28 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



form in which the food is administered. The skil- 

 ful rearer, feeder, and fattener of stock knows also 

 the value of a change of food, or of a mixture of 

 the different kinds of vegetable food he may have 

 at his command — a subject we have considered in a 

 pre\'ious section. 



2. The generally nutritive value of different 

 kinds of food has also been represented theoreti- 

 cally, by supposing it to be very nearly in propor- 

 tion to the quantity of nitrogen, or of gluten, 

 which vegetables contain. Though this cannot be 

 considered as a correct principle, yet as the ordina- 

 ry kinds of food on which stock is fed contain in 

 general an ample supply of carbon for respiration, 

 with a comparatively small j)roj)ortion of nitrogen, 

 these theoretical determinations are by no means 

 without their value, and they approach, in many 

 cases, very closely to the practical values above 

 given, as deduced from actual trial. Thus assum- 

 ing that 10 lbs. of hay yield a certain amount of 

 nourishment, then of the other vegetable substances 

 it will be necessary, according to theory, to give the 

 following quantities, in order to produce the same 

 general effect in feeding : — 



Carrots (red) 35 



Cabbage 35 to 40 



Pease and Beans 2 to 3 



Wheat 5 



Barley 6 



Oats 5 



Rye 5 



Indian corn G 



Bran 5 



Oil-cake 2 



Hay 10 



Clover hay* 8 



Vetch hay 4 



Wheat straw 52 



Barley straw 52 



Oat straw 55 



Pea straw 6 



Potatoes 28 



Old potatoes 40 



Turnips 60 



Mangold- wurtzel 50 



If the feeder be careful to su])ply his stock with 

 a mixture or occasional change of food — and es- 

 pecially, where necessary, with a proper proportion 

 of fatty matter — he may very safely regulate, bj- 

 the numbers in the above tables, the quantity of 

 any one which he ought to substitute for a given 

 weight of any of the others — since the theoretical 

 and practical results do not in general very greatly 

 differ. 



3, As has been already stated, however, it is not 

 strictly correct that this or that kind of vegetable 

 is more fitted to sustain animal life, simply because 

 of the large proportion of nitrogen or gluten it con- 

 tains ; but it is wisely provided that, along with 

 this nitrogen, all plants contain a certain proportion 

 of starch or sugar, and of salme and earthy mat- 

 ter — all of which, as we have seen, are required m 

 a mixture which vnll most easily sustain an animal 

 in a healthy condition ; so that the proportion of 

 nitrogen in a substance may be considered as a 

 rough practical index of the proportion of the more 

 important saline and earthy ingredients also. 



4. It is very doubtful, however, how far this pro- 

 portion of nitrogen can be regarded as any index 

 of the fattening property of vegetable substances. 

 If the fat in the body be produced from the oil 

 in the food, it is certain that the proportion of this 

 oil in vegetable substances is by no means regulated 

 by that of the gluten or other analogous substances 

 containing nitrogen. The stock farmer who wishes 

 to lay on fat only ujwn his animals, must therefore 

 be regulated by another principle. He must se- 

 lect those kinds of food, such as linseed and oil- 

 cake, in which fatty matters appear to abound, or 

 mix, as I have already said, (p. 354,) a due propor- 

 tion of fat or oil with the other kinds of food he 

 employs. 



* Both cut in flower. 



But large quantities of fat accumulate in the 

 bodies of most animals, only when they are in an 

 unnatural, and, perhaps in some measure, an un- 

 healthy condition. In a state of nature there are 

 comparatively few animals upon which large accu- 

 mulations of fat take place. A certain portion, as 

 we have seen, is necessary to the healthy animal ; 

 but it is an interesting fact, that as much as is nec- 

 essary to supply this is present in most kinds of 

 vegetable food. In Avheaten flom' it is associated 

 with the gluten, and may be extracted from it after 

 the starch of the flour has been separated from the 

 gluten by Avashing with Avater, as already described 

 (pp. 40 and 45.) In so far, therefore, as this com- 

 paratively small necessary quantity of fatty matter 

 is concerned, the proportion of nitrogen may also 

 be taken, without the risk of any serious error, as 

 a practical indication of the ability of the food to 

 supply the natural waste of fat in an animal which 

 is either growing in general size only, or is only to 

 be maintained in its existing condition. 



"While, therefore, it aj)pears from the study of 

 the princijiles upon which the feeding of animals 

 depends, that a mixture of various principles is 

 necessary in a nutritive food, it is interesting to find 

 that all the kinds of vegetable food which are rais- 

 ed, either by art or by natural growth, are in real- 

 ity such mixtures of these several substances — 

 more or less adapted to fulfil all the conditions re- 

 quired from a nutritious diet, according to the state 

 of health and growth in which the animal to befed 

 may happen to be. 



An important practical lesson on this subject, 

 therefore, is taught us by the study of the wise pro- 

 visions of nature. Not only does the milk of the 

 mother contain all the elements of a nutritive food 

 mixed up together — as the egg does also for the 

 unhatched bird — but in rich natural pastures the 

 same mixture uniformly occurs. Hence, in crop- 

 ping the mixed herbage, the animal introduces into 

 its stomach portions of various plants — some 

 abounding more in starch or sugar, some more in 

 gluten or albumen — some more in fatty matter — 

 while some are naturally richer in saline, others in 

 earthy constituents; and out of these varied mate- 

 rials the digestive organs select a due proportion of 

 each and reject the rest. Wherever a pasture be- 

 comes usurped by one or two grasses — either ani- 

 mals cease to thrive upon it, or they must crop a 

 much larger quantity of food to supply from this 

 one grass the natural waste of all the parts of their 

 bodies. 



It may indeed be assumed as almost a general 

 principle, that whenever animals are fed on one 

 kind of vegetable only, there is a waste of one or 

 other of the necessary elements of animal food, and 

 that the great lesson on this subject taught us by 

 nature is, that by a judicious admixture, not only is 

 food economised, but the labor imposed upon the di- 

 gestive orgaiis is also materially diminished. — 

 Johnston's Elements of Chemistry and Geology. 



American Factory Girls. — In one of the fac- 

 tories of Maine recently, the propiietors reduced 

 the wages, whereupon there was a general determi- 

 nation to strike, and as they were obliged to give a 

 month's notice before quitting work, they have in 

 the meantime issued a circular to the world at large 

 in which is the following interesting paragraph : — 

 "We are now working out our notice, and shall 



