26 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



stances, than when the cows were not in so high flesh, other 

 circumstances being 1 the same. 



Question. Did you ever notice any difference in the 

 quality of milk of cows fed upon dried food, and on steamed 

 food? 



Mr. Aknold. I have never fed enough steamed food to 

 decide upon that matter, but I have no doubt that milk from 

 steamed food would be the best ; it approaches green food 

 nearest. Milk is improved by having the water incorporated 

 chemically with the constituents of the food ; they go into the 

 circulation in a better condition. They are nearer what you 

 want. There is less change required to get them into milk or 

 into flesh, than if the water has been separated. You can 

 never make that water unite chemically with them again. 

 The action is something like that of condensing milk. When 

 you have dried milk down, and condensed it into a paste, if 

 you add water to it again, you do not make milk of it, you 

 get a mechanical mixture, not a chemical one, as it was before. 

 It is just so with drying food. You dry it down, and then 

 soak it, the water is not chemically united with it, but you 

 get a better incorporation by steaming it than you would by 

 feeding it dry and letting the moisture in the cow's body soak 

 it up. 



Question. Would or would you not get a larger quantity 

 of milk from steamed food than from dry? 



Mr. Aknold. You would get a larger quantity ; there is 

 no question about that. All the experiments show that there 

 is a larger quantity made from steamed food than from dry 

 food, when equal quantities are taken. 



Question. What is the best food for cows? 



Mr. Arnold. Green succulent food is the best for milk. 

 When I have had occasion to purchase feed, I have got more 

 milk and of better quality, for the money expended, than I 

 could get from anything else I could buy. Every refuse of 

 the flou ring-mills is excellent milk-producing food. Corn, 

 rye, barley and oats produce good milk, and that liberally, 

 but the largest flow can be obtained from green food, as 

 roots, grass and green herbage. 



Question. Would you not prefer mixed feed, corn, rye, 

 oats and buckwheat? 



