VOL. SXI. NO. 34. 



AND HORTICULTUilAL REGISTER, 



267 



Utiazotised matter. 

 

 



51 1-2 

 52 

 48 



21 1-2 

 (58 

 08 



e8 1-2 



9 

 10 

 81-2 



The analyses in this table are partly Dr. Play- 

 fair's and partly Boussingalt's. The albumen se- 

 ries indicate tlie flesh-forming principles, and the 

 unazotised series imlicate the fat-forming princi- 

 ples. By comparing this table with the former, it 

 will at once be seen which foods contain not only 

 the greatest quantity of organic matter, but what 

 proportion of this organic matter is nutritive, and 

 which is fattening ; or that which furnishes living 

 tissue and that which furnishes combustible mate- 

 rial. In cold weather, those foods should bo given 

 which contain the larger proportion of unazotised 

 matters in order to sustain the heat of the body. 

 Thus it will be seen that potatoes are good for fat- 

 tening, but bad for fieshening. Linseed cake con- 

 tains a great deal of fattening matter, and but lit- 

 tle nutritive matter ; hence, barley meal, which 

 contains a good deal of albumen, may be advanta- 

 geously mixed with it. Dumas, a French chemist, 

 states that the principle of fat exists in vegeta- 

 bles, as in hay and maize, and that, like albumen, 

 it is deposited in the tissues unchanged. But Lie- 

 big regards fat as transformed sugar, starch, gum, 

 &c., which has undergone a change in the process 

 of digestion. This is why linseed cake is fatten- 

 ing: all the oil is squeezed out of the seed, but 

 the seed-coat, which contains a great deal of gum, 

 and the starch of the seed is left, and these are fat- 

 tening principles. The oxygen introduced by res- 

 piration into the lungs, is destined for the destruc- 

 tion of carbonaceous matter, but there is a provi- 

 sion made for taking it into the stomach with the 

 food, and this is done by the saliva. The saliva is 

 always full of bubbles, which are air bubbles, which 

 carry the oxygen of the atmosphere into the sto- 

 mach with the food. The object of rumination in 

 animals is the more perfect mixing of the food 

 with the oxygen of the air. This is why chaff 

 should not be cut so short for ruminating, as for 

 non-ruminating animals, as the shorter the chaff is, 

 the less it is ruminated, and the less oxygon it gets. 

 Chaff is cut one inch for the ox, half an inch for 

 the sheep, and a quarter for the horse. Some 

 might, in consequence of this, suppose that cutting 

 food is then of little use; but when it is consider- 

 ed that rumination is a strong exercise, or that an 

 animal will not be eating more food that is rumin- 

 ating, it will easily be seen how cutting facili- 

 tates fattening. In order that food may be proper- 

 ly ruminated, it requires a certain amount of con- 

 LTSwncy and bulk ; hence all watery foods, as tur- 

 nips and mangel wurzel, should be mixed with 

 straw. The opinion is very correct, that an ani- 

 mal " cannot chew its food without straw." An 

 important inorganic constituent of the food is salt; 

 It is a chloride of sodium. Whilst ,the chlorine 

 goes to form the gastric juice, which is so impor- 

 tant an agent in digestion, the soda goes to form 

 the bile, which is a compound of soda. The bile 

 is, in fact, a secondary combination, by which the 



carbonaceous matter is brought in i;ontact with the 

 oxygen, in order to be burnt. It is thus that com- 

 mon salt becomes so important and necessary an 

 article of diet. In the series of changes by which 

 the.oxygen of the air is brought in contact with 

 the carbonaceous matters in the body, iron plays 

 an important part, and 'is hence one of the neces- 

 sary ingredients of animal food. There are two 

 oxides of iron — the peroxide and the protoxide ; the 

 first containing a large quantity of oxygen, the se- 

 cond a smaller quantity ; the first, on being intro- 

 duced into the blood, gives up a portion of its oxy- 

 gen to the carbonaceous material of the bile, car- 

 bonic acid and protoxide of iron being formed ; 

 these two unite, forming a carbonate of the protox- 

 ide of iron, which, on being carried to the lungs, 

 gives off its carbonic acid, and the proto.^ide of 

 iron absorbing the oxygen brought into the lungs 

 by respiration, forms agiiin a peroxide, which again 

 goes into the circulation, and meeting with car- 

 bonaceous matters of the bile, unites with them, 

 and produces again and again the same series of 

 changes. The small quantity, then, of inorganic 

 ingredients in the food, performs very important 

 functions; and in the absence of tliem, animals 

 would die. 



Remarks hy the Editor of the M E. Farvier. 



The preceding article wo gladly lay before our 

 readers, believing they will take much interest in 

 seeing the course which scientific men are taking, 

 in the hope of doing good service to agriculture, 

 and to man. The experiment with sheep, which 

 shows that quiet and warmth are favorable to 

 growth, and may bo in part a substitute for food, 

 shows nothing different from the result to which ob- 

 servation has long since led many a common far- 

 mer; but the why — the reason, has not been known. 

 This reason, according to Liebig, is, that in cold 

 weather more of the carbon of the food is required 

 to keep up the animal heat ; and also that when in 

 exercise, more of the carbon must be consumed, be- 

 cause more oxygen is taken into the system by the 

 quicker or deeper breathing; — this rapid consump- 

 tion would soon raise the animal heat too high, 

 were there not provision for letting it off through 

 the skin and other ways. What is thus let off' is 

 wasted, so far as relates to growth. From the ex- 

 periment we learn nothing but the reason of results 

 which have long been known. 



The tables in the above article give us valuable 

 information as far as it goes ; and it gives hope of 

 something more. The whole article, however, 

 stops short of where we wish science to lead us. 

 We are told how many pounds of matter there are 

 in an hundred pounds of potatoes, that will go to 

 make muscle or flesh as distinguished from fat; 

 also how many pounds that may go to make fat. 

 All this is well. But there are other things the 

 action of which is not told, viz : the water and the 

 ashes — or rather the salts in the ashes. Does the 

 water in potatoes have upon an animal precisely 

 the same effect as would be produced by the same 

 quantity of pure water drank in separately .' — and 

 what salts are found in the ashes of each kind of 

 food — in what quantity, and what is their effect 

 upon the animal that consumes the food ■ These 

 are questions not yet answered, but which must be 

 answered before chemistry does all that we ask at 

 her hands. 



Taking the water from the articles named in the 

 foregoing tables, and cilling the remainders of 

 equal value as food, pound per pound, the calcula 



tion, if we have made no mistake, would show re- 

 sults nearly as follows: 



liustieh. 

 100 lbs. of hay equal in worth to potatoes 5 



" " " turnips 14 



" " " beets 14 



" " " white carrots 12 



" " " ruta bagas 10 



" " " oats 3 



" " " barley meal 2 



Now, estimating hay at 80 els. per 100 lbs., 



Cents. 

 Potatoes will be worth per bush. 16 



Turnips, " " 5 2-3 



Beets, " " 5 2-3 



White carrots, " " 6 2-3 



Ruta bagas, " " 8 



Oats, " " 27 



Barley meal, " " 40 



These figures would make hay the most eco- 

 nomical food. Practically, ho*ever, hay will not 

 be so valuable comparatively, as it appears here. 

 This may be owing in part to the fact that a por- 

 tion of the hay passes through animals undigested ; 

 and in part, perhaps, to the quantity and character 

 of its salts. The animal's stomach will often do 

 its work much less thoroughly than the chemist's 

 crucible, and we should expect the chemist to find 

 more nutrimenj in hay and oats than the animal can 

 extract. The opinion of Dr. Playfair that 6 bush- 

 els of turnips may be equal in value as food, to 100 

 pounds of hay, may be near the truth — but we 

 should think that the hay would be found worth a 

 little the most: we would take seven bushels. Our 

 table of values then will be — 

 100 lbs of hay equal to potatoes, 2 1-2 bush. 



" " " turnips, 7 " 



" " " beets, 7 " 



" " " white carrots, 6 " 



" " " ruta bagas, 5 '' 



The hay being at 80 cts., we shall have the follow- 



Potatoes 



Turnips 



Beets 



Wliite carrots, 



Ruta bagas. 



worth 



32 cts. per bush. 



11 1-3 



111-3 



13 1-3 



IC 



From this it will follow, that among the roots (?) 

 potatoes will be most profitable in those sections 

 of the country where the crop is usually a safe and 

 good one. But on many farms, the 5 bushels of 

 ruta bagas can bo produced at less expense than 

 the 2 1-2 of potatoes. On many farms, also, the 

 6 bushels of white carrots will cost not more than 

 the 2 1-2 of potatoes. 



From the tables in the article above, it will ap- 

 pear that for fattening, potatoes are best; while for 

 giving muscle and strength, they arc poorest. Car- 

 rots and barley [neal are best for working animals, 

 among the substances named. 



We wish some competent chemist would give 

 us the analysis of Indian meal and of ruta bagas. 

 We will venture the prediction, from observation, 

 that tho ruta baga will be found best of all the 

 roots for giving muscle — that they are best for 

 working animals. But the analyses will not satis- 

 fy us until we find what the ashes contain. The 

 salts, probably, have much greater action, in pro- 

 portion to their quantity, upon the animal system, 

 than do the organized matters in the roots. Let 

 chemistry show us their constituents and opera- 

 tion, and we can then the better judge whether ill 

 teachings are supported by ow exjierieoM. 



