SELECTION AND CARE OF LIVE-STOCK. 85 



expense of management are the best. If the produc- 

 tion of milk, or of wool, be the object in view, the 

 same principle should govern. 



191. In the management of live-stock of every 

 sort, kind treatment is absolutely necessary to 

 success. A poor, half-starved, ill-used horse or cow 

 returns no profit to its owner, and is a disgrace to the 

 farmer. The feeding should be regular and uni- 

 form, and proper shelter from rain and cold should 

 be provided. Exposure retards the full, healthy de- 

 velopment of young animals, and prevents the con- 

 version of the food of older ones into salable prod- 

 ucts. As in the human system, so in the bodies of 

 lower animals, the digestive process, to be success- 

 fully carried on, requires good food, pure air, and 

 comfortable surroundings. 



192. Plants derive their food from the soil and 

 work up the earthy, or inorganic, material into organic 

 products, such as sugar, starch, gum, oil, woody fibre, 

 gluten ; farm-animals derive their food from these 

 organic products, and form therefrom fat, muscle, 

 blood, and bones. The plant changes earthy mat- 

 ter, carbon dioxide, and ammonia, into organized 

 products in which is stored up a great deal of force 

 or energy; animals consume these organized prod- 

 ucts, which, in becoming disorganized in the body, 

 give out force or energy to the animal in the form of 

 heat and animal power. Plants store up energy 

 to be used by animals. 



193. The body of an animal is much more com- 



