201 



and the effect of dry straw is to produce almost immediately a 

 great diminution of milk. Hay is conducive to health, and to 

 milk, in proportion to the succulent state in which it has been 

 cured, provided, however, it has attained some substantial growth 

 before being cut. 



I think it will be interesting to my readers, if I quote here 

 from the report to which I have alluded, on a trial of some 

 different kinds of food upon cattle, made under the direction of 

 the government, and just published by their order. I cannot say 

 that the report, as a whole, is altogether satisfactory, or that the 

 conclusions arrived at are very definite. The remarks, however, 

 which I shall quote, are very worthy of attention. 



&quot; That a change of diet is necessary for animals which are 

 kept in a confined condition, is proved by the tables accom 

 panying this report in a striking manner ; and the results now 

 obtained amply sustain the idea, supported by us some time ago, 

 in reference to the dietary of human beings shut up in poor- 

 houses and places of confinement. It was then argued that, in 

 order to retain the human constitution in a healthy condition, 

 variety of food should be properly attended to, and different 

 species of diet were suggested as well calculated to supply a 

 series of dishes to the poor. In the Asylum for the Houseless 

 and in the House of Refuge, at Glasgow, the recommendations 

 were followed out, and, according to the report of the treasurer, 

 the dinner meals being varied two or three times every week, 

 the change in the dietary is much relished by the inmates, and 

 may have had some effect in the greater degree of health which 

 has been evident among them of late. The analogy subsisting 

 between the physical nature of human beings and of many of 

 our domestic animals, would lead us to the conclusion, upon 

 physiological grounds, that their dietary should be conducted 

 upon precisely similar principles. To prove this by exact exper 

 iments, is a point, it will be admitted, of considerable importance 

 to the agriculturist, although it may have been, as might be ex 

 pected, surmised by many intelligent observers. Not only, how 

 ever, is variety of. food requisite for an animal in an artificial state, 

 it is found also to be beneficial to one in a condition more akin 

 to that of nature ; for it is upon this principle that we are able to 

 account for the superior influence of old natural pastures, which 



