190 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



ture of the vital powers to convert them into the various compounds to be assimilated end 

 appropriated by the different organs and parts of the body, than would be required in tho 

 former case upon the good grazing land ; added to which, another, and I think, perhaps the 

 principal, disturbing cause may probably be owing to the presence of some plant or plants 

 among the herbage which exercise an unfavorable actiofi upon the fat-producing powers, 

 and which, from the soil being peculiarly adapted for their nourishing growth, may be pro- 

 duced in bulk, as compared with the aggregate herbage grown, sufficient to bring about the 

 marked difference noticed. To make myself and meaning here more clearly comprehended, 

 I will suppose a case: We know that some piants excite the kidneys to increased action. 

 Supposing, therefore, that in any pasture (however abundant it might be in quantity) there 

 were growing some plant or plants which exercise an exciting influence upon the kidneys, 

 provided that influence was not energetic enough in the first instance to produce disease of 

 those organs, the secretion from them would be much, as well as permanently, increased 

 under the daily stimulant taken with food. Now, as that secretion is wholly derived from 

 the blood, we can readily form an idea that there must be a much larger quantity of blood 

 required to furnish the increased quantity of urine secreted, with all its salts and other 

 organic compounds, whether immediately derived from the food, or from the disintegration 

 and breaking up of the already formed parts of the body. Such being the case, it would be 

 natural to conclude that the animal would not become what we call fat under the increased 

 consumption of the blood in that direction. This may seem to be putting an extreme case ; 

 but we should reflect that there is no organ or part of the body, varying, of course, in the 

 different species of animals, on which there is not some vegetable production that exercises 

 a certain specific influence, more or less, according to the constitution, the breed, and sus- 

 ceptibility of the individual animal. The same effects are also true as regards the inorganic 

 elements of nature ; and it is upon those facts, the results of observation, that the art of 

 medicine is founded. I say again, if we consider this, there may be some reason for sup- 

 posing that the accumulation of any superfluous quantity of fat and muscle, to the extent that 

 we consider an animal to be fatted, may be retarded by the presence of any such plant or 

 plants, in an undue proportion to the requirements of nutrition. 



"The next consideration is, What can be done to improve those pastures? All agree that 

 where drainage is required it benefits their feeding qualities in most instances ; draining is 

 more often required in pasture lands and meadows than is generally supposed. It increases 

 the number of the finer sort of grasses, as well as increases the bulk of those already grow- 

 ing; it also gets rid of, or greatly weakens, those plants which delight and flourish in most 

 soils, which, though they may not be called wet ones, still generally retain water to a con- 

 siderable extent in the subsoil ; and among those plants which flourish in moist soils are 

 many not favorable to animals. These pastures will also be greatly improved by high manuring, 

 more especially where draining was required and has been done ; for supposing all the inju- 

 rious plants to remain which are natural to the soil, their bulk and produce, as compared 

 with the more nutritious grasses, will be greatly lessened by the soil being made more rich 

 and congenial for the growth of the finer sorts, which will, by their greater numbers and more 

 vigorous growth, check and weaken the others; consequently there would be in a given 

 weight of herbage a much larger proportion of the really nutritious grasses to the injurious 

 ones, than when the pasture was in its natural state, therefore with a less disturbance of the 

 natural functions of the organs of the animals grazing upon it. Much benefit, I think, would 

 arise if botanists, and those who make plants their study, were to direct their attention 

 specially to the qualities and properties of those plants and grasses which grow in our meadows 

 and pastures. Farmers have not time for such details ; nor, indeed, is it necessary that we 

 should enter into them. All we can do is to observe for ourselves, and bring our reasoning 

 faculties to bear upon the experiments and facts which are and may have been brought to 

 light by the chemist, the botanist, the physiologist, the entomologist. 



Our endeavor should be to think and reflect whether any or what relation a new discovery 

 or fact already known bears upon any department of farming. The improvement which 

 has taken place in our breeds of cattle, sheep, and pigs, and which, I have no doubt, has 

 quite doubled our supplies of animal food in fifty years, has not been brought about by scien- 



