198 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK r. 



always before feeding ; never fail to take the chill off the water during 

 winter ; let the temperature be about 50 Fahrenheit. Make soup of 

 the flax-seed and molasses ; put as much water in a pail as you think 

 may be necessary to saturate the entire mess of meal, &c., with the 

 soup, taking care not to make the meals sloppy. After thoroughly 

 mixing the soup with the meals, your ration is fit for use." 



CHAPTEE XII 



OF ARTIFICIAL FOOD FOR CATTLE PREPARATION OF FOOD. 



HAVING stated the different home-grown vegetable products which 

 have been advantageously employed in feeding and fattening neat 

 cattle, we proceed to speak of other articles and compounds which 

 may also be used with benefit. 



At the head of these stands linseed, and there is nothing superior 

 to it for feeding or fattening cattle, or even for increasing the milk 

 of cows. 



Various experiments have tended to prove that linseed, when given 

 whole, passes through the animals without undergoing much, if in 

 some instances any, alteration : hence it cannot have done them 

 . the least good ; and, when crushed and given raw, it often leads to 

 purging. It therefore becomes evident that, to obtain from the use 

 of it those beneficial effects which it is so capable of producing, it 

 is necessary that it shall undergo some process. The form in which 

 it is most ordinarily given is that of linseed-cake, which is a mass 

 of linseed whence the greater part of the oil has been crushed, and 

 this provender certainly is most nutritious. Nevertheless, many ex- 

 periments have been made with the view of discovering whether or 

 not a still more advantageous use may not be made of linseed. 



Preparations of linseed have been in use for the last sixty years. 

 Mr. Hillyard used to steep the seed, after having crushed it, in cold 

 water, in order to extract the mucilage ; but as this process was 

 tedious, often occupying at least a week, he tried hot-water, and found 

 that by its means he produced a better jelly, and in one-fourth of the 

 time : but even this did not satisfy him, so he tried what boiling the 

 linseed would do, and ended by adhering to this last system. 



But it is Mr. Warnes, of Trimingham, to whom should be awarded 

 the merit of drawing attention to the best modes of using linseed, 

 and to the importance of flax-seed as an adjunct to the system of 

 fattening cattle. He ground it into meal and mixed it with boiling 

 water, in the proportions of a pound of meal to a gallon of water, 1 



1 "Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society," vol. viii., 1st series, p. 480. 



