266 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



FEB. 23, 1S43. 



tallow candles by the dozen, might be pitied or 

 wondered at ; but it is necessary to his healthy ex- 

 istence. Anotlier reason for animals acquiring 

 carbonaceous food in cold climates is, that the air 

 is more condensed, and Ihe same measure contained 

 a greater quantity of oxygen ; tliat gas being the 

 agent which, by uniting with the carbon and form- 

 ing carbonic acid, gave out the lieat. Strong ex- 

 ercise also demands a large supply of carbona- 

 ceous food, on account of the oxygen taken in dur- 

 ing the hard breathing thus produced. Oxygen, 

 when once tal<en into the system, never escapes 

 uncombined, and would destroy the whole fabric 

 of the body unless a fresh supply of material was 

 given. Clothes, by keeping in animal heat, ren- 

 dered less carbonaceous food necessary in order to 

 keep the body up to its proper tejnperaturo. The 

 following table exhibits the principles of food ne- 

 cessary for the two great processes of life — nutri- 

 tion and respiration: 



Elements of Kutrilion — Vegetable Fibrine, 

 " Albumen, 

 " Casein, 



Animal Flesh, 

 Blood. 

 Elements of Respiration — Fat, 



Starch, 



Gum, 



Sugar, 



Wine, 



Spirits, 



Beer. 



If it were' not for some power or force witliin 

 the animal fabric, it would soon become a prey to 

 the chemical action of oxygen. The force that 

 withstands this action is vitality — a principle inde- 

 pendent of the mind, and which constantly opposes 

 the destructive chemical laws to which the body is 

 subject. Disease is the temporary ascendancy of 

 the chemical over the vital force. Deatli is ihe 

 victory of the chemical force. A dead body ex- 

 posed to the action of oxygen is soon resolved into 

 its primitive elements — carbon, hydrogen, and ni- 

 trogen, in the form of carbonic acid, ammonia and 

 water; and these are the elements from which 

 plants again prepare materials for the living body. 

 These remarks will explain many facts known to 

 the agriculturist, and will assist him in insuring 

 more certainly many of the objects of his labors. 

 It is very well known that cattle do not fatten so 

 well in cold weather as in hot. The reason is 

 this: The fat is a highly carbonized substance, 

 formed by the animal from its carbonaceous food. 

 In cold weather, the carbon in this food is consumed 

 in keeping up the heat of the animal, which is at 

 that season more rapidly carried off. This is also 

 illustrated in an experiment made by Lord Ducie, 

 at Whitfield. One hundred sheep wers placed in 

 a shed, and ate 20 lbs. of Swedes each per day ; 

 another hundred were placed in the open air, and 

 ate 25 lbs. of Swedes per day ; yet at the end of 

 a certain period the sheep which were protected, 

 Although they had a fifth less food, weighed three 

 pounds a head more than the unprotected sheep. 

 The reason of this is obvious : the exposed sheep 

 had their carbonaceous food consumed in keeping 

 Up their animal heat. Warmth is thus seen to be 

 an equivalent for food. This is also illustrated 

 by the fact that two hives of bees do not consume 

 BO much honey when together as when separate, 

 on account of the warmth being greater; and they 

 have less occasion for consuming the honey, which 



is their fuel. Cattle, for the same reason, thrive 

 much better when kept warm, than when exposed 

 to the cold. 



The cause of animals getting fat is, that they 

 take in more carbonaceous food than they requue 

 for producing animal heat; the consequence is, 

 that it is deposited in the cellular tissue in the 

 form of fat. Fat is an unnatural production, and 

 its accumulation is not necessary for the health of 

 the body. When stored up, however, it will serve 

 the body for keeping up its animal heat, and by 

 this means its life, till it is all consumed. An in- 

 stance is related of a fat pig having been kept 

 without food for ]60 days, sustaining life by its 

 own fat. 



Another element necessary to be taken into con- 

 sideration in the fattening of animals, is motion or 

 exercise. Every action of the body — nay, every 

 thought of the mind, is attended with chemical 

 change; a portion of the deposited tissues are thus 

 being constantly consumed. It is on this account 

 that when animals are fattened, they are kept quiet 

 and itiU. The cruel practice of fattening geese 

 by nailing their feet to the floor, and of cooping 

 pigeons and chickens before they are killed, arises 

 from a knowledge of this fact. When prizes were 

 given by our agricultural societies for fat, and not 

 for symmetry, animals were strictly prevented from 

 taking any exerciso at all. Mr Childers found 

 that sheep which were kept warm and quiet, fat- 

 tened much faster than those that were allowed the 

 open air and action. It is very difficult to fatten 

 sheep and oxen in July, on account of the flies, 

 which, stinging them, keep them in a state of con- 

 stant motion. The Cornish miners, on account of 

 the laborious nature of their occupations, consume 

 more food than laborers with lighter work. Dur- 

 ing the late riots in Lancashire, the poor unem- 

 ployed operatives found out that exercise and cold 

 made them hungry ; accordingly they kept quiet in 

 bod, and heaped upon them all the covering they 

 could find. Englishmen in the East Indies, are 

 obliged to take a great deal of exercise, because 

 Ihey will insist on eating and drinking highly car- 

 bonized foods ; and the heat of the climate not al- 

 lowing the escape of much heat from the body, 

 they are obliged to take in by exercise, the oxygen 

 of the air, in order to destroy the carbon which 

 would otherwise accumulate in the system, and 

 produce liver disease. In the Scotch prisons, the 

 quantity of food given to the prisoners is regula- 

 ted by the kind of work on which the prisoners are 

 engaged — the hardest workers having the most 

 food. The reason of the flesh of the stag becom- 

 ing putrid shortly after its death, arises from the 

 quantity of oxygen which it takes into its system 

 during the hard breathing of the chase. A hunt- 

 ed hare, for the same reason, is as tender as one 

 that has been kept for a fortnight after being shot. 

 The reason is the same. In both cases, the action 

 of the oxygen on the flesh produces approaching 

 decomposition — in the one, quickly ; in the other, 

 slowly. Bacon, on the same principle, was, at 

 one time, rendered more delicate by whipping the 

 pig to death. Epileptic fits produce great emacia- 

 tion, on account of the violent action to whicli they 

 expose the body. 



Lord Ducie has performed some experiments 

 highly illustrative of the foregoing general princi- 

 ples, and which also indicated what might be ex- 

 pected from their application to the practice of 

 grazing : 



1st experiment. Five sheep were fed in the 



open air between the 21st of Nov. and the 1st of 

 Dec. ; they consumed 90 lbs. of food per day, the 

 temperature of the atmosphere being about 44 deg. 

 At the end of this time they weiglied 2 lbs. less 

 than when first exposed. 



2d experiment. Five sheep were placed under 

 a shed and allowed to run about, at a temperature 

 of 4!l deg. ; they consumed at first 82 lbs. of food 

 per day ; then 70 lbs. ; and at the end of the time 

 had increased in weight 23 lbs. 



3d experiment. Five sheep were placed in 

 same shed as in the last experiment, but not al- 

 lowed to take any exercise ; they ate at first 64 

 lbs. of food per day ; then 58 lbs, ; and increased 

 in weight 30 lbs. 



4lh experiment. Five sheep were kept quiet 

 and covered, and in the dark: they ate 35 lbs. a 

 day, and were increased 8 lbs. 



These experiments prove very satisfactorily the 

 influence of warmth and motion on the fattening 

 of cattle. 



Dr. Play fair then stated that he should proceed 

 to examine the different kinds of food of cattle. 

 The food of cattle is of two kinds — azotised and 

 unazotised — with or without nitrogen. The fol- 

 lowing table gives the analysis of various kinds of 

 food of cattle in their fresh state: 



Lbs. 



100 Peas, 



' Beans, 



' Lentels, 



' Oats, 



' Oatmeal, '.) 



' Barley meal, 15 1-2 



' Hay, 16 



' Wheat straw, 18 



' Turnips, 89 



' Swedes, 85 



' Mangel wurzej, 89 10 



' White carrot, 87 12 



' Potatoes, 72 27 



• Red beet, 89 10 



' Linseed cake, 17 75 1-2 



' Bran, 14 1-2 80 1-2 



A glance at this table would enable a person to 

 estimate the value of the articles as diet. Thus 

 every 100 tons of turnips contain 90 tons of water. 

 But the value of the inorganic and organic matters 

 which those foods contained, differed. Thug Mr 

 Rham states that 100 lbs. of hay are equal to 339 

 lbs. of mangel wurzel. It would be seen by the 

 table, that that quantity of hay contained 7G lbs. of 

 organic matter, whilst the mangel wurzel contained 

 only 34 lbs. 



One result of feeding animals on foods con. 

 taining much water is, that the water abstracts 

 from the animal a large quantity of heat, for the 

 purpose of bringing it up to the temperature of 

 the body, and in this way, a loss of material look 

 place. The mode proposed by Sir Humphrey Da- 

 vy, of ascertaining the nutritive properties of plants 

 by mechanically separating the gluten, is unsuscep- 

 tible of accuracy. The more accurate way is ts 

 ascertain the quantity of nitrogen, wliich beinsf 

 multiplied by 6-2, will give the quantity of albu- 

 men contained in any given specimen of food. 

 The following is a table of the equivalent value of 

 several kinds of food, with reference to the forma- 

 tion of muscle and fat ; the albumen indicating the 

 »n!(.sc/e-forming principle — the unazotised matters 

 indicating the /a<-forming principle : 



Water. Organic matters. 



16 80 1-2 



14 82 1-2 



16 81 



18 79 

 89 



83 1-2 

 76 1-2 

 79 

 10 

 14 



3 1-2 



3 1-2 



3 



3 



2 



2 



7 1-2 



3 



] 



1 



1 



1 



1 



1 



7 1-2 



5 



