THE STALK CROP. 179 



refuses to wait upon the slow process of mastication. 

 The blind instinct of a voracious stomach pays but lit- 

 tle respect to the mandibles, and the food is snatched 

 from them before their work of grinding is fairly be- 

 gun. We all know that a hungry man will often bolt 

 his food nearly whole, and why should we expect the 

 ox to be more of a philosopher than his master ? 



But it is not only in cases of extraordinary appe- 

 tite that the teeth of domestic animals fail to perform 

 their office perfectly. In all cases where the proven- 

 der is by its nature hard and tough, or has a hard ex- 

 terior, the process of mastication, though not entirely 

 prevented, is seriously impeded ; and whatever ren- 

 ders mastication slow, laborious, and difficult, must 

 necessarily render it more or less imperfect in its re- 

 sults. The consequence is that the animal either 

 abandons with weary jaws its unfinished meal, or, if 

 the whole is swallowed, loses some portion of the ben- 

 efit by the imperfect digestion necessarily resulting 

 from insufficient mastication. 



It is evident, then, that the teeth, in performing 

 their intended function, have two serious obstacles to 

 contend with the hardness of the fodder and the hun- 

 ger of the animal. Their efficiency is thus diminished, 

 their work is imperfectly performed, and some portion 

 of the food enters the stomach in a condition unfitted 

 for its intended purpose. To meet this difficulty hu- 

 man skill has supplied the cutting machine, which, 

 when rightly used, cooperates with the teeth of the 

 animal in bringing the provender to the precise con- 

 dition required by the organs of the stomach ; ren- 



