Bulk or Volume. 39 



knowledge of this is of great valne to all con- 

 cerned in the keeping of animals. 



BULK OR VOLUME. 



Food should always possess an amount of 

 bulk. Nature has not been unmindful of this 

 when providing the nutritious principles of grain. 

 The grain, or kernel, contains the nutrition in a 

 concentrated form, and bulky material is to be 

 found in the husk or stem. 



Proportionate bulk is requisite to ensure diges- 

 tion. The stomach cannot abstract nutrition 

 from small quantities of concentrated food with 

 benefit. The digestion and solution is not 

 efficiently performed, as the stomach lacks the 

 stimulus of contact, so essential to healthy 

 action and secretion. 



Grass, straw, and hay contain but little nutri- 

 tion, and to ensure its abstraction, bulk is given 

 to it consisting of water, ligneous matter (woody 

 fibre), and salts. 



The people of uncivilised nations have exem- 

 plified this from time remote. 



The Kamschatdales mix earth and sawdust 

 with the train oil they use as food, and in other 

 northern regions a kind of bread is made from 

 sawdust. 



The natives of Ceylon use scraps of decayed 

 wood with the honey consumed as food. Among 



