OF STEAMING AND PREPARING FOOD FOR ANIMALS. 67 



were such as appeared to be of the best kind, and those that 

 gave the richest milk. In order to ascertain what particular 

 food would produce the best milk, different species of grass 

 and clover were tried separately, and the quality and flavor 

 of the butter was found to vary very much. But what was 

 of the most importance, many of the grasses were found to be 

 coated with silecia, or decomposed sand, and too hard and 

 insoluble in the stomachs of the cattle. In consequence of 

 this the grass was cut and well steamed, and it was found to 

 be readily digested ; and the butter that was made from the 

 milk, much firmer, better flavored, and would keep longer 

 without salt than any other kind. Another circumstance that 

 attended the experiment was, that in all the various grasses 

 and grain, that were intended by our Creator as food for man 

 and beast, the various oils that enter into their composi- 

 tion were so powerfully assimilated or combined with the 

 other properties of the farinaceous plants, that the oil partook 

 of the character of essential oil, and was not so easily evapo- 

 rated as that of poisonous vegetables ; and experience has 

 proved, that the same quantity of grass steamed and given to 

 the cattle will give more butter than when the hay is given 

 in its dry state. This fact being established from numerous 

 experiments, then there must be a great saving and superiori- 

 ty in this mode of feeding. The meat of such cattle is more 

 wholesome, tender, and better flavored than when fed in the 

 ordinary way." Dr. Whitlaw thus describes the process of 

 steaming : " A boiler, that will hold from fifty to a hundred 

 gallons, should be placed in a convenient situation, upon an 

 iron surface, so as to render it movable at pleasure, although 

 it would be better as a permanent fixture. The boiler should 

 have a safety-valve affixed in the middle of the lid, which 

 should be six inches in diameter, and a screw and unscrew 

 to the boiler, when it is necessary to replenish the boiler. 

 The valve should be three or four inches long, one inch or 

 more in diameter, as the size of the boiler may require, with 

 a small bar across the bottom tube ; and a small hole in the 

 centre of the bar, to allow the stalk of the valve to pass 



