THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



370 



the reapers as at present constructed are able to render impor- 

 tant assistance to the farmer in moderately favourable seasons. 



The use of both reaping machines with self-acting delivery 

 is steadily extending ; and as agriculturalists and their men 

 become more accustomed to them, their introduction is likely 

 to be still more rapid ; for, owing to the high price of labour 

 during harvest, they effect a considerable saving in the coat of 

 cutting the crop, and enable the farmer to take more advan- 

 tage of favourable weather than he can do by the uncertain 

 aid of the limited number of men that can be procured at that 

 period of the year. 



It is also worthy of remark in connection with this part of 

 the subject, that, excepting the locomotive engine, there is no 

 machine iu use which requires to be manufactured with so 

 much care and regard to durability as the reaper. Almost all 

 other machines used either in agriculture or manufactures do 

 their work when at rest, and secured to substantial foundations. 

 Even those constructed to move from place to place are, be- 

 fore being put in motion, fastened down to prevent as far as 



possible the destructive consequences of oscillation and vibra- 

 tion. The reaper is, on the contrary, not only exposed to all 

 the strains consequent on passing over every description of 

 uneven ground with its machinery in action, but it is also sub- 

 ject to the effects of continual tremulous vibration caused by 

 the quick reciprocating motion of the knives. 



It is, therefore, not surprising that the introduction of reap- 

 ing machines has been attended with considerable difficulties, 

 especially as they have had to be worked by men but little 

 accustomed to the use of machinery. In this respect, how- 

 ever, the last few years have witnessed a great change. The 

 assistance of the steam engine is already felt by most farmers 

 to be a necessity in carrying on all extensive operations with 

 efficiency and economy, and the general use of improved ma- 

 chinery cannot fail to produce a corresponding improvement in 

 the condition of the agricultural labourer, and will accelerate 

 the completion of that progressive revolution which, since the 

 abrogation of legislative protection, has been rapidly taking 

 place in every department of practical agriculture. 



STOCK FEEDING, &c. 



In entering upon this subject, which extends into various 

 sections of practical science, it may be well to take each 

 division in turn, and afterwards sum up the evidence. 



There are, in the first place, evidently two grand divisions 

 of the subject; viz., the animals of which it is proposed to 

 increase the flesh ; and the vegetable food, which it is the 

 object of the stock-feeder to transmute into flesh, by intro- 

 ducing it into the stomachs of the animals. 



As the feeding of stock, and not the breeding, or point- 

 ing out their various qualities, is the subject of these 

 articles, particular allusion to the cattle will be unneces- 

 sary, as the treatment which will produce any desired effect 

 upon one animal will have, generally at least, a like ten- 

 dency with another — that is, the best means for fattening 

 one will be the best for fattening another, and the best 

 thing for increasing the yield of milk from one will also be 

 the best for producing a similar result with another, under 

 similar circumstances. Not that it is reasonable to expect 

 that any one kind of food or treatment will produce indis- 

 criminately various or opposite results, and in this article 

 tlie present mode of fattening only will he considered. 



The inquiry will, therefore, be commenced with the food 

 itself, showing of what it really consists, and what becomes 

 of it when consumed by the animals. 



Vegetables will increase in weight many-fold when grow- 

 ing, without abstracting much weight from the soil, as they 

 derive almost their entire bulk, directly or indirectly, from 

 the atmosphere ; which is in some degree owing to their 

 containing in their substance, and absorbing from the soil, 

 very small quantities of salts, &c., which, having an affinitj'- 

 for the gases, fix or consolidate them. 



It may be needful to premise, that the elementary bodies, 

 as oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, &c. (of which, except 

 a few salts, of very small amount, all vegetable food is 

 entirely composed), are substances which have never been 

 decomposed, and are presumed to be utterly incapable of 

 being so ; for though thej' may be changed from solid to 

 liquid or even to vapour, they .are still identical; thus 

 sulphur may be solid, liquid, vapour, or combine to form 

 acid, and the acid again — with, for instance, lime — form 

 gypsum. But still it exists as sulphur, and may be again 



recovered, as under no circumstances can either it or any 

 other substance be annihilated. 



Yet, one of the earliest impressions in connexion with 

 stock feeding, which strikes the mind of any one who really 

 thinks for himself, is the very small increase of an animal, 

 compared with the large quantity of food taken into its 

 system, and that the balance or loss is not represented by 

 the weight of manure. If we take the following table by 

 Dr. Playfair, given in the 6th vol. of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society's Journal, as being the amount of various foods 

 necessary for producing one pound of flesh ; viz. :— 



100 lbs. turnips ,9 lbs. oatmeal 4 lbs. lean meat 



60 „ potatoes 71 „ barleyraeal 3i „ peas 

 50 „ carrots 7.4 „ bread 3.3 „ beans, 



where does the balance go? Even the flesh, which is 

 almost identical with the product required, is shown to be 

 reduced to one-fourth. Although there is a large quantity 

 of water in the roots, and some also in the meals, it must be 

 remembered that the " pound of flesh" produced, too, is in 

 a moist state. 



By drying some of the usual food until every particle of 

 water is evaporated, and noting the proportion of loss in 

 weight, from this may be calculated what would be the 

 weight, when dry, of any quantity of the same kind of food ; 

 and experiment will prove that the total weight of flesh 

 added and manure made (both also dry) will not nearly 

 amount to the weight, when dry, of the food given to the 

 cattle. 



Though it is quite certain that elements cannot be anni- 

 hilated, it is equally clear that they have here been lost to 

 the feeder. There are in vegetables the necessary elements of 

 which, when mixed with the air by respiration, to make 

 flesh ; and it is only ordinary prudence to prevent, as far as 

 possible, their loss or escape during the process ; yet out of 

 say lOOlbs. of vegetable carbon, only a small proportion is 

 usually transmuted into animal carbon. But if one portion 

 of the lOOlbs. will iradergo this change, why should not 

 another portion, or, in short, every other portion, of the 

 whole 100 lbs. ? There is only one kind of carbon ; itisnot 

 capable of being annihilated— it is merely required to change 

 its combinations ; and certainly there ought not to be so 



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