a farmer's conclusions. 115 



The conclusions to which he arrived were, that an 

 animal, to be fully fed and satisfied, requires a quantity 

 of food in proportion to its live weight ; that no feed 

 could be complete that did not contain a sufficient 

 amount of nutritive elements ; hay, for example, being 

 more nutritive than straw, and grains than roots. He 

 found, too, that the food must possess a bulk sufficient 

 to fill up to a certain degree the organs of digestion or 

 the stomach ; and that, to receive the full benefit of 

 its food, the animal must be wholly satisfied, as, if the 

 stomach is not sufficiently distended, the food cannot 

 be properly digested, and of course many of the nutri- 

 tive principles it contains would not be perfectly assim- 

 ilated. An animal regularly fed eats till it is satisfied, 

 and no more than is requisite. A part of the nutritive 

 elements in hay and other forage-plants is needed to 

 keep an animal on its feet, — that is, to keep up its con- 

 dition, — and if the nutrition of its food is not sufficient 

 for this the weight decreases, and if it is more than 

 sufficient the weight increases, or else this excess is 

 consumed in the production of milk or in labor. About 

 one sixtieth of their live weight in hay, or its equiva- 

 lent, will keep horned cattle on their feet ; but, in order 

 to be completely nourished, they require about one 

 thirtieth in dry substances, and four thirtieths in water, 

 or other liquid contained in their food. The excess of 

 nutritive food over and above what is required to sus- 

 tain life will go in milch cows generally- to the produc- 

 tion of milk, or to the growth of the foetus, but not in 

 all cows to an equal extent ; the tendency to the secre- 

 tion of milk being far more developed in some than in 

 others. 



With regard to the consumption of food in propor- 

 tion to the live weight of the animal, however far it 

 may apply as a general principle, it should, I think. 



