224 HARRIS ON THE PIG. 



stomachs three times a day, without producing constipa- 

 tion or scours, the more rapidly will they fatten. 



There is a sense in which it may truly be said, that 

 cooking adds nothing to the amount of nutriment in food. 

 All that can be claimed for it is that it increases the di- 

 gestibility of the food. To what extent this takes place 

 has not been determined. In fact, the whole subject is 

 surrounded with difficulty. 



In Chapter III. we have endeavored to show how im- 

 portant it is to obtain animals that will eat and digest a 

 large amount of food. And it may be recollected that, 

 in Dr. Miles' experiments (see page 122), 100 Ibs. of meal, 

 eaten by one pig, gave an increase of lO 1 )., Ibs., while the 

 same quantity, eaten by two pigs, gave only an increase 

 of 3 Ibs. The food was of the same character, and the 

 difference in the results is due to the better appetite and 

 digestive powers of the pig that ate double the amount 

 of food. But the fact shows how important it is to pro- 

 vide food that pigs will eat and digest. 



Those who advocate cooking food for animals, fre- 

 quently assert that it " saves one-quarter of the food." 

 We know of no satisfactory experiments which establish 

 the fact. And, at any rate, it may safely be asserted thnt 

 the saving of food is only a very small part of the advant- 

 age to be gained from cooking. What we should aim 

 at in breeding and feeding, is to get pigs to eat 25 per 

 cent more, rather than 25 per cent less, food. We have 

 assumed (see page 22) that 75 per cent of the food a pig 

 eats is ordinarily required to support the vital functions. 

 If a pig eats 100 Ibs. of corn in a month, and gains 20 

 Ibs., we assume that 75 Ibs. are used to support the vital 

 functions, and 25 Ibs. are left available for growth. On 

 this supposition, take three pigs, and put them in separate 

 pens. Feed one whole raw corn, another raw corn-meal, 

 and another cooked corn-meal, and assume that one eats 



