I 



308 



THE FEEDING OF STOCK. 



7. 



10 



11 



The proportion of calorifient matter to nutrient, should be greater for young and growing 

 animals than for adults ; and also where the adult is subjected to labor, it will require 

 the same proportion, in order to supply the waste of the muscular and nervous tissues, 

 as they require for their growth. 



Food should be given at proper intervals to those who labor, and it should be proportioned 

 to the amount of labor performed. Persons who exercise their minds are not exempt from 

 the law of decay : the waste of nervous matter is more exhausting than the muscular. 



Nature has combined, in many instances, the true proportions of calorifient and nutrient mat- 

 ters, as in the cereals, and in milk. We may, however, modify ourselves the propor- 

 tions. 



, The winter food should be adapted to the rigors of the climate, and adjusted also to the 

 amount of labor to be performed. 



, Protection in winter is equivalent to a saving of a certain amount of hay or grain ; and 

 he who neglects to provide warm stables, or warm shelter, wastes both hay and grain. 

 The observation of the last precepts is enforced also by the principles of humanity. 

 A beast that is left to shiver in the cold is far more dangerous than one that is protected ; 

 and it is more likely to injure the weak of the flock and is less docile, and if a milch 

 cow, is far more troublesome with her legs. There is, really, no substantial reason 

 which can be urged in favor of feeding cattle in an open lot, at a stack of hay. It has 

 been urged on the score of making hardy animals ; but the principle upon which the 

 doctrine is supported has no existence : we might as well starve an animal for the pur- 

 pose of giving it a power to live without food. 



