396 APPENDIX. HORSFALL'S SYSTEM. 



My cows, during the period under consideration, 

 were treated as follows : During August and Septem- 

 ber they were on open pasture by day and housed by 

 night; evening and morning they were supplied with 

 mown grass, and two feeds of steamed mixtuie. 

 Towards the close of September green rape was sub- 

 stituted for the mown grass, with the same allowance 

 of steamed mixture ; from the 8th of October, when 

 they were wholly housed, they were supplied with 

 steamed food ad libitum three times per day. After 

 each meal ten to twelve pounds of green rape-plant 

 were given, and nine pounds of hay per day till No- 

 vember ; from that time steamed food with cabbages or 

 kohl rabi till the early part of February, when mangold 

 wurzel was substituted. It will be observed that I 

 give hay and roots in limited quantities, and the steamed 

 food ad libitum. I prefer this to apportioning the cake 

 and other concentrated food in equal quantities to each, 

 as this steamed mixture contains more of the elements 

 essential to milk, and each cow is thus at liberty to 

 satisfy her requirements with it. Nos. 2 and 4, which 

 have given the greatest quantity of milk, have eaten 

 more than their share ; whilst No. 1, which has given 

 the least milk, has scarcely eaten more than half the 

 quantity of steamed mixture consumed by 2 or 4. 

 The yield of milk and the live weights on the 4th of 

 February and the 4th of March scarcely vary. During 

 February thirty-four pounds of mangold were substituted 

 for kohl rabi ; with this change the cows became more 

 relaxed. My experience in weighing, extending over 

 several years, has shown me that when animals, from 

 change of food, become more relaxed or more costive, 

 their weighings in the former state denote less, whilst 

 in the latter they denote more, than their actual gain in 

 condition. I have known instances in which a month's 

 weighing, accompanied by relaxation, has shown no 

 gain, whilst, with restored consistency, the gain doubled. 



I now proceed to examine the materials of food, 

 their composition, and the probable changes they 

 undergo in the animal economy. 



