FARMERS' REGISTER— NUTRITIVE VALUE OF FOOD. 



47 



ders, in which country it is the universal practice, 

 and the farm-horses are invariably in high condi- 

 tion. Its value consists — 



1st. In its requiring a more thorough mastica- 

 tion of" the food than when it is given in the com- 

 mon way, thereby assisting digestion, and conse- 

 quently jiromoting the nutrition of the animal; for, 

 it is not only true that old horses lose much of the 

 power of mastication, and that young and greedy 

 cattle are apt to devour a considerable part ol their 

 corn entire, when it is given alone, which passing 

 through them in the same state, affords no kind 

 of nourishment, but all animals are known to de- 

 rive nutriment from their solid food, in a certain 

 degree, in proportion to the care Avith wliich it is 

 chewed. 



2nd. It is consumed in less time. 

 3d. By the mixture of the materials, some por- 

 tion of which, as damaged hay, or straw, might 

 be refused if given separatelj', an equal consump- 

 tion of the whole is secured. 



4th. By its admitting of being more readily- 

 weighed, or measured, than when given separate- 

 ly, it can be more accurately distributed to each 

 horse; on which it may be observed, that more in- 

 jury is often done to horses b}^ allowing them an 

 unlimited quantity of rack-meat, than even by 

 stinting them to a scanty allowance; for they wi'l 

 not only pass whole nights in eating, when rest 

 would do them more service, but, by this extraor- 

 dinary distention of the stomach, its powers are 

 weakened, and their general health is injured. 



5th. It prevents waste, and consequently it goes 

 farther. 



Many exaggerated accounts of the saving thus 

 made have been pubhshed, some of which state 

 it as high as one-third, others even one-halfj of 

 the rack-meat: these are only calculated to mis- 

 lead; or, by their improbabdity, to cast a doubt 

 upon the testimony of those who have made such 

 statements; but, according to the opinion of Messrs. 

 Wiggins, whose business extends to the daily 

 feeding of more than three hundred horses, it may 

 be fairly estimated at one-sixth. These advan- 

 tages are so obvious, that it is unnecessary to press 

 them upon attention; but it must be admitted, that 

 the practice is attended with the inconvenience of 

 occupying more of the carter's time, — independ- 

 ently of that employed in cutting the chaff — than 

 the customarj' method; for horses being apt to 

 blow upon manger-meat, and then to reject it, 

 when given in a large quantity at one time, it must 

 be administered with a sparing hand, and renewed 

 when the manger is empty, thus requiring con- 

 stant attendance until the last feed is put in. 



Before quitting this subject, it may not be irrele- 

 vant to advert to the custom of giving oats in the 

 straw, cut together, which, although recommended 

 by some eminent agriculturists*, and common in 

 many places — especially in East Kent, where it 

 is mixed with the barn-chaff, provincially Haff and 

 chaff, and co/der,'t — only deserves notice in order 

 to be reprobated. Throughout the greater part 

 of that country, the regular mode is to employ a 

 a man and a mate to each team of four, when 



two turns of work are made in the day. The time 

 of going to work is six in the morning, returning 

 at ten, and then going out again at one until six: 

 nine hours in the whole. It is the carter's busi- 

 ness to bait the team from four in the morning 

 until six, and the mate takes that duty during 

 noon, and from six till ten, when the stable is shut 

 tor the night. The food is wholly cut into chaff, 

 and the corn, whether beans or oats, cut loitu it in 

 the sheaf. The only advantage attending the 

 |)ractice of cutting the oats is the paltry saving of 

 thrashing, while it precludes all knowledge, be- 

 yond a vague guess, of the acreable produce of 

 the crop, the quantity of corn for the whole num- 

 ber of horses, or the share which fiills to each, 

 and it may be confidently pronounced a slovenly 

 and unfarmer-like practice. 



Nutritive value of Food. 

 The next consideration is the relative nutritive 

 value which the different kinds of luinter food in 

 common use bear to each other. Although chem- 

 istry has enabled us to ascertain the component 

 parts of^vegetablcs, and it may be presumed that 

 the worth of all articles of cattle-food is in a great 

 measure proportionate to the quantity of soluble, 

 or nutritive matter which they contain, yet it has 

 not clearly demonstrated that such proportions ac- 

 tually denote their exact degree of merit. The 

 essential elements of vegetables consist of what 

 chemists call hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, in 

 various proportions, combined in some cases with 

 a small quantity of azote, and the different com- 

 binations of all these produce gluten, or albumen, 

 saccharine matter, mucilage, and starch. Gluten, 

 which is the most nutritious, is nearly allied in its 

 properties to animal substance; saccharine matter 

 may be considered as possessing those of sugar, 

 and mucilage those of gum; there is also an ex- 

 tract which is not supposed to contain any nutri- 

 tive matter, but has been found useful to animals 

 in a medicinal view. According to an analysis, 

 made by Sir Humphry Davy, of the amount of 

 those substances found in 1000 parts of different 

 kinds of corn and pulse, it appears that the fbllow- 

 ing are their proportions in those employed as food 

 for cattle. 



, p. 168. 

 462. 



* Parkinson: Essay on Live Stock, vol. ii 

 Middleton: Survey of Middlesex, 2d Edit. p. 



t Kent Report, 2d Edit. p. 183. Complete Grazier, 

 5th Edit., p. 175—177. 



But these results have been obtained by experi- 

 ments made through solution in water, and it is 

 not improbable that both the action of chewing 

 the salavia, and the solvent juices of the stomach, 

 may have a very different effect upon the food 

 when it is eaten; for they are more beneficial in 

 their joint operations than mere solution by com- 



* Elements of Agricultural Chemistry, 4to. p. 131. 



