THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



339 



Increase. 

 Live weight, 

 150 lbs, Swedes consumeJ iu the field 



. . produced 1 lb. 

 100 lbs. swedes fed iu field, with a 



shed to run under . . . . „ lib, 



12 lbs. clover hay . . . . „ 1 lb. 



S lbs. beans , 1 lb. 



8 lbs. peas „ 1 lb. 



7 lbs. oats „ 1 lb. 



(! lbs. barley . . . . . „ 11^- 



y 01 lbs. lindseed cake .. • ,i 1 lb. 



•1^ lbs. linseed calce and peas 

 in equal proportion . , . . -i 1 l^-" 



Now, this table, with the conclusions at which the writer 

 .arrives, points in a very conspicuous manner to a principle 

 now very keenly canvassed relative to the economy of com 

 and cake by the proper mixture of foods, for here we have 

 4^1bs. of " half-and-hair' producing as much live weight as 

 nearly twice the quantity of corn when given alone. The 

 impropriety, therefore, of giving corn or cake alone is 

 manifest, 



rSut who would ever think of giving any of the above 

 articles alone to stock — cake or corn more especially ? 

 And although we have often given cake and peas mixed in 

 equal weights to sheep and oxen, we never gave the mix- 

 ture alone, or would be so foolish as to do so. What, then, 

 we should like to know, is the use of the table, seeing it is 

 not applicable to our present practice, or to any practice 

 worthy of commendation ? 



The next example we shall quote is fiom Mr, Frere's 

 paper" On the Feeding of Stock," in the Journal of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society. 



" Per day — 61bs, of linseed. 



Clbs. of meal (half bean aiid half wheat). 

 Olbs, of hay. 

 Clbs. of locust beans. 

 Sllbs. of swedes." 



" It will be observed," (adds Jlr. Frere to the above daily 

 allowance), " that (here the albuminous substances are 

 diminished, and the fat-producing food increased. Tbe 

 locust beans are in their proper place, when from long feed- 

 ing the animal is getting dainty; their want of nitrogen 

 being unimportant for the last stage of fattening." 



Putting the above two examples together, they may be 

 taken as an illustration of the means now being adopted to 

 economise corn and cake ; and the questions which they na- 

 turally suggest to us, as a practical reader — questions which 

 have during the past season engaged the minds of many 

 other landowners and agriculturists with whom we are now 

 in correspondence on the subject — are as follows: 



1, What is the most profitable combination of cake and 

 corn with the other feeding materials now used ? 



2. How is the success or economy of combination ac- 

 counted for, in physical science? Are the commonly received 

 notions on the subject correct? 



;K Why cannot we form flesh with flesh-forming food, 

 such as beans, peas, and cake? and how are farmers to pro- 

 duce plenty of finely -flavoured corn, beef, and mutton— the 

 " rich venison-Jlavuured irieal" of the olden time? 



4. How are we to account for the addition of peas enabling 

 the animal to manufacture more fat with less fat-formiu" ma- 

 teiial ? How is the anomaly that exists here between the 

 last two articles — Olbs. of linseed cake and 4Jlbs, of the half- 

 and-half — to be reconciled ? 



5. If Olbs. of barley yield as much live weight as 81bs, of 

 beans or peas; and if we can rear and fatten animals on the 

 data here laid down for our guidance, then we establish the 

 rule — that the less the proportion of flesh- forming matter the 



greater the quantity of flesh ! How are we to reconcile this 

 anomaly ? 



0. If we can reconcile questions 4 and 5, how then cair 

 we reconcile Mr. Frere's practice, and Uie somewhat hasty 

 conclusions at which he has arrived, relative to his cattle 

 when they begin to get " dainty" ? 



T. How are we to account for the increase of superior 

 milk yielded by milch cows under Horsfall's and other 

 systems of feeding daily stock? 



To the first of these questions, no one acquainted with 

 the little progi-ess yet made iu this department of physical 

 science will expect a definite answer. Every link in the 

 chain of progress here is a discovery, and the discoveries 

 made during the past season in the economy of cake and 

 corn, including linseed-cake, beans, peas, and Indian corn, 

 all the grinding of them into meal along with other sub- 

 stances, as oarob-beans, ginger, gentian, anise, &c., in such 

 a manner as to preserve tbe flavouring principles' of the 

 compound in their normal state ; the quantity of cake and 

 corn in other respects depending upon the animal to which 

 it is given, as subsequently shown under the 7th question. 



The second question is of a twofold character, and to 

 both divisions of it a separate reply will be necessiry. 



To the first, " A more perfect system of .issimilation, with 

 consequently a less waste of feeding material for the dung- 

 hill, and a less daily waste upon the body," is the obvious 

 reply. 



As to the second, there canaot be a doubt that many 

 fallacious dogmas are now being propagated relative to the 

 nutritive value of feeding materials. There is perhaps nothing 

 more objectionable than the many perplexing columns of 

 figures now being strung together for the guidance of prac- 

 tical fermers. "Arithmetical farming at the fireside" has never 

 been popular among them. We ourselves have weighed crops 

 and cattle, food and manure, but could never find the figures 

 of one year any uae to the practice of the followiug one. 

 Every year calls for the exercise of judgment specifically its 

 own ; and the practical man's best rule is at his banker's — a 

 secret that for many reasons he keeps to himself. 



The questions which are now eugaging attention under 

 this head are partly chemical and partly physiological. 

 At present no one can say what are the proximate prin- 

 ciples best adapted for feeding this or that animal ; while 

 physiologists are discussing the question of the daily waste of 

 the body, that enters the circulation, being reconverted into 

 the living organism. Again, iu estimating the proximate 

 principles of the excrements, who can tell what is due to the 

 food and what to the waste of the body, and what to good or 

 bad management ? Practical farmers have got all these prac- 

 tical data to take into consideration, and they who pay no 

 attention to them must stumble and fall. 



The third question involves the healthy development of 

 muscle, which cannot be effected without proper exercise, let 

 the food be the best that can be given. Exercise, we repeat, 

 is essential to the growth of muscle. In the absence of exer- 

 cise muscles become atrophied, These are facts so universally 

 admitted, that none can plead ignorance of them, and we have 

 found them just as necessary to be attended to in the feeding 

 of prize stock as they have from time immemorial been found 

 necessary to be attended to in feeding athletre and others for 

 their respective feats that require great muscular development. 

 The conclusion therefore which we append to this is, that 

 more exercise is necessary to the proper development of 

 muscle than is generally received under the forcing system of 

 in-door feeding, or extra quantities of unwholesome food, 

 which has a tendency to make cattle dull and inactive. 



