Vol. 8. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y. — FEBRUARY, 1847. 



No. 2. 



THE GENESEE FARMER : 



Issued the first of each mojtth, in Rochester, N. Y., bi, 



D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. 



DANIEL LEE, EDITOR. 



p. BARRY, Conductor of the Horticultural Departmeat. 



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Prospects of the Farmer.— Thanks. 



Thanks to its numerous firm and active friends, the 

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 of the first number previous to the 1.5th of January. We 

 have now, however, several thousand of that number on 

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 { February ) number, in order to furnish the entire volume 

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Post-Masters, Farmers, Editors, and all others to whom 

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Digestion and Assimilation. 



There is a natural process carried on in the 

 systems of our domestic animals, by which hay, 

 grain, roots, straw, and other forage, are trans- 

 formed into pure and healthy blood. This im- 

 portant transformation is the work of Digestion. 

 Assimilation consists in organizing in a living 

 form, in the shape of lean meat, tendons, nerves, 

 and other tissues, the appropriate elements for 

 that purpose, conveyed to all parts of the body 

 by the ceaseless action of the heart and arte- 

 ries. No other natural phenomena better de- 

 serve the study of the practical farmer, than those 

 that attend the conversion of grass into living 

 flesh. The subject is an abstruse one, but we 

 shall labor to simplify it, and make our descrip- 

 tion intetUigible to common readers, wholly un- 

 versed in the science of physiology. 



Digestion may be said to commence by grind- 

 ing the food taken into the mouth between the 

 teeth The working faces of these organs are 

 admirably adapted' for pulverizing hard substan- 

 ces ; while the liquid that flows from the saliva- 

 ry and sublingual glands converts the mass into 

 a moist pulp. Ruminant animals, (those that 

 chew the cud,) swallow their food with very lit- 

 tle mastication. The design of nature is, that 

 the herbaceous forage of these animals shall ali 

 be returned to the teeth from the first large stom- 

 ach, to be thoroughly ground at leisure, when 

 the animal is at rest. This admirable arrange- 

 ment enables ruminant animels to gather and 

 swallow much more food, within a given time, 

 than they could possibly do, provided it had all 

 to be duly masticated before it passed into the 

 stomach. 



It is worthy of remark that, it requires many 

 pounds of grass, browse, and other natural food 

 of this genus of animals, to make one pound of 

 their flesh. Hence, nature had to provide a ca- 

 pacious store-house somewhere for holding for- 

 age, as wtU as for digesting it. To meet the 

 whole exigencies of the animal, nature has giv- 

 en it a large and complex stomach, which is 



