542 Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



these soon exhibit by the animals grazing on them their specific wants, 

 phosphates, chloride of sodium (salt), iron, and potash. Stock 

 derive the mineral constituents of their bones, iiesh, blood, milk, and 

 wool from the grasses upon' which they feed, and these in turn must 

 come from tlie laud. From the soil, through the medium of its 

 grasses, the animal takes up the mineral matters and nitrogen which 

 go to build its structure and products, such as milk or wool. 

 Gilbert and Lawes, names well known throughout the English 

 speaking world in connection with their famous Rothamsted expei'i- 

 ments, assert that a bullock of a thousand pounds live weight contains 

 fifty pounds of mineral matter, this latter amount divided by the age 

 of the animal will give the average annual amount taken up from th& 

 land. Again, these same experimenters (as quoted by Ralph W. 

 Emmerson Macivor, the agricultural chemist whom the late iSir W. 

 Clarke, Bart., brought to this State some years ago) state : — " The 

 amount of ash present in average normal country milk is '7 per cent., 

 so that a cow yielding 400 gallons of milk per annum will in four 

 years' time impoverish the pasture upon which it feeds to the extent 

 of over 115 lbs. of mineral substances." 



Turning to wool, very definite data are obtainable on the amount 

 of potash derived from the land by the sheep. This substance, after 

 circulating in the blood, is excreted from the skin with the sweat. 

 Chevreul says of this potash compound that raw merino wool contains 

 33 percent., but the commoner varieties of wool contain on an average 

 14 per cent.* It is to be noted, in passing, that young growing animals 

 assimilate phosphates to form bone, and nitrogenous matters to 

 produce muscle and blood. Similarly also, cows in calf, as in addition 

 to what is required for their own sustenance, they have further to 

 nourish their fuitus. Having touched thus briefly on the mineral 

 matter required to build up the animal's structure, the attention of 

 dairymen should be directed especially to the lack of provision made 

 by them to assist in maintaining the vigour of their young stock 

 from the time they are able to pick up a little grass for themselves 

 until they are to be sold as stores (if steers) or brought into the 

 dairy herd as milkers. Instead of being turned out on a bare road, 

 or into some equally bare paddock, they should have nourishing food, 

 for the cost of which they will well repay their owner, for whatever 

 purpose he intends them, because, if they are sustained in their early 

 years, they will in addition to having more value, if for sale, or if 

 intended to be kept, their systems will be better able to withstand 

 hardship. The necessity of the presence of a liberal supply of mineral 

 constituents having been shown, some of the troubles incidental to 

 stock where these properties are lacking in the food supply in normal 

 quantities will be pointed out. 



Rickets— Cripples. 



These two forms of disease may be traced distinctly to lack of 

 phosphates in the soil upon which the animals have been feeding, 

 inducing faulty development and softening of the bones, which, while 



