288 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



of such flesh for human sustenance. Mr. Gant 

 attended the Smithfield cattle show, and after- 

 wards examined the carcases of the slaughtered 

 prize bullocks, heifers, j^igs and sheep which re- 

 mained in London, and gives the result of his 

 observations at great length. His conclusions 

 are deserving of great attention not only by the 

 breeders and feeders of cattle for the shambles, 

 but by all consumers of meat. Mr. Gant says : 

 "Let an animal be fed beyond the limits com- 



fiatible with health, and the superfluous fat is no 

 onger confined to the instertices of muscular 

 fibres, but actually invades and eventually super- 

 sedes them. The fibres then contain fat, instead 

 of the fibrilltp, (known to anatomists,) in which 

 reside the contractile power of muscle and its nu- 

 tritive value for human food. We therefore say 

 that such meat no longer retains its healthy struc- 

 ture and nutritive quality, but has actually degen- 

 erated into fat, although still presenting the sem- 

 blance of ordinary muscle, and thereby deceiving 

 both buyer and seller. 



"We should therefore expect in vain to replen- 

 ish our own muscles by the use of such food, nor 

 should animals thus overfed be regarded as prize 

 specimens of rearing and feeding. The heart, be- 

 ing converted into fat, no longer retains its con- 

 ti'actile power, but beats feebly and irregularly. 

 The blood, therefore, now moves onward in a 

 slow and feeble current. Hence the panting 

 breathlessness due to stagnation of blood in the 

 lungs, while the skin and extremities are cold. 

 Hence the stupid, heavy-headed expression of a 

 congested brain, and the blood-stained appear- 

 ance of meat after death. The slightest exertion 

 to an animal under such circumstances might sud- 

 denly prove fatal. Were a man in this condition 

 to present himself at an insurance office, it would 

 refuse to insure his life at any premium. Yet, 

 under similar circumstances, a sheep is awarded 

 gold and silver medals, and its feeder a prize of 

 £20. 



"I would observe well, during life, the excre- 

 tions, and see if their condition gave proof of 

 over-feeding. If so, I should consider that the 

 stomach and kidneys were overworked. Nor 

 would I neglect the less perceptible evidence af- 

 forded by the skin, the respiration, with the state 

 of the brain as indicated by the general expres- 

 sion of the animal, and the mode of carrying its 

 head. Then, after death, I would pursue my in- 

 quiry further, and see whether my opinion of the 

 animal, formed during life, was corroborated or 

 reversed by the appearances of its internal organs, 

 the condition of the heart, lungs, stomach, intes- 

 tines, liver and kidneys more especially. 



"All this kind of knowledge is required by phy- 

 sicians and surgeons in their estimate of health 

 and disease, and is equally necessary to settle the 

 question at issue. Instead, therefore, of pursuing 

 the present system of rearing cattle, much as it 

 may test the qualities of food and other matters 

 of minor importance, let the breeders, feeders, 

 exhibitors and prize judges alike visit the slaugh- 

 ter-houses ; let them do this with a due knowl- 

 edge of diseased appearances, and let them thus 

 discover that system of rearing which is most 

 compatible with the health of cattle, and which 

 produces the largest amount of the most nutri- 

 tious food for man. 



"Under the present system, the public have no 



guaranty, and are not insured the best, if, indeed, 

 the cheapest. The bulky withers of a fat bullock 

 are no criterion of health, for his fat, tabular 

 back may conceal the revolting ravages of disease. 

 All this can alone be disclosed by an inspection 

 of the animal's interior after death. The flesh of 

 animals which has been produced by organs them- 

 selves diseased, is itself naturally deteriorated, 

 and ought not to be regarded as prime samples 

 of human food. These facts will be best under- 

 stood by pathologists, but they also come home 

 to the understandings, and certainly to the stom- 

 achs of the people." 



We would suggest that the subject of fattening 

 cattle would be an excellent topic for investiga- 

 tion and discussion by our farmers' clubs and ag- 

 ricultural associations. 



HOME IS "WHERE THERE'S ONE TO 

 LOVE US. 



Home's not merely four square walls, 



Though with pictures hung and gilded ; 

 Home is where affection calls, 



Filled with shrines the heart hath builded. 

 Home ! — go watch the faithful dove 



Sailing 'neath the heaven above us — 

 Home is where there's one to love ! 



Home is where there's one to love us ! 



Home's not merely roof and room, 



It needeth something to endear it ; 

 Home is where the heart can bloom, 



Where there's some kind lip to cheer it ! 

 What is home with none to meet ? 



None to welcome, none to greet us? 

 Home is sweet, and only sweet, 



Where there's one we love, to meet us ! 



The Striped Bug, a Remedy. — Remove all 

 lumps and rubbish from the hill, then level and 

 pat it down gently, filling all the remaining cracks 

 and holes within one foot of the plants with fine 

 dry sand, and be assured, that nine-tenths of the 

 striped bugs visiting the premises will quickly 

 leave for other quarters ; my attention was first 

 drawn to tha subject by observing how much 

 thicker the bugs congregated upon plants in 

 cracked, lumpy hills than those more smooth. 

 The striped bug is one of the first to make its 

 appearance, and the plants being young and ten- 

 der, they do the greatest amount of mischief. 

 This putting ashes, lime and other stuff" on the 

 delicate leaves, I contend is like taking drug- 

 poisons into the human system. — Boston Cultiva- 

 tor. 



Buckwheat Straw for Sheep. — One word 

 on the benefit of agricultural papers. A few 

 weeks since I was looking over some of the back 

 volumes of the Cultivator, which I have bound, 

 to find something I then wanted to see, when I 

 accidentally came across a statement that sheep 

 loved buckwheat straw. Having several loads of 

 that straw in my barn, which was cut early and 

 got in good order, and which I was intending to 

 let my cattle pick from, and use the remainder 

 for litter, I immediately went to my barn and 

 tried my sheep, and found they ate the straw 

 greedily. I think I shall realize enough from 

 this discovery to pay for the paper a number of 

 years. — Country Gentleman. 



