680 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



principles nre found to grow rapidly, and 

 their nmsculur iVaines will be duly devel- 

 oped : but, unless they are liberally suj.plied 

 with such substances as liit, ginn, and starch, 

 by whic-ii the animal heat is i'onned and "kept 

 lip, the aiiiuials will be niuscidar, but utterly 

 unfit i'or the butcher's ])ur[M)se. It is a veiy 

 common practice to feed young growing pigs 

 upon the refuse of the slaughter-iiouse, in 

 some places, such as the blood and intestines 

 of the slaughtered animals ; and in Krance, 

 many hundreds of jngs are ainiually fed ujion 

 borse-tlesh ; these pigs grow rapidly, and 

 their muscular frames are finc-ly developed, 

 but they do not become fat, unless they are 

 pro[)erly supplied with a liberal portion of 

 non-nitrogenous food, such as potatoes or meal 

 would yield. 



As it is only from (he nitrogenous constitu- 

 ents that muscle is formed, it has been sup- 

 posed that the quantities of these substances 

 contained in any given article of food would 

 be a fair estimate of its feeding value ; and, 

 under this supposition, Mous. Hoiissin^ault 

 has constructed some Tables of the jnoportion 

 of nitrogen contained in different vegetable 

 substances. The late Rev. W. Rham has j)ub- 

 lished in The Journal of the Rot/al Agricnl- 

 tural Society of Ens;Innd, some Tables of the 

 relative value of dirterent kinds of food as 

 arrived at by practice; but all such Ta])les 

 liuist, to a certain extent, lie arbitrary, inas- 

 much as the quantity of these animal sub- 

 stances consumed by the animal must be in- 

 fluenced by circumstances ; the animal taking 

 active exercise requiring a much larger quan- 

 tity, in order to 8upi)ly the natural waste 

 which would occur under these circum- 

 stances, than if the animal was at rest. 



We have also seen that the starch, gum, 

 and sugar of the vegetable supplies the con- 

 stituents by which the heat of the animal is 

 maintained; and as this heat never varies 

 during health, whatever variation may occur 

 in the tempc^rature of the ut>nos])hi>re or 

 apartment in vvhich they are placed, it follows 

 lliat the lower the temperature, the larger 

 •will be the tpiautity of carbon consumed in 

 the animal body ; this increased consinnption 

 arising from a larger jiortioii of oxygen being 

 inlrotluced into the body during cold weather, 

 than when the temperature of the atmosphere 

 approaches nearer that of the animal : henci'. 

 animals will consume a larger ainoiuit of tiujd 

 during tlu^ winter mouths than in thesutnmer 

 season, and those which are exposed to the 

 chilling; blasts of winter, more than those ['vd 

 in sheltered situations, warmtii being e(piiva- 

 leat to a certain supply of food, \\ith this 

 remarkable fact before ns, we cease to be 

 surprised at the (-noiinous ipiautity of train- 

 oil and fat which is consumed by the Green- 

 lander, whih^ the inliai)ilanls of the tropica 

 exist upon fruits and light, farinaceous diet. 

 In the formi'r, th(> sin'ronndini; atniosphcic is 

 constaiUly robbing the hod} ot ils heat ; while 

 in the lalt(>r the tenqienilure of llu^ air ap- 

 proaches .so jiear to that of the body tliat a 

 (1150) 



little additional heat is sufficient to maintain 

 the requisite temperature. Exercise, also, 

 by increasing the number of inspirations, in- 

 troduces into the body a larger amount of 

 oxygen than would otherwise bo inspired ; 

 and as this never leaves the V)ody without un- 

 dergoing a change, it follows, as a matter of 

 comae, that the greater the uumVjer of inspi- 

 rations taken within a given time, the larger 

 wilf be the demand for tbod to suj)j)ly the 

 consunq^tion in the body. Hence we find 

 that an increase in tenqierature, with dimin- 

 ished exercise, tends to lessen the (]uaHtity 

 of food consumed, and also to increase the 

 weight of the animal. This fact was clearly 

 proved by Mr. Childers in feeding sheep. In 

 this ex|)erimcnt he selected from ids flock 

 forty sheep, and divided them into two lots 

 of twenty each ; one lot was left in the field, 

 which had a dry and sandy soil ; the other lot 

 was placed in a shed, u[)on a floor made of 

 pine-j)lanks, in order that they might be kept 

 dry, the floor being swept once a day. The 

 experiment commenced on the tirst of Janu- 

 ary, when the twentj' sheep in the field 

 weighed together 184 stones 4 lbs., while the 

 weight of those placed in the shed wiis 183 

 stones 3 lbs. ; each lot had as many turnips 

 as they could eat, which averaged 27 stones 

 per day ; each sheep was also allowed in ad- 

 dition, half a pound of linsped-cake, and half 

 a ]>int of barley per day, v.^ith a little hay. 

 and unlimited supj)ly of salt. For the first 

 three weeks each lot consumed equal por- 

 tions of food ; but in the fourth week, the 

 sheep conflned in the shed ate a lessquantitj^ 

 of turnips, by three stones per day, than those 

 in the held ; and ou the first of Februar>- 

 they had gained in weii;lit 21 stones 1 1 lbs., 

 while those in the field had only gained 15 

 stones 14 lbs. By the ninth week of the ex- 

 periment the sheep in the shed had dimin- 

 ished their cousunq)tion of tuniips two stones 

 more, and also three jiounds of linseed-cake 

 per day ; and on the first of March the .shed- 

 fed sheep liMil rjained 10 stones 10 His. more 

 in weight, while the sheep in the field had 

 only gained 8 stones 8 lbs. ; and at the end 

 of the experiment, on April the 1st, the shed- 

 fed .sheep had gained in the last month 23 

 stones 1.') 11*., or in the three months .'jlj stones 

 () lbs., while the sheep in tlie field had only 

 gained 12 stones 10 Ihs. in the month, or in 

 the three months :>»! stones 8 lbs., making a 

 diflerence in favor of the shed-fed sheep of 

 nearly twenty sttnies ; the sheep in the field 

 consumitig the same quantity of food during 

 the whole lime of the experiment. In this 

 experiment we have c(.nvinclng proof that 

 the (lu.nitity of food required by an animal 

 will be less in pro]iortion to the increase of 

 tenqierature; and that when a liberal diet is 

 allowed, but without shelter, nnich of the 

 constituents of the food will be consumed to 

 kee;> np the heat i rthe auiiital, wliicli would 

 l)(! (iliierwise s'oreil iij) in the body as till, if 

 no such cause of wasti^ existed ; and iience 

 to the influence uf told is tu be attributed the 



