No. 8. 



Hydraulics for Farmers. 



245 



by degrees all such of the solids as are ca- 

 pable of being dissolved." In the wasted 

 bodies of those who have suffered starvation, 

 the muscles are shrunk and unnaturally soft, 

 and have lost their contractility: all these 

 parts of the body which were capable of en- 

 tering into the state of motion have served 

 to protect the remainder of the frame from 

 the destructive influence of the atmosphere. 

 Tlicre is no difference in this respect be- 

 tween one set of animals and another. Civ- 

 ilized and savage men, wild and domestic 

 animals, must all be classed under the same 

 category. 



In the human species, a morsel of food is 

 grasped by the front teeth of both jaws, 

 which are each supplied with sixteen teeth, 

 making thirty-two in all. In those animals 

 which chew the cud, as they have only one 

 row of teeth, the food is less firmly grasped 

 by the jaws, and there is, therefore, a greater 

 necessity that it should be of a soft and pli- 

 able nature. By tlie assistance of the lips, 

 jaws, tongue, and auxiliary muscles, the food 

 is conveyed into the cavity of the mouth, 

 and by the aid of the tongue and lateral mo- 

 tion of the mouth, it is placed between the 

 opposing jaws, where it is masticated or 

 ground to a proper consistence. But the 

 action of the jaws in grinding the morsel 

 introduced between them, at the same time, 

 elicits the compressing power of the mus- 

 cles of the cheek upon the parotid gland, 

 which is situated in man in front of the ear, 

 and expels its secreted fluid, the saliva, into 

 the mouth, to assist in comminuting the 

 nutritive matter. Besides this mechanical 

 action, there is, however, a nervous sympa- 

 thy called into operation. The masticated 

 matter acts upon the tongue and adjacent 

 parts, inducing a sympathy with the glands 

 placed under the tongue, and causes them 

 to pour out their copious contents. The ob- 

 ject of mastication or chewing is, therefore, 

 to reduce the food to such a consistence as 

 si all tit it for its reception and proper diges- 

 tion in the stomach. This is well illustrated 

 in the instance of animals which are not sup- 

 plied with teeth- 



The common fowl, for example, is desti- 

 tute of these grinding apparatus; but it has 

 a muscular mechanism, termed the gizzard, 

 which powerfully compresses the introduced 

 food, and by means of pebbles and stones, 

 which are a necessary article of food with 

 the class of animals referred to, an artificial 

 substitute for the teeth is provided. In gra- 

 minivorous animals, we shall find that a sub- 

 stitute for the second row of teeth is provided 

 in the operation of rumination, or chewing 

 the cud. From attention to these facts, 

 iherefore, we are taught that the prepara- 



tory step of digestion consists in the fine di- 

 vision of solid food by means of the appara- 

 tus set apart in the mouth for this purpose, 

 and its mixture with a certain amount of 

 fluid saliva, to render it more dilute. 



The importance of the proper grinding of 

 the food, and of rendering it as soluble as 

 possible, can be well appreciated by such 

 individuals as have been the subjects of in- 

 digestion from the eructation of morsels of 

 food, of gases, and of acid liquors. It is 

 scarcely necessary to remark, that similar 

 rules are applicable to the inferior animals, 

 and more particularly in the state of confine- 

 ment to which most of them are more or less 

 subjected, when they are made to minister 

 to the wants of the human species. — Thom- 

 son's Researches on the Food of Animals. 



From the American Agriculturist. 

 Hydraulics for Farmers. 



Every farmer, especially in a northern 

 climate, must be aware that the comfort of 

 his stock through the inclemency of winter 

 is essential to carrying them through that 

 season in the most economical and of course 

 the most profitable manner. To insure this 

 degreeof comfort, sheds and stables in which 

 they are protected from driving storms, high 

 winds, and intense cold, are indispensably 

 necessary; for it is now a well established 

 fact with our best stock growers, that the 

 expense of such sheds and stables is fully li- 

 quidated by the saving of fodder, and the in- 

 crease of thrift in the animals in a very few 

 years, probably before the buildings erected 

 for their benefit need their first repairs. And 

 there are other objects gained by the hous- 

 ing system for stock. They are rendered 

 more docile by the operation. The cow or 

 the ox that has been accustomed to be fre- 

 quently or almost universally housed through 

 the inclement season from the early days of 

 "calfhood," will almost invariably possess 

 excellencies which are seldom found among 

 animals doomed to roam at large and seek 

 shelter where it may, and sometimes where 

 it may not be found — behind buildings or 

 fences, the disjointed sides of which make 

 but miserable pretensions to the objects to 

 which the helpless and ill-fated animal ap- 

 propriates them. 



There is another subject connected with 

 the thrift of the farm yard which is no less 

 important than nice warm stables and good 

 comfortable sheds. That is water for stock 

 of which they need a regular supply, as they 

 do of feed or protection. This fact is un- 

 questionable, and therefore needs no com- 

 ments, as every observing farmer knows full 

 well ; yet howoften it is the case that the poor 



