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ON THE REARING OF CATTLE. 7 



mixed or combined means are needed to carry out the first 

 intentions of nature, and without which life could not exist. 

 We must have, first, starch or sugar, to supply carbon for 

 res})iration ; second, fat or oil, to keep up the fat which 

 exists, more or less, in the bodies of all animals ; third, gluten 

 or fibrin, to supply muscle and cartilage; fourth, earthy 

 phosphates, for the supply of bones ; and fifth, saline sub- 

 stances, sulphates and chlorides, to replace what is daily 

 rejected in the excretions. 



The second proposition recpiires to be clearly defined, viz., 

 the state or condition of animals. We find this to be three- 

 fold, each of which requires our anxious attention. We 

 have, first, a foetal state, or one in connection with the 

 mother, which exists before birth; secondly, a state of growth 

 or development, which comprehends the period of birth to 

 maturity ; and thirdly, the state of the full-grown animal. 



We have no control over the condition of the foetal 

 animal, except through the medium of the mother, the 

 general management of which I shall speak of presently. 

 Of the second condition, nature must be closely observed, 

 and carefully imitated, in order that the third or ultimate 

 condition may be healthy, full-grown, and useful — the great 

 object of the farmer, to repay him for all his expense, anxiety, 

 and toil. 



It is a very false economy to stint the allowance of food, 

 to a young animal. New milk, or the flour of all legai- 

 minous plants, such as beans, peas, lintels, &c., which con- 

 tain casein, and an infusion of oil-cake to promote fat, seems 

 nearly to approximate to the composition of ordinary milk, 

 skimmed milk being destitute of the principal ingredient re- 

 quired by nature for the support of respiration. This, in 

 addition to warmth and cleanliness, will always keep the 

 vital powers predominant over the chemical — the cardinal 

 point in the rearing of cattle. 



I now come to my third proposition, viz. " their food and 

 general management" — and a more important and profitable 

 subject cannot engage your attention. It must be considered 

 in detail. I will begin, therefore, as I proposed, with the 

 foetal condition of the animal, and take a calf as a general 

 example. It, like all other animals, is supjiorted and nou- 

 rished by the blood circulating from the mother through its 

 own body, from the moment of its earliest formation up to 

 the time of its birth — which blood contains, ready formed, 

 all the various substances which are necessary for its forma- 



