292 On the Uses of Sugar for fattening Cattle. 



pected they v;ould, I forbear to take up your time by re- 

 citing them. 



** In addition to those substances on which I have ope- 

 rated, several others have occurred to nic ; but it would de- 

 pend upon the taste of the cattle, whether any of them 

 could be brouoht into use. The articles I allude to are, rape 

 oil, whale oil, foot oil, horse turpentine, coal tar, com- 

 mon tar*, the gall of animals, blood, wood ashes, soap 

 lye, madder, wormwood, gentian, quassia, &:c. in decoction, 

 and the residuum procured from makers of oil of vitriol, 

 called sulphur ashes. 



** In this list I have not advectcd to urine; but I am in- 

 clined to think that, all things considered, this might be the 

 best to mix with sugar, to prevent its getting again into 

 common consumption. If farmers were allowed sugar duty 

 free, on condition of an olTicer of excise seeing a certain 

 quantity of urine mixed with every cwt. of the sugar, there 

 could, I think, be no danger of the farmer ever using it for 

 other purposes than those for which government would al- 

 low him to draw the duty. Besides, the disgusting nature 

 of urine is such that the quantity might safely be fixed so 

 low that there would be no danger of the cattle not eating the 

 sus'ar, when mixed with a large portion of other food. The 

 beneficial etlect of urine upon horses is so well known, thai 

 it has become a common practice with grooms, whenever 

 thev want a horse to have a remarkably fine coat, to mix 

 urine in the manger with his corn. 



" Chaff is an article much used by feeders of cattle; su- 

 "ar stained with oil might be mixed with chaff, as another 

 preventative. Besides, as chaff is naturally astringent, the 

 quantity of chaff that can now- be given to cattle is limited, 

 Bv mixir.o; =uch sugar wiih it, more might be used, and 

 n)ore suear aiso might be given to cattle than they could 

 otherwise tiear. Such a mixture would be much cheaper 

 than feedino; in the usual wav with oil-cake, on account of 

 the fattcninc!; propeity of sugar, and the small value of chaff. 

 The lar^Cbt show-ox supposed to have been ever fed in En- 



* Mr. Davy has suggestsd abo, " petroleum •," and, as an astringent, terra 

 Japonka. 



gland. 



