256 



Usehssness of Dogs. 



Vol. IX. 



of fibrin— the fibrous part of lean meat is 

 so called — and of fat. And rigorous analy- 

 sis .appears to show, that this fibrin is al- 

 most identical in constitution with the pure 

 gluten of wheat; while the fat of some ani- 

 mals at least, is absolutely identical with the 

 fatty oils contained in certain vegetable pro- 

 ductions. 



The incombustible part, again, consists of 

 soluble saline substances, and of an insoluble 

 earthy matter, the earth of bones. These 

 two classes of inorganic substances exist 

 also in the ash of all plants, thoujrh in va 

 liable proportions. The stems and leaves 

 abound more in soluble sal'ine matter, the 

 seeds in bone-earth and other phosphates. 



These things being discovered, the uses 

 of the several constituents of the food be- 

 came in some degree manifest. The fat of 

 the animal was derived directly from the fat 

 of the vegetables on which it lived — its mus- 

 cular fibre directly from the gluten of its 

 food— and the salts of its blood, and the 

 earth of its bones, from the inorganic mat- 

 ters contained in the ash of the plants on 

 which it fed. The plant produced the raw 

 materials, the fat and gluten— the bricks 

 and stones as it were — with which the ani- 

 mal, having received them into its stomach, 

 proceeded directly to build up its several 

 parts. 



And as the proportion of the fatty matter 

 was greater in some vegetables than in 

 others, some kinds of food would enable the 

 animal to lay on more fat, or to produce 

 more butter. Others again, in which glu- 

 ten abounded, would favour the growth of 

 muscle, or the production of cheese ; while 

 those of which the ash was richest in bone- 

 earth, would enlarge and more rapidly in- 

 crease the bones of growing animals. In 

 so far also as the composition of the food was 

 known to be modified by the soil on which 

 it grew, so far might the fattening or growth 

 of stock be considered as directly dependent 

 upon the quality of the land on which they 

 lived, or were fed; and in so far as the ap- 

 plication of this or that manure was known 

 to affect the quantity of gluten or fat in the 

 crop, in so far would it be in our power, by 

 varying our manures, to control the ordinary 

 operations of nature, and to raise varieties 

 of produce, fitted especially for this purpose 

 or for that. These deductions opened up a 

 wide field for experiments, both in the prac- 

 tical raising of varieties of food, and in the 

 practical feeding of stock; upon which many 

 zealous cultivators have already entered, 

 and which, if they cultivate it with perse- 

 verance and accuracy, they are sure to cul- 

 tivate with success. 

 How beautiful is the connexion thus es- 



tablished between the dead earth, the Jiving 

 plant, and the reasoning animal ! The life 

 and growth of the animal are dependent 

 upon what it receives from the plant, those 

 of the plant on what it receives from the 

 soil on which it grows. The plant does not 

 always produce, in equal quantity, those sub- L 

 stances which the animal requires. It is 

 dependent upon the nature of the soil, even 

 for the proportions of gluten, or of fat, which 

 it is capable of yielding to the wants of the 

 animal; while the inorganic part of its sub- 

 stance is wholly drawn from the spot of- 

 earth on which it happens to be placed. It 

 strikes us at first as a curious circumstance, 

 that all vegetable food should contain bone- 

 earth and common salt in some small pro- 

 portion, and that useful plants should refuse 

 to grow in a healthy manner where these, 

 substances are not present in the soil. But 

 this arrangement appears absolutely beauti- 

 ful when we learn, that without these sub- 

 stances the animal cannot live. The main 

 purpose served by the vegetable is to feed 

 the animal races. This they could not do, 

 if they did not contain all that animals re- 

 quire to form the several parts of their 

 bodies; their bones and blood, as well ag; 

 their muscles and their fat. Thus the soil 

 imparts to the plant only what it is the spe- 

 cial duty of the plant to impart to the ani- 

 mal. Hence the machinery of life— of life 

 animal, as well as of life vegetable — must 

 equally cease to move, if the soil be defi- 

 cient in any of its necessary ingredients. 

 How much, therefore, both of the "direct or 

 cropping, and of the indirect or manufac- 

 turing branches of rural economy, depends 

 upon the chemistry of the soil! — Edinburgh 

 Review. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Uselessness of Dogs. 



To THE Editor, — There have appeared 

 in the Cabinet and other papers, occasional 

 commendations of the dog. Many anecdotes 

 have been related, showing the sagacity, 

 fidelity and usefulness of this creature,* but 

 it is nevertheless a question of grave import- 

 ance, whether his benefits to the community 

 are equivalent to the injuries he commits. 

 In France and other countries of Europe, 

 where the dog is trained to perform the du- 

 ties of the shepherd, in the care and defence 

 of the flock — where, fences being scarce, his 

 vigilance supplies their want; or where 

 beasts of prey abounding, he protects his 

 charge from their depredations — the dog is 

 certainly a valuable, if not essential part of 

 a farmer's stock. But in this section of our 

 country, he has not these arguments in his 



