11 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



whole of the animal functions are carried on. Animal 

 heat is produced by the consumption of the carbonace- 

 ous elements of food by means of the air inhaled by the 

 lungs. Now, what is the next condition ? what is the re- 

 sult of our taking more than is required i'or the simple pro- 

 duction of animal heat ? The excess of starch or sugar, 

 gum or fat, or any other oleaginous matter, goes into the 

 body, and forms part of the animal system ; it is laid on 

 in the form of fat, and is so laid in order that, in the 

 event of any subsequent reverse by which the animal 

 might be temporprily deprived of its food, it might 

 have within itself a certain amount of resistance to 

 the action of the atmosphere. This condition 

 also distinctly supposes that the colder the 

 animal is, the more of these substances it must consume 

 before any fat can be produced. It distinctly discloses 

 to us the necessity of warmth for the animal ; warmth 

 is, in fact, an equivalent for food. And as coal is 

 very much cheaper in proportion than any of the sub- 

 stances containing hydrogen and carbon which are given 

 to animals as food, it follows that it would even pay 

 well to use artificial heat to keep animals warm when 

 there is a deficiency of heat, as coal is much less expen- 

 sive than the carbon and hydrogen in their food. But 

 to come to a more ordinary state of affairs, I 

 would remark that protecting animals from cold, 

 by putting up a small shelter, is equivalent 

 to the saving of a large amount of fooJ. Mr. Robert 

 Smith practically took notice of the effects of shelter, 

 in his admirable p;tper on the management of sheep, in 

 the " Journal" of the Royal Agricultural Society. A 

 lew years ago, a friend of mine in Dorsetshire put up 

 twenty or thirty sheep under the simple protection of a 

 series of upright double-hurdles lined with straw, and 

 with a single hurdle lined with straw as a sort of roof or 

 lean-to. Another series of the same number and weight 

 were fed without any similar protection, but in the open 

 field. Each were allowed to eat what turnips theylii<ed. 

 What was the result ? Those without shelter increased 

 in weight 1 lb, per sheep per week : those with shelter 

 increased at the rate of 31b. per sheep per week, and 

 consumed less food. Had the weather been more severe, 

 the difference would of course have been still greater. 

 The employment, then, gentlemen, of all the means at 

 your command to protect your animals from cold, and 

 to keep up animal heat, is, I think, an essential thing 

 for the production of the largest weight with the least 

 food in the least time. Now, when animals have taken 

 food, there is a question respecting their growth. 

 Animals that are young require considerably more mate- 

 rials for food in connection with their weight than 

 animals which have reached their full stature. Animals 

 which are young require to be furnished with the natural 

 means of attaining their full growth, and by which they 

 may be enabled to perform their proper functions as re- 

 gards exercise and so on. The manuring matters in 

 their deposits will, therefore, be found to be of far less 

 value than those contained in the deposits of older 

 animals. Animals ^hich have acquired their fuUgrowth 

 have simply to maintain it, and will therefore require 

 less food than those which have to increase their growth ; 

 so that the value of the manure will differ according to 

 the difference between the animals themselves, sup- 

 posing that they both oljtain the same quantity of food. 

 We now come to another question, namely, what food 

 ought to be given to animals, and in what varieties .' 

 I have shown before that the seeds of a plant are un- 

 doubtedly those portions of it which are of the greatest 

 importance to the agriculturist, and that the straw and 

 other portions are of the least importance. But we 

 must recollect that some of these may be of greater 

 value locally than others. The seeds of oleaginous 

 plants are those which have generally proved most 

 valuable, such as those of linseed, rapecake, and oiher 



oleaginous plants, as, besides a large amount of [flesh- 

 producing principles, they contain the largest amount 

 of fat-producing principles ; and next come substances 

 containing, besides the flesh-producing principles, starch, 

 for example, wheat, barley, and cats. But the straw — 

 I am obliged to allude to this question, and I know my 

 opinion will be corroborated by every practical man 

 present — the straw is not that which is the most nu- 

 tritious for animals, and the hydrogen and carbon to be 

 found in it do not exist under the same conditions 

 that they do in oilcake, linseed, and other substances of 

 the same kind. In straw, which is nearly all woody 

 fibre, you may have a certain amount of carbon, oxygen, 

 and hydrogen, existing in a state which may be assimi- 

 lated by animals; but it is not to be supposed that 100 

 lbs. of these substances in straw will do as much for a 

 bullock as the same quantity in oilcake and other simi- 

 lar substances. The weights may be the same, but the 

 compounds adapted for food are totally different. Since 

 I addressed you on this subject twelve months ago, I 

 have been at the trouble of reading over almost everything 

 that has been written, in order to see if what was stated 

 does exist in straw, and I am satisfied that its value as a 

 food has been exaggerated. Thistimelastyeartherewasan 

 assumption made, founded I believe, on a portion of an 

 excellent paper of Mr. Horsfall's, which led me lo say 

 instantly, for the sake of practical men whom I did not 

 like to have misled, that it could not be correct ; I refer 

 to the assumption that wheat-straw contains 18 per 

 cent, of oil, or the equivalent of that quantity of oil. 

 In order to see whether or not there was such an amount 

 of oil in the straw as had been stated, 1 got my friend, 

 Mr. Mcchi, to send me some of his own straw for 

 analysis, and the result of the analysis was as follows : 



ANALYSES OF STRAW FROM MR. MECIII. 



Wet. Dry. 



Per cent. Ptr cent. 



Moisture 10.68 .. — 



Oil, &c 0.75 .. 0,84 



Soluble in water 8.81 .. 9.86 



Albumiiioua compounds ., 3.15 .. 3,53 



Woody fibre 71.17 .. 79.68 



Ash 5.44 .. 6.09 



100.00 



100.00 



Another sample of straw kindly sent to me by Mr. 

 Charles Howard, of Biddenham, near Bedford, was 

 analysed with perfectly similar results. 



ANALYSIS OF STRAW FROM MR. HOWARD. 



Wet. Dry. 



Per cent. Per cent. 



Moisture 11.46 — 



Oil,&c 0.74 0.83 



Soluble in water 7.48 8.45 



Albuniiuona coriipounds 3.15 3.56 



Woody fibre 71.97 81.29 



Aah 5.20 5.87 



100,00 100.00 



Samples of the same straws were likewise submitted to 

 Professor Johnson, of Guy's Hospital, who was also 

 unable to detect the presence of starch. 



On the other hand, an analysis of a sample of oilcake 

 gave the following result : 



ANALYSIS OF OILCAKE. 



Per Cent. 



Moisture 11 '60 



Oil 1108 



A'.bumiaouB compounda, or flesh- 1 nfi-i % 



producing principles , J 



Ash 7-20 



Other constituents . . . 43'99 



Nitrogen 



100-00 

 4-09 



