84 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



cent. I have no doubt that he is very nearly right. His cattle 

 look better, their hair lies smoother, they are better in every 

 way. I differ from the doctor in regard to the effect of steam- 

 ing on English hay. I think it improves it. It seems to soften 

 the woody fibre and disengage the aromatic oils. Where I mix 

 it with the other feed, I find it flavors the whole mass. The 

 odor of the hay seems to penetrate the whole mass. Coarser 

 fodder, musty hay, that cattle would reject at once, will be 

 eaten by them with avidity, after it has been put into the steam- 

 box. It seems to destroy the musty flavor at once. 



Professor Agassiz. It must save the secretion of saliva to an 

 enormous extent, and therefore relieve the animal from a physi- 

 ological labor which is very manifest. I have no doubt that 

 that must be the chief cause of the relief to the cattle, because 

 dry food must be softened in order to be digested ; and it must 

 be done by the secretions of the mouth — by the secretory sur- 

 faces of the alimentary canal, and, in fact, by all the secretory 

 surfaces of the digestive apparatus. Now, where does that 

 come from ? From the blood ; and if you supply the food so 

 far softened that the animal is relieved from that physiological 

 labor, you place your animal in a much better condition for its 

 work. I have no doubt that there is the explanation of your 

 results — that your steam performs a part of the operation which 

 your animal has to do itself by its secretions. 



Dr. LoRiNG. I should have mentioned that, but I did not, 

 because I once said it at an agricultural exhibition at Newbury- 

 port, and was ridiculed for stating that it was worth while to 

 save animals labor in feeding. 



. Professor Agassiz. If Newburyport is ignorant, it is no 

 reason why the fact should not be repeated here. 



Mr. BiRNiE. Speaking of steaming roots, I will say that one 

 winter I cooked my mangold wurzels for a long time. I found 

 that in boiling them they gave out a great quantity of water, 

 and I had no convenient method of utilizing this water. It 

 discharged into the barn cellar. I had some pigs there, and I 

 found they drank it quite greedily. I tasted it and found it 

 quite sweet, and made up my mind that I was losing all my 

 sugar, and gave it up. I now cut them fine and feed them 

 raw. 



