, whilst much of the nitrogen found in the stems and

leaves of succulent plants, is either in a purely mineral state, or in

so low a degree of elaboration as to be unavailable for the purpose of

nutrition. But even plastic materials, in a high degree of organisation,

present many points of difference, which greatly affect their relative

alimental value; for example, many of them are naturally associated with

substances possessing a disagreeable flavor: and as their separation

from these substances is often practically impossible, the animal that

consumes both will not assimilate the plastic matters so well as if

they were endowed with a pleasant flavor. In seeds and other perfectly

matured vegetable structures, the flesh-formers may exist in different

degrees of availability. The nitrogen of the _testa_, or covering of

the seeds, will hardly be so assimilable as that which exists in their

cotyledons. The solubility of the flesh-formers--provided they be

highly elaborated--is a very good criterion of their nutritive power.

In linseed the muscle-forming substances are more soluble than in

linseed-cake--the heat which is generally employed in the extraction of

oil from linseed rendering the plastic materials of the resultant _cake_

less soluble, and diminishing thereby their digestibility, as practice

has proved.

From the considerations which I have now entered into, it is obvious

that the chemical analysis of food substances as generally performed,

though of great utility, does not afford strictly accurate information

as to their commercial value, and still less reliable in relation to

their nutritive power. At the same time, they as clearly establish

the feasibility of analyses being _made_ whereby the money value of

feeding-stuffs may be estimated with tolerable exactitude. Let the

chemist determine the presence and relative amounts of the ingredients

of food-substances, and--if it be possible so to do with a degree of

exactness that would render the results useful--place on each a money

value. This done, let the physiologist and the feeder combine the food

in such proportions as they may find best adapted to the nature, age,

and condition of the animal to be fed.

It is to be regretted that the market price of feeding stuffs is not,

in consequence of our defective knowledge, strictly determined by their

nutritive value, for if such were the case, the feeder would merely have

to adapt each to the nature and condition of his stock. Even amongst

practical men there prevails, unfortunately, great diversity of opinion

as to the relative nutritive value of the greater number of food

substances; and I am quite certain that many of these command higher

prices than others which in no respect are inferior. It would lead me

too far from my immediate subject were I to enter minutely into the

consideration of such questions as--whether an acre of grass yields more

or less nutriment than an acre of turnips? I shall merely describe the

composition and properties of grass and of turnips, and of the various

other important food substances, and compare their nutritive power, so

far as comparisons are admissible; but I shall say but little on the

subject of the various economic and other conditions which affect the

production of forage plants. When I shall have described the chemical

nature and physical condition of the various articles of food, and the

results of actual feeding experiments made with them, the feeder will

then be in a position to determine which are the most economical to

produce or to purchase.

The Stock-Feeder's Manual the chemistry of food in relation to the breeding and feeding of live stock · 第 1 / 9 章