420 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



below which it is unsafe to go. In the Scotch 

 prisons the wt-iji^lit of food given to prisoners con- 

 fined for not more than two months, and not sub- 

 jected to hard lahor, is uniformly about 17 ounces, 

 and the prop(u-tion of gkitou or nitrogenous food 

 contained in this is about four ounces. Where 

 this proportion is maintained, the average general 

 health and weight of the prisoners improve dur- 

 ing tiieir confinement. AV^here the contrary -is 

 the case, the weight diminishes, and the liealth 

 declines. This is shown in the following tabular 

 view of the kinds and weiglit of food given in five 

 of the Scotch prisons, and its effects upon the 

 weight of the prisoners : — 



JAIL. 



Kdinburgh, 



Glasgow, 

 Aberbeen, 

 Stirling, 

 Dundee, 



FOOD GIVEN. 



Nitroge- 

 nous. 



Carbona- 

 ceous. 



13 oz. 



12.5S 

 1.3.03 

 13.4 

 14 



17 oz. 



16.84 



17 



17.67 



16.75 



Per-centage of pris- 

 oners who lost 

 weight. 



18 loss li lb. each. 

 32.66 4 " 



4.2 

 4.35 



This table shows that, with the Edinburgh die- 

 tar^' and management, 72 per cent, of the prison- 

 ers either maintained or increased their weight, 

 while only 18 per cent, diminished in weight, and 

 that only to the small extent of I.^ lbs. each. Tn 

 Glasgow the result was less fixvorable, though even 

 there, out of nearly 500 prisoners, only one-third 

 diminished in weight. 



The same was the case at Aberdeen and Stirling; 

 so that in these three places the diet may be re- 

 garded as, on the vvhle, sufficient. But in Dun- 

 dee, one-half of the prisoners (50 per cent.) lost 

 weight during their short confinement ; and the 

 cause is obvious, in the diminished proportion of 

 muscle-forming food, which in this case was re- 

 duced to 2%, in jilace of four ounces. 



And it is an interesting fact, as marking the 

 close connection between science and practice, that 

 this deterioration in the qyality of the diet was 

 caused by the subsiilulion of molasses for the milk, 

 which had been previously (iistributed to the pris- 

 oners along with their porridge of oatmeal. Milk 

 is rich in nitrogenous food, while molasses contains 

 none ; and the substitution was immediately fol- 

 lowed by a perceptible falling off in the health 

 and weight of the prisoners. So general are the 

 evils whicli may arise from ignorance or disregard 

 of scientific principles in a single director or di 

 rooting body. The apparently trivial substitution 

 of molasses for milk brought weakness and want 

 of health on the inmates of an entire prison. 



In the feeding of other animals, similar results 

 follow from sirnil.n- inattention to the require 

 ments of animal nature. Of dry hay it has been 

 found, in pi-actic J, chat cattle and sheep require 

 for their daily food — 



An ox at rest, 

 . . at work, 

 . . f.iUing, 

 . . half-fat, 

 . . when fat, 



Milch cow. 



Sheep, full-grown 



2 per cent, of his live weight 

 2i . . 



5 . . at first. 



4V . . 



4' . . 



3 . . 

 3V . . 



Or instead of any one of these, a mixture of 

 several may be given, ♦with the best results. But 



'if the due proportion of nitrogenous food be not 

 given, the ox will lose his muscular strength, and 

 will generally fail. So with growing and fatting 

 stock of every kind, the proportion of each of the 



' kinds of food required by the animal must in prac- 

 tice be adjusted to the purpose of which it is fed, 



'as theory indicates, or actual money loss will en- 

 sue to the feeder. 



PRACTICAL VALUE OF SALINE AND OTHER INGREDIENTS 

 OF MILK IN FEEDING THE GROWING CALF. 



In the course of the preceding section I have 

 incidentally remarked, that the substitution of 

 molasses for milk lowered the proportion of nitro- 

 genous food in the Dundee prison diet, and ren- 

 dered it insufficient for the healthy maintenance 

 of the prisoners. The reason of this appears in 

 the composition of milk, already given in a pre- 

 vious chapter. The consideration of milk as a na- 

 tural food supplies us with another beautiful prac- 

 tical illustration of our theoretical principles, to 

 which I shall briefly advert ; and I do so, not mere- 

 ly because of the light it throws upon the supply 

 of nitrogen which a milk diet is fitted, to yield, but 

 because it so clearly illustrates another of the posi- 

 tions laid down in the pi'ecjding chapter, that the 

 food must supply, in kind and quantity, all the 

 saline and earthy substances contained in the 

 body. 



Milk is a true food. It contains sugar, casein, 

 saline matter, and fat — a portion of each of those 

 classes of substances on which the herbivorus races 

 live in the most healthy manner. But the pro- 

 vision is very beautiful by which the young ani- 

 mal — the muscle and bones of which are rapidly 

 growing — is supplied, not only witli a larger pro- 

 portion of nitrogenous food, but also of bone-earth, 

 than would be necessary to maintain the healthy 

 condition of a full-grown animal of equal size. 

 The milk of the mother is the natural food from 

 which its supplies are drawn. The sugar of the 

 milk supplies the comparatively small quantity of 

 carbon necessary for the respiration of the young 

 animal. As it gets older, the calf or young lamb 

 crops green food for itself, to supply an additional 

 portion. The curd of the milk {casein) yields the 

 materials of the growing muscles and of the organic 

 part of the bones ; while along with the curd, dis- 

 solved in the liquid milk, is the phosphate of lime, 

 of Avhich the earthy part of the bones is to be 

 built up. A glance at the composition of milk 

 will show how copious the sup2:)ly of all these sub- 

 stances is, — how beautifully the composition of 

 the mother's milk is adapted to the wants of her 

 infant offspring. Cow's milk consists in 1000 

 parts by weight of about — 



In the case of the ox the daily waste or loss of 

 muscle and tissue requires that he should consume 

 20 to 2-4 ounces of gluten or albumen, which, as 

 may be calculated from the table given in a sub 

 sequent section, will be supplied by any of the fol- 

 lowing weights of vegetable food : — 



Butter, 



Cheesy matter, (casein,) - - . . 

 Milk-sugar, ■ - ..... 



Chloride nf potassiuvi, and a little commou salt 

 rhosphate, chieSy of lime, - ... 

 Other saline substances, .... 

 Water. - ..... 



The quality of the milk, and consequently the 

 proportions of the several constituents above men- 



