FODDERS. 



of ventilation, by having beams or 

 rods passing throiio;h the barn, unless 

 the hay be well niaiie and cured be- 

 fore storage. When well cured, hay 

 should be of a greenish yellow, fine 

 odour, and altogether free from black- 

 ness or mildew. 



Much advantage is gained by ma- 

 king up stacks of succulent fodders, 

 like buckwheat, Jerusalem artichoke 

 stems, broad-cast corn, clover, pea, 

 and bean stems, with straw, piling 

 one layer on the other ; the fod- 

 der may thus be put up fresher with- 

 out being sun-burned, and the straw- 

 is improved, at the same time that 

 heating is obviated. Salting, in these 

 cases, is an additional preservative. 



There is no greater injury to coarse 

 fodders than allowing them to lie in 

 swarth until crisp and black from dry- 

 ing ; their nutritive matter is thus 

 reduced very considerably, and the 

 hay becomes unmanageable. If, from 

 using grass too green, it should heat, 

 the stack must be taken down and 

 freely exposed to the air as soon as 

 the accident is discovered, otherwise 

 it may fire, or, at least, the fodder 

 contracts a pitchy taste disagreeable 

 to cattle. 



FODDERS, THE PREPARA- 

 TION OF. A great deal has been 

 said of late concerning the cooking 

 and steaming of food for horses, oxen, 

 and farm animals. Much is the off- 

 spring of ignorance and superficial ex- 

 amination. The preparation of corn 

 and hard grains, when given to oxen 

 and pigs, by grinding, is unquestiona- 

 bly a matter of great economy, where- 

 by at least one half is saved in the 

 former case. Mechanical reduction 

 by grinding, pounding, cutting, and 

 crushing, is also of great value in 

 other fodders, in roots, succulent 

 stems, and herbs ; but the assertion 

 that the act of steaming, irrespective 

 of the fineness of the food, is of great 

 service, or even that it will pay for 

 fuel in the case of the horse and oxen, 

 is disproved by the examination of nu- 

 merous Scotch farmers and by Bous- 

 singault. Every kind of comminu- 

 tion IS valuable, because oxen are 

 incapable of pulverizing grains, and 



horses frequently holt, or swallow 

 whole, the carrots, beets, parsnips, 

 &c., which it is customary to furnish 

 them. This also refers to sheep. It 

 is true that in winter some little 

 warmth is obtained from the fluid if 

 given hot, but this is not enough to 

 pay for the trouble. A machine for 

 rasping beets, potatoes, &c., is worth 

 infinitely more than a cooking contri- 

 vance. 



With pigs the matter seems to be dif- 

 ferent ; well-made experiments show 

 that boiling or steaming food hast- 

 ens their fattening ; but this is scarce- 

 ly understood. Boilmg does not de- 

 velop any nutrition ; on the contrary, 

 Dr. Beaumont has shown that diges 

 tion is retarded ; but boiling is of ser- 

 vice where oily food, as Indian corn, 

 linseed, hemp seed, cotton seed, &c., is 

 given, for the heat causes the parti- 

 cles of fat of the meal to form an 

 emulsion with the hot water and gum 

 of the seed, and it is readily taken up 

 by the animal's intestines, whereas 

 oil, in large quantity, is not so read- 

 ily absorbed by the body, but partly 

 rejected. From the same cause, in 

 the last stage of fattening oxen, corn 

 or linseed meal, boiled into a jelly or 

 porridge, will assist fattening, while 

 it is in no way calculated as a regu- 

 lar fodder for draught oxen. In so 

 far as boiling or steaming assists di- 

 gestion, comminutes food, by making 

 It mealy, as potatoes, or produces an 

 emulsion with the oil it contains, so 

 far, and no farther, does it do service 

 on the farm. Practical men state 

 the gain in oily meals, with pigs, at 

 about one third, but not so much, if 

 at all, in coarse fodders. For cook- 

 ing, nothing is superior to Moti's 

 stove, which heats rapidly and econ- 

 omizes fuel. For a steamer, any com- 

 mon kettle, the nozzle of which emp- 

 ties into a box either of thick wood 

 with a tight lid, or into a barrel, will 

 answer ; the barrel may be surround- 

 ed with tow or cloth to keep in the 

 first heat. The figure represents such 

 a contrivance : A is a kettle, com- 

 municating by the pipe, B, furnished 

 with a stop-cock at C, into the box, 

 D, the lid of which overlaps, and is 



303 



