40 FEEDING STOCK. 



making- the oil}'" matter more readily become fat in the Lody 

 of the animal. Now in fattening* cattle, as in ever^'thing- 

 else, using" the proper means produced the proper etfects; 

 and after the explanation which he had g'iven, they would 

 see at once that a mixture of food was better than the use 

 of one kind alone. If they wanted to lay on muscle, they 

 would feed with food containing" the largest amount of 

 g"luten ; and if they wanted to lay on fat, they would give 

 starch and oily substances, and only a small proportion of 

 the other ing"redient. Selecting- food in any other way 

 would not serve the purpose they had in view in the most 

 economical way. He had a table representing- the different 

 proportions of fat in the food which they were in the habit 

 of using- ; but he would illustrate what he had to say by a 

 few simple illustrations. Wheat contained two per cent, of 

 fat, and sometimes a little more ; but oats contained some- 

 times from four to five per cent, or about double the amount 

 which was to be found in wheat. Oats was next to Indian 

 corn in this respect, for it contained a larg-e amount of fat. 

 Gluten was the matter out of which the muscle was pro- 

 duced, and there were more of that substance in the bean and 

 the pea than in the oat ; but the oat was better than wheat. 

 But there was another kind of food used for fattening- cattle, 

 namely, oil-cake, which contained a greater amount of fat 

 than the same weight of any other kind of grain. Linseed, 

 from which oil-cake was made, differed from other descrip- 

 tions of grain, in containing a greater amount of fat, and a 

 larger amount of gluten, likewise, with the exception of the 

 bean. Now practical men had derived great advantage 

 from feeding their cattle on oil-seeds ; that food, from the 

 peculiarity of its composition, laying on fat and muscle at 

 the same time. Oil-cake, however, was the best food only 

 when the greatest amount of fat was required, and according* 

 to the purpose which they had in view, farmers would give 

 to their cattle other descriptions of food. It was a remark- 

 able circumstance that the bean and pea contained very little 

 fat, and as the wheels of the animal system required to be 

 greased, these kinds of grain would not serve for that pur- 

 pose, although they contained what made muscle. Although 

 bean and pea were good food, therefore, they were not good 

 as the sole food of animals. Besides, they would observe 

 that from their different constituents, plenty of oil-seeds, 

 and plenty of beans and peas, would be far more profitable 

 th?.n if they were to give either of them singly. That was 



