e 



supplement. SCIENCE AND ART OF AGRICULTURE. 1303 



it becomes enfeebled ; and as vitality is the cause of increase in the body, any diminution of its power is 

 highly prejudicial to growth. The amount of exercise must of course vary with the age oi the animal." 

 (Journ.R.A.S.E., vol. iv. p.242.) _ 



8125. That warmth is equivalent to food m feeding animals, has been already shown. Mr. Morton 

 found that sheep will consume more turnips in the cold wet days of winter, than when the weather is dry 

 and warm, ami in frosty weather than in mild dry weather ; the difference being equal to one fourth o 

 the whole of their fond. Pigs fatten faster in summer with the same food, than they do in winter. The 

 protection of a shed has saved one fourth of the whole food ; and Mr. Chilvers has shown (Joum. 

 B i S E vol. i p. 407.) that where motion was at the same time prevented, the saving amounted to as 

 much as one half. The protection from cold, and the deprivation of exercise, are the great advantages of 

 stall feeding " The true state of health of an adult animal is, that the supply of food to the body should 

 be equal to, but should not exceed, the waste of matter expended in the production of motion. This state 

 is exhibited in a healthy adult man. who is found to weigh the same at the end of the year as he did at 

 the bcinnin" This is not the state desired in a fattening animal. We wish a diseased condition, or 

 the state in which the increase of the body is far greater than the waste. We can best throw an annual 

 into this condition by removing or diminishing the causes of waste. {Joum. K. A. S. E., vol. iv. 



P ''43 ) 



'8126. Should cattle be fed in stalls, or in small yards with sheds attached f Certainly the former would 

 appear at first sight to be most preferable, because less motion is permitted. But it is also possible that, 

 the health of the animal being impaired by this treatment, the energy ot the vital principle may be so far 

 subdued as to prevent a rapid increase of the body ; while, the health being better in the latter case, and 

 only a small amount of exercise permitted, the increased energy of the vital powers may more than com. 

 pensate for the loss experienced bv the motion of the animal. The flesh of the cattle in the yards must 

 also be firmer and more fitted for 'the butcher; while the cattle tied to stakes will, in all probability, be 

 possessed of more tallow." (Joum. R.A.S. E., vol. iv. p. 245.) , 



8127 The feeding of cattle for dairy purposes, has occupied Liebig and Dr. Playfair, but it would re- 

 quire more space than we can afford to explain their views, and we must, therefore, refer to the original 

 sources. The same remark will apply to Dr. Playfair's remarks on the diseases of cattle, and on the 

 recognised signs of fattening, and of earlv maturity. The theory of fattening adopted by Liebig and 

 Dr Plavfair is or appears to be, in total opposition to all opinions at present entertained. According to 

 them "the peculiar' aptitude of any animal, or of a breed, to fatten, must arise from a peculiar smallness 

 and fineness of texture of the lungs. Although Liebig has not announced in his work the opinion, that 

 smallness of lungs is an indication of a tendency to become fat, still he conceives that it is so. On con- 

 sulting some eminent physiologists in our own country, I find that they also entertain the same view. 

 Cline asserts quite the contrary, and agriculturists have generally acceded to his opinion. He says, an 

 animal with large lungs is capable of converting a given quantity of food into more nourishment, and 

 therefore has a «reater aptitude to fatten/ Mr. Youatt holds a similar doctrine ; and both he and Mr. 

 Cline uphold their opinion by reference to the capacity of the chest. ' On the roundness and capacity 

 of the chest ' says Mr Youatt. ' depend the size and the power of the important organs which it contains 

 the heart and the lungs ; and in proportion to their size is the power of converting food into nourishment. 



^ Those who would wish ^pursue this subject will have recourse to the original, the interest of which 

 would be in a great measure destroyed by abridgment, and it is too long to quote. \\ e can, however, 

 recommend these two lectures, as next to the volumes of Liebig, the most interesting and instructive 

 discourses with reference to agriculture which have appeared in our tune. ,«„,„.„ 



8128. The nutriment afforded to animals by seeds, and roots depends i on the rupture of the ultimate 

 globules which constitute their meal or flour. These globules vary in different roots tubers, and seeds, 

 those of potato starch are usually from the fifteen-ten-thousandth to the four-thousandth part of an inch ; 

 those of wheat rarely exceed the" two-thousandth part of an inch, and so on. From experiments made 

 on these globules, by M. Kaspail, the author of Chimie Organ.que, and M. Blot .of the r rend. Academy 

 of Sciences, celebrated for his researches in the polarization of light, the following conclusions have 



b T n " d That'the globules constituting meal, flour, and starch, whether contained in grain or roots, are 

 incapable of affording any nourishment as animal food till they are broken. 



2. " That no mechanical method of breaking or grinding is more than partially efficient 



3. " That the most efficient methods of breaking the globules is by heat, by fermentation, or by the 



Cll T" That X/dex?r , .ne, wWc k h ifthe kernel, as it were, of each globule, is alone soluble, and therefore 

 "^""ThaM-he shells of the globules, when reduced to fragments by mechanism or heat, are insoluble, 

 and *««* „ ls of tnese shells are not nutritive, they are indispensable to digestion 

 either from their distending the stomach and bowels, or from some other cause not understood ; it 

 ha inV been proved by experiment that concentrated nourishment, such as cane-sugar, essence of beef, 

 or os maz. me cannot long sustain life without some mixture of coarser and ess nutritive food. 



7 •ThU the economical preparation of all food containing globules of ferula consists in perfectly 

 breaking tleXlls, and rendering the dextrine contained in them soluble and digestible while the frag- 

 ment of the shells are at the same time rendered more bulky, so as the more readily to fill thestomach. 



( %i/co]nva\ativfadva,itages of feeding live stock on. raw , or on prepared food .In 1833, the High- 

 landiocietTof S coHand offerfd handsome premiums for reports on this subject. Five of their Reports 

 are nubUsl ed in the Highland Society's Transactions, vol. x., by which it appears hat no benefit what 

 eve 'gained by the practice in the case of cattle, but, on the contrary, a loss equal to the amount of fuel 



e\er is gaiueu uy mt H mv.i ».*_ <] tUnrU .,„ A „a„ r ,\ , oreatpr nroht. when ted on prepared food than 



and the cost c 

 on raw food. 

 while those on : 

 there can be i 

 cially raw potatoes 



fl W»!SSw - p'rltress of education in rearing and training brute animals The effect of gentleness 

 in te^nnV the human .species had not long been observed, before (generalising on the subject ) it was 

 £!Jffin^ca£?tfb^anbnali in a state of domestication ; and it has been found that the domestic 



organs of sensation in both boys and horses. (.G. M. 1&58, P- ■>'•>•; 



4 () 4 



