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THE FARxMER'S MAGAZINE. 



ECONOMY OF FEEDING MATERIAL. 



A rather deficient crop ia some places, with damaged 

 mangolds in others, is naturally giving rise to discussion 

 on the economy of keep for live stock. The subject at 

 all times is an interesting one : but doubly so under the 

 circumstances now experienced. And what makes it 

 all the more so is the rapid progress which science is 

 making in thi"; department of husbandry. Add to this 

 the price of corn of every kind, on the one hand, toge- 

 ther with oilcake and other feeding stuffs, and on the 

 other hand the price of butcher-meat and dairy produce, 

 and it will be seen tliat very little will turn the balance 

 either the one way or the other in the marketing of 

 produce. 



The question of economy, to which we propose con- 

 fining our observations at present, is not as to whether 

 it v/ould pay the farmer best to give his corn to his 

 cattle, or send it to market, but how to make the most 

 of a given quantity of food. In other words, to make 

 the greatest quantity of the best quality of butcher-meat 

 and dairy i3roduce from a given quantity of food such as 

 the farmer may have at command. The produce of one 

 farm or district often differs widely from the produce of 

 another as to its nutritive value ; and so do the crops of 

 different seasons ; much depending, in every case, upon 

 how the lands are cultivated and the crops harvested. 

 And these differences are not satisfactorily accounted 

 for by any of the analyses furnished by chemists ; so 

 that farmers cannot ascertain the feeding qualities of 

 their crops by sending them to the laboratory. Greater 

 progress must be made in chemistry before science can 

 furnish him with the information he thus wants ; conse- 

 quently be has to be guided by the voice of experience. 

 Chemistry gives so much, but not the whole ; and it is 

 the information which experience has to furnish that 

 gives to the subject its peculiar and interesting character, 

 owing to the diversity of practice and the difficulty of 

 deducing from it any standard rule. 



It is very clear, then, we cannot commence our subject 

 by telling our friends in the provinces how they are to 

 feed their cattle, in all the details of the most successful 

 practice. It is also manifest that something requires to 

 be said in order to get science and practice to pull to- 

 gether in the investigation of so important a work. If 

 the farmer performs his part of the task at the home- 

 stead, and he is daily experimenting there, science 

 should perform hers in the laboratory. If the success- 

 ful solution of the question or performance of the work 

 is thus depending upon the reciprocal discharge of re- 

 spective duties, how much has each got to do ? and in 

 what order should they be discharged ? 



We are apprehensive that more is expected of che- 

 mistry in this matter than is due. In the examination 

 of our subject practically at the homestead, we find 

 many more branches of science involved than chemistry ; 

 for fine symmetry and a fine handle have more to do 

 with the economy of food than the elementary sub- 

 stances usually found in the analyses of our agricultural 

 chemists, " such as starch, sugar, pectine, gum, oil, 

 nitrogenous compounds, and certain mineral matters," 

 because the economy of these very substances depends 

 upon those two conditions. With this every successful 

 feeder is familiar. It was a knowledge of this that gave 

 rise to the improving of the breeds of all our domesti- 

 cated animals, and which induces breeders to give the 

 long prices they do for superior specimens of every 

 breed. Yet, with all our improvements, there are great 



differences between the quantities and qualities of 

 butcher-meat and dairy produce yielded by different 

 animals from equal quantities and qualities of food. 

 In other words, we waste the manufactured article 

 nearly as fast as we make it, and then grumble at the 

 amount of raw materials consumed ! 



From a scientific point of view, fine symmetry is 

 synonymous with fine mechanism ; and a fine handle 

 with fine health, or the absence of disease. Science has 

 thus two topics to discuss in relation to the economy of 

 food; the one mechanical, and the other medical. 



As to the importance and value of fine mechanism, 

 we have only to compare our thorough-bred Dukes and 

 Duchesses with some of the old jumbling, jarring 

 machines that stilt and totter upon their " rocking 

 levers" about our homesteads, to be able to account for 

 no small share of the differences mentioned above. The 

 implement maker is familiar with the necessity of at- 

 tending to all the minutiae of detail in the construction 

 of his engines and machinery ; material must be sound, 

 and without a flaw ; calculations perfect ; and the whole 

 of the working parts well oiled and harmonizing to- 

 gether. If anything diverges but a " hair's breadth" 

 from the truth, more steam is consumed or less work 

 performed, while the tear and wear upon the machinery 

 and the quality of the work done are both against the 

 owner. As it is in this case, so is it in the other — results 

 in both being against the bad-going machine. And here 

 it must be borne in mind that animal mechanism in- 

 volves other considerations than locomotion ; for those 

 displayed in respiration, digestion, and the other me- 

 chanical functions, have more to do with the economy of 

 food than the articulation and configuration of the 

 quarters. It is to this wonderful display of mechanism 

 within, that Science directs special attention in the in- 

 vestigation of the influence it exercises in different 

 animals upon the economy of food, and when the whole 

 is seen in this light, and the mutual dependence of parts 

 upon the successful performance of the work of each, 

 properly understood, there will be no difficulty in ac- 

 counting for the fact why the one class pays more for its 

 keep than the other, both being equally healthy and 

 equally fed. 



From a medical point of view, live stock presents, per- 

 haps, a greater diversity of health than mechanism. 

 Now, according to the well-known maxim in this branch 

 of science, " Every ease must be its oion rule;" so that 

 by this rule the economy of food has to be calculated by 

 the degree of health enjoyed in every individual case. 

 And this just agrees with another dietetic proverb, 

 " One man's meat may be another's poison :" " Quod 

 cibus est aliis, aliis est acre venenum." In the case of 

 fine health and fine mechanism, when the food is of the 

 best quality, and everything going on well, there is a 

 daily waste upon the body, requiring food to repair it, 

 besides what is directly consumed in supporting animal 

 heat and vitality. In other words, the balance-sheet, 

 like all other balance-sheets, has a Dr. and Cr. page ; 

 so that it is the difference between the two which indi- 

 cates the increase of weight, or profit, to the farmer in 

 payment of his labour and keep. If the increase of 

 weight is two pounds daily, then the quantity, of food 

 assimilated and worked up into the living organism ex- 

 ceeds the daily waste upon the body by two pounds. In 

 bad health the waste upon the body increases ; so that 

 if this increase amounts to two pounds daily, there will 



