I. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 391 



taken in and run off being noted. It was found that a fat, 

 well-fed body will oxidize more fat than a lean one, and that, 

 as the body becomes fatter, rather less fat is digested. Al- 

 bumen is far more readily oxidized than fat : the addition of 

 fat to an albuminous diet scarcely diminishing the amount 

 of albumen oxidized. On the other hand, the addition of al- 

 bumen to a fatty diet diminishes the oxidation of the fat and 

 greatly increases the amount of fat stored up. If a liberal 

 albuminous diet be long continued, or follow a very low diet, 

 fat is produced from the albumen ; but if the same diet fol- 

 low one rich in fat, the animal for a time loses fat. The au- 

 thors consider that fat is in all cases produced from the albu- 

 men of food, but it is generally burned, and not deposited. 

 Fattening is best attained by beginning with a liberal nitrog- 

 enous and medium fatty diet, and when the animal frame 

 has sufficiently increased, giving more fat and less albumen. 

 The amount of oxygen taken up has no relation to the kind of 

 diet, but rather to its quantity. A maximum consumption 

 of oxygen is not possible without the circulating system be- 

 ing largely developed, which implies liberal albuminous diet. 

 21 A, October, 1873, 1047. 



INTRODUCTION OF PRAIRIE CHICKENS INTO THE EASTERN 



STATES. 



Quite an extended movement is taking place, having for 

 its object the introduction of prairie chickens, or the pinnated 

 grouse, from the West into the scrubby lands of the Eastern 

 States, and especially of Long Island. An augury of success 

 is furnished by the fact that, when the country was first dis- 

 covered, these birds were extremely abundant in many parts 

 of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Long Island, and the islands 

 and coasts of the New England States as far as Cape Cod. 

 They have, however, been almost entirely exterminated, a 

 few only existing in the mountain region of Pennsylvania, in 

 Martha's Vineyard, and possibly in parts of Long Island. 

 According to a memorandum in Forest and Stream, two pairs 

 of grouse were obtained about five years ago, and placed in 

 the vicinity of Snow Hill, Maryland. The first season they 

 raised twelve or thirteen young, and it is now estimated that, 

 in that section of country, the number has risen to about two 

 thousand. The residents in the neighborhood of this experi- 



