582 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



and state of liealtli. It is also materially in- 

 fluenced by the temperature of the atmo- 

 sphere ; warmth jirodiicins similar eftects on 

 the composition of tlie milk as on the fatten- 

 ing of the animal ; the colder the air, the less 

 butter will the animal yield iu her milk. 

 This fact is well known to tarniers, the 

 cause being the larger consumprion in the 

 hmgs of the animal (to retain its heat against 

 the cooling influences of the external air) of 

 those principles in the food from whicli the 

 butter is fomied. As an illusti-ation, I may 

 quote an accoiuit of an experiment made un- 

 der the directions of that practical agricul- 

 tural chemist, Mr. Gyde, and whicli is well 

 worth your notice. 



" Six cows, during the warmest part of 

 the summer of 1844, when in the field, yield- 

 ed, on an average, 14 quarts of milk each ; 

 as the season advanced and the weather be- 

 came colder, the quantity of milk steadily di- 

 minished, and of course with it the butter. 

 In the early portion of November, four of the 

 six cows were placed in a house, the floor of 

 which was boarded in order to keep them 

 dry. Light was nearly excluded, and the 

 mean temperature of the house was kept at 

 about 55°, the animals having bai'ely enough 

 roojn to lie down in their stalls; their diet 

 was composed of cut turnips, hay, chaff", and 

 a little ground lentil mixed with the chaff. 

 For the first few days the animals were evi- 

 dently uncomfortable in their new liabitation, 

 and their yield of milk diminished. At the 

 expiration of three weeks the milk had again 

 increa.sed, and the quantity given was equal 

 to that of the best yield of the summer. By 

 the middle of December — the cold being 

 then intense in the open — ihe cows gave 18 

 quarts each of rich milk, from which a proper 

 (juantity of butter was made. Animals when 

 yielding milk require a richer food than when 

 they are dry, since it is from the food taken 

 that they are enabled to secrete their milk ; 

 and if their food does not contain a sufficiency 

 t)f the elements required, the milk is less nu- 

 tritious : hence the growth of young and 

 suckli'ig animals is less rapid, and its fuliu'e 

 liealih and strength of constitution suffer by 

 the t;eatment which it receives when young. 

 When sheep are fed upon turnips, and in 

 winter, during the time they are giving suck, 

 it is an excellent plan to allow a portion of 

 oil-cake, or linseed, or pea or beim meal, as 

 ]iart of their daily food ; such addition greatly 

 improves the secretion of milk, the lambs 

 grow rapidly, and fatten miuh eailier than 

 when no such adilitiou is made, and the sheep 

 are found to be in nnich better condiiiou in 

 the spring. In the rearing of calves, like- 

 wise, it is desirable that they should have the 

 whole milk, and not be 8U))i)lied after the 

 first two or three days with milk that has 

 been skimmed, as is the custom in some 

 l)arts of England. The practice of the late 

 Earl Spencer, in feeding calves, was to allow 

 them the unskimmed milk for the first three 

 rnuuths, and afterward to give them skimmed 



milk for the first tlnee months, and afterward 

 to give them .skimnied milk mixed with bar- 

 ley or oatmeal ; this practice was found to 

 succeed remarkably well ; but I am inclined 

 to believe that ]iea or bean meal mixed with 

 linseed would have probably Ix-en better 

 than oat or barley meal, since the bean and 

 pea contain vegetable casein, which is iden- 

 tical in com{)osition with the casein of milk, 

 and forms an admirable substitute for it ; 

 while the soluble gum and mucilage of the 

 linseed would he the more easily acted on 

 by the stomach of the you)ig animal than 

 the insoluble starch of the oat or barley. 



In fattening calves for veal, attention should 

 be devoted to the production of fat animals 

 of moderate size, veal of this description be- 

 ing most sought after by the epicure. The 

 animal should be kept perfectly quiet, and 

 ])laced in as warm a situation as convenient, 

 that there may be as little loss of the fat- 

 fonning priucijde as possible ; and a gloomy 

 siuialion, not amounting to actual darkness, 

 is found, by experience, greatly to assist the 

 above means, by inducing tranquillity and a 

 disjiosition ibr sleep. The food should be 

 rich, and regularly supplied, and the stiictest 

 attention to cleanlineM should be observed. 

 Bleeding is occasionally resorted to by some 

 feeders, and its effect is to check the too 

 rapid development of muscle, while it does 

 not interfere with the regular accumulation 

 of fat in the body. Animals intended for 

 stock should be allowed free exercise, that 

 their muscular frames may be well developed; 

 and their food .should be of a nutririous char- 

 acter, containing suificient gluten to supply 

 the full demand of theii- growth. They should 

 have shells to go into at night and during rain, 

 with a dry bed to lie upon ; animals which 

 nre so ti-eated will grow rapidly, fatten much 

 fiister when required, anil be of a stronger 

 constitution than those fed upon coarse, infe- 

 rior, and unv\holes(mie food, which is unfit 

 to su]i[)ly the demands of the .system, pro- 

 ducing an im})erfect development of the an- 

 imal frame, and not unfrequently engender- 

 ing diseases of a troulilesome and frequently 

 a fatal character. 



Time, gentlemen, warns me to conclude 

 I have endeavored to detail in a few words, 

 what is known on the subjects by our best 

 animal physiologists, who have applied their 

 theories to the rearing and feeding of cattle. 

 If, by the knowledge I have inijiarted to you 

 in this Lecture, you are enabled to jiromote 

 your own interests, and that of the ])ublic, 

 by better regidating the treatment of your 

 live-stock, 1 siiall not have addre.s.sed you in 

 vain. I am the theorist, you are the prac- 

 tical men ; your practice and my theoiy (or 

 rather the theories of sound plulo.sophers) com- 

 bined, cainiot, whim pro]H'ily managed, but 

 conduce to yoiu- own pecuniary benefit, and 

 that of mankind in geneial. Accept my 

 thanks for your kind attention, and, for the 

 ju'esent, I respectfully say, farewell, h. w. d 

 " [■ The (.London) Plough.'] 



