506 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



is vulgarly called by butchers the suet). In 

 the Carnivora or flesh-eating animals, the fat 

 which is contiiined in the food they eat, is 

 consumed in the lungs for the purpose of pre- 

 sei-ving the proper quantity of animal heat, 

 and consequently, in these creatures, we but 

 very rarely find the body of the carnivorous 

 animal to contain much fat. M. Darwin, in 

 his Journal of Researches into the Natural 

 History of the Countries visited dwing the 

 voyage of the Beagle, infoiins us that the 

 Gauchos, or simple counti-ymen in the Pam- 

 pas, South America, lived for months to- 

 gether upon flesh, but he obsen-ed that they 

 ate large quantities of fat; and Dr. Richai'd- 

 son, in speaking of these peojile, has also re- 

 marked " that, when they have fed tor a long 

 time solely upon lean animal food, the desire 

 for fat becomes so insatiable that they can 

 consume a large quantity of unmixed and 

 even oily fat, without nausea." This instinct- 

 ive desire for fat in man and animals living on 

 flesh arises from the imperative demands 

 which are daily made upon the body for car- 

 bon to keep up the proper amount of animal 



heat, and which is contained in the fat that is 

 consumed as an article of diet. 



Thus far in the omnivorous and carnivorous 

 animals ; \ml in the herbivorous creatures it 

 is widely different. The supply to the lungs 

 is derived from the starch, sugar and gum va. 

 the vegetable, while the fat which exists in 

 the food is in a great measure laid up as fat 

 in the animal body ; therefore it is that we 

 find the bodies of the herbivorous quadru- 

 peds generally much fatter than the Carniv- 

 ora. But if the supply of the starch in the 

 food is inadequate to the demands of respira- 

 tion, then the elements of the fat become con- 

 sumed in the lungs, exactly as it is in the 

 carnivorous animal ; the sugar, gum, and 

 starch become speedily transformed into aque- 

 ous vapor and carbonic acid in the animal 

 system : these are the first consumed ; and. 

 if this supply proves to be inadequate for the 

 purpose required, then the fat, next the fat 

 of the animal body, and finally the tissues 

 themselves, are placed imder contribution, 

 the animal becoming thin, feeble, and ema- 

 ciated, and ultimately dying fi-om starvation. 

 ['The (London) Plow.' 



CARROTS versus OATS. — We have had twenty communications from various sources, 

 all of which concur in saying that a peck of carrots will, with the same quantity of hay, 

 keep working-horses m as good condition, and many say better, than a peck of oats and a 

 like quantity of hay ; or that a peck of carrots and a peck of oats are equal to half a bushel 

 of oats. 60 bushels of oats and 900 of carrots per acre are large crops. 



Say to raise carrots you plow your land once oftener than for oats, at a high allowance for 



man and team $2 50 



Say it takes 12 days' labor to hoe the acre three times, and 4 days' labor to dry the crop — 



16 days at 75 cents per day 12 00 



Say additional manure for carrots, which, however, leaves the land the richer 10 50 



Total $25 00 



Say, then, you raise only 500 bushels of carrots per acre, at 35 cents per bushel $175 



Deduct extra cost of cuitivation 25 



Produce of one acre of can'ots $150 00 



Say you raise 40 bushels of oats per acre, place the seed of the two as equal, and that the 



straw of the oats pays for reaping and threshing, and you have 35 cents per bushel.. 14 00 



$136 00 

 clear gain, if you feed your carrots to your horses or cow.«. 



Then strike off half again, and reduce your crop of carrots to 250 bushels, and still you have 

 $68 against $14. 



But what's the use of demonshation to men who never go beyond having " a great mind 

 to try it ? " 



But another view : Can a greater disparity be thought of than the difference in the labor 

 emjiloyed between getting a crop of oats and a crop of carrots ? — the one the least, the other 

 the most laborious, almost, in the whole circle of agiicultiual operations. So there are 

 always " two sides to a story ! " 



To Fatten Pout.try. — Set rim over the fire, with skiiimiod milk ; lot it boil till the rice 

 Ls quite swelled out, and then add a spoonfid of sugar. Feed the ])i)n]try thrice a day in 

 common pans, which nuK«t b(^ kcjit clean to piovent sourness. Give them the milk ot rice 

 to drink. The rice gives a very (lelicate vvliitoness to the flesh. Animal iood pounded veiy 

 ismall is a usefid mixture; and charcoal broken in small pieces increases the appetite and 

 promotes digestion. 

 (1026) 



