148 THE CHEMISTRY OF THE FARM 



ruminant animal, and is thus unprovided with the 

 same means of attacking an insoluble food. 



With corn the digestion of the horse is apparently 

 quite equal to that of the sheep. No stress must, of 

 course, be laid on the digestion coefficients found for 

 ingredients of the food present in small quantity, as 

 the fat and fibre of beans, and the fibre of maize. 



In French experiments, in which horses were fed on 

 one kind of food alone, it was found that they digested 

 94'5 per cent, of the organic constituents of maize, 93'3 

 per cent, of wheat bran, 84*5 per cent, both of barley 

 and beans, 75'1 per cent, of oats, 43"3 — 61'0 per cent, 

 of meadow hay, 49*4 per cent, of wheat straw, and 

 94'6 per cent, of carrots. The grain was supplied in 

 a crushed state. A horse is capable of digesting un- 

 crushed maize, but with uncrushed oats a part will 

 escape digestion. 



(3) Experiments with Pigs. — These have not been 

 so numerous as those with ruminant animals. The 

 following table shows the digestibility ascertained for 

 some of the common pig foods. 



The digestive power of the pig for the foods here 

 mentioned is very considerable, and, in cases admitting 

 of comparison, appears to be fully equal to that pos- 

 sessed by ruminant animals. Nor is the pig incapable 

 of digesting vegetable fibre, when this is presented in 

 a favourable condition. Two pigs fed on green oats 

 and vetches digested 48'9 per cent, of the fibre supplied. 

 The digestive apparatus of a pig is not, however, 

 adapted for dealing successfully with bulky fodder. 

 Pigs are very capable of digesting animal food, as will 

 be seen from the results obtained with milk and meat 

 flour quoted in the table. 



