602 FATTY MATTER IN THE l •. 8RS OF SEEDS. 



This fact of the existence of more fut in tlie husk than in the inner 

 part of the grain, explains what often seems inexplicable to the practical 

 man — why bran, namely, which appears to contain little or no nourish- 

 ing substance, should yet fatten pigs and other full grown animais, when 

 given to them in sufficient quantity along with their other food. It also 

 explains why ricz dust should be found to fatten stock,* though the 

 cleaned and prepared rice contains but little oil, and is believed, there- 

 fore, to be unfitted for laying on fat upon animals with any degree of 

 rapidity. No doubt ihe dust from pearl-barley and from oats, as well as 

 the husk of these grains, might be economically employed by the stock 

 feeder where they can readily be obtained. 



§ 9. Kind and quantity of additional food required hy a growing 

 animal. 



The young and growing animal requires also that its food should be 

 adjusted to its peculiar wants. In infancy the muscles and bones in- 

 crease rapidly in size when the food is of a proper kind. This food, 

 therefore, should contain a large supply of the phosphates, from which 

 bone is formed, and of gluten or fibrin, by which the muscles are en- 

 larged. Some kinds of fodder contain a larger proportion of these phos- 

 phates. Such are corn seeds in general, and the red clover among grass- 

 es. Some again contain more of the materials of muscles. Such are 

 beans and peas among our usually cultivated seeds, and tares and other 

 leguminous plants among our green crops. 



Hence the skilful feeder or rearer of stock can often select with judg- 

 ment that kind of food which will specially supply that which the ani- 

 mal, on account of its age or rapid growth, specially requires — or which, 

 with a viewto some special object, he wishes his animal specially to lay 

 on. Does he admire the fine bone of the Ayrshire breed? — he will try 

 to stint it while young of that kind of food in which the phosphates 

 abound. Does he wish to strengthen his stock, and to enlarge their 

 bones ? — he will supply the phosphates liberally while the animal is 

 rapidly growing. 



An interesting application of these principles is seen in the mode of 

 feeding calves adopted in different districts. Where they are to be reared 

 for fattening stock, to be sold to the butcher at two or three years old, 

 they are well fed with good and abundant food from the first, that they 

 may grow rapidly, attain a great size, and carry much flesh. If starved 

 and stunted while young, they often fatten rapidly when put at last upon 

 a generous diet, but they never attain to their full natural size and weight. 



When they are reared for breeding stock or for milkers, similar care is 

 taken of them in the best dairy countries from the first, though in some 

 the allowance of milk is stinted, and substitutes for milk are early given 

 to the young animals. 



But it is in rearing calves for the butcher that the greatest skill in 

 feeding is displayed, where long practice has made the farmers expert in 

 this branch of husbandry. To the man who has a calf and a milk cow, 

 the principal question is, how can I, in the locality in which I am placed, 

 make the most money of my calf and my milk ? Had I better give 

 ray calf a little of the milk, and sell the remainder in the form of new 



* Rice dust is very good food for fattening pigs, makes excellent pork, and 1b TOiy profit* 

 aUe when given along witb whey. 



