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Best Mode of Feeding Cattle. 



Vol. XI. 



kinds of bread there were contained three 

 different kinds of matter. First of all there 

 was a certain quantity of fat, which the 

 butter they ate represented ; secondly, there 

 was a certain amount of sugar; and then 

 there was besides, the third constituent, 

 which was represented by the white of an 

 egg. Now it was of the very greatest im- 

 portance what description of food was used, 

 and what proportion it contained of these 

 three kinds of matter, as bearing upon the 

 purpose it was intended to serve. Cattle 

 had in their bodies different kinds of matter, 

 also, but particularly flesh and fat; and the 

 farmer should be sufficiently acquainted with 

 the nature of food, to be able to distinguish 

 what he should use when he wished to pro- 

 duce fat, or when he wished to produce fat 

 and lean both together; and the food which 

 was given would effect the one or the other 

 of these purposes, according to its composi- 

 tion. The white of an egg or albumen would 

 supply nothing, or nearly so, to the animal 

 but muscle. The fat went directly to form 

 fat. The starch in food kept the body warm, 

 and when fat was wanted served the purpose 

 of making the oily matter more readily be- 

 come fat in the body of the animal. 



Now, in fattening cattle, as in everything 

 else, using the proper means produced the 

 proper effects; and after the explanation 

 which he had given, they would see at once 

 that a mixture of food was better than the 

 use of one kind alone. If they wanted to 

 lay on muscle, they would feed with food 

 containing the largest amount of gluten ; 

 and if they wanted to lay on the fat, they 

 would give starch and oily substances, and 

 only a small proportion of the other ingre- 

 dient. Selecting food in any other way 

 would not serve the purpose they had in 

 view in the most economical way. He had 

 a table representing the different proportions 

 of fat in the food which they were in the 

 habit of using; but he would illustrate what 

 he had to say by a few simple illustrations. 

 Wheat contained two per cent, of fat, and 

 sometimes a little more; but oats contained 

 sometimes from four to five per cent., or 

 about double the amount which was to be 

 found in wheat. Oats were next to Indian 

 corn in this respect, the latter of which they 

 were aware contained a large amount of fat. 

 Gluten was the matter out of which the 

 muscle was produced, and there was more 

 of that substance in the bean or the pea, 

 than in the oat ; but the oat was better than 

 wheat. But there was another kind of food 

 used for fattening cattle, namely, oil-cake, 

 which contained a greater amount of fat 

 than the same weight of any other kind of 

 grain, Linseed, from which oil-cake is 



made, differed from other descriptions of 

 grain, in containing a greater amount of 

 fat, and a larger amount of gluten likewise, 

 with the exception of the bean. Now, prac- 

 tical men have derived great advantage from 

 feeding their cattle on oil seeds ; that food, 

 from the peculiarity of its composition, lay- 

 ing on fat and muscle at the same time. 

 Oil-cake, however, was the best food, only 

 when the greatest amount of fat was re- 

 quired; and according to the purpose which 

 they had in view, farmers would give their 

 cattle other descriptions of food. It was a 

 remarkable circumstance, that the bean and 

 pea contained very little fat, and as the 

 wheels of the animal system required to be 

 greased, these kinds of grain would not 

 serve for that purpose, although they con- 

 tained what made muscle. Although beans 

 and peas were good food, therefore, they 

 were not good as the sole food of animals. 

 Besides, they would observe, that from their 

 different constituents, plenty of oil seeds, 

 and plenty of beans and peas, would be far 

 more profitable than if they were to give 

 either of them singly. That was the prin- 

 ciple upon which the use of mixed food was 

 founded — to give all the substances the ani- 

 mal required, and to give them at the cheap- 

 est rate; and the researches of the scientific 

 man were directed to discovering the means 

 by which these objects could be best accom- 

 plished. He had selected oil seeds, but he 

 might have taken potatoes or turnips for his 

 illustration. He had taken the oil seeds, 

 however, because very great attention had 

 been recently directed to the value of those 

 seeds in the feeding of stock, and to the 

 culture of flax, which they knew was ad- 

 vancing with great rapidity in the neigh- 

 bouring country of Ireland, and which was 

 even progressing in England at a great rate. 

 He might mention a remarkable fact con- 

 nected with the improvement of the flax 

 cultivation in Ireland, that a society which 

 was established for the encouragement of 

 that cultivation, and which had its seat in 

 Belfast, had an annual revenue of between 

 £2,000 and £3,000; while the income of 

 the Royal Agricultural Association of Ire- 

 land was less than one-half of that sum. 

 From the progress the cultivation of flax 

 was making in Ireland, it was very deserv- 

 ing of attention by those who thought a 

 change in the rotation of crops would be 

 useful in other parts of the country. The 

 person who had most directed his attention, 

 practically, to the effects of feeding stock 

 with mixed food, and to feeding on linseed, 

 was Mr. Warnes, of Frimlingham, Norfolk, 

 and he (Professor J.) would point out to 

 them the principles on which he proceeded ; 



