THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION: MAN'S RELATION TO 

 ANIMAL LIFE 



THERE was a time somewhere in the dim past when 

 the beast of the field knew no master. The only obe- 

 dience which he rendered to a superior power was an 

 unconscious submission to Nature's stern forces. He 

 wandered forth at will to find in the untilled pastures 

 such food as the wild herbage afforded, and, unre- 

 strained, he sought a place of rest in the tangled thicket. 

 He knew no refuge from the winter's cold and storm 

 but some sheltered nook or forest recess to which his 

 brute intelligence guided him, and he was his own defense 

 against the dangers which beset him. 



Man had not come to be a controlling factor in the 

 development of the various forms of animal life. If the 

 brute knew him at all, it was as the huntsman, as an 

 enemy, but not as a superior to whom must be paid a 

 tribute of service or of food and clothing. The wild 

 ox and horse possessed those characteristics which best 

 fitted them to cope with* the untoward conditions of 

 their environment; but there had not yet appeared those 

 specialized capacities of growth, draft, speed, or pro- 

 duction which now render these animals so very valuable 

 for the service and sustenance of the human family. 



The qualities developed were those demanded by the 

 (3) 



