634 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK vn. 



CHAPTER VI. 



FEEDING AND FATTENINGK 



IT1HE subject of feeding is a most important one, in connection with 

 J_ which the first question to be asked is, What is food, and what does it 

 do ? We cannot do better than quote from Professor Atwater, who 

 says " The body is a machine. Like other machines, it requires 

 material to build up its several parts, to repair them as they are worn out, 

 and to serve as fuel. In some ways it uses this material like a machine, 

 in others it does not. The steam-engine gets its power from fuel ; 

 the body does the same. In the one case wood or coal, in the other 

 food, is consumed. But the body not only uses food, but its own sub- 

 stance also, for its fuel. When the fuel is burned in the furnace, only 

 part of its latent energy is transformed in the mechanical power, which 

 the engine uses for its work ; the larger part is changed to heat, which 

 the engine does not utilise. A large part of the potential energy of the 

 food, and of its own substance, which the body consumes, is likewise 

 transformed into heat, but this heat the body uses, and must have to 

 keep it warm. And finally, metal from which an ordinary machine 

 is built and repaired is very different from its fuel, but the same food 

 which serves the body for fuel also builds it up and repairs its waste." 



From this we learn that the body is the machine, and food the fuel 

 which provides the motive power. But food is more than this, for it 

 repairs the waste of tissue, and restores that which is lost by the 

 elimination of heat. What this waste is depends greatly upon the 

 conditions under which the animal exists, and the work it has to per- 

 form. There is no perfect food for poultry perfect, that is, in its 

 suitability to all kinds of fowls wherever they may be. What is the 

 right food to be given depends upon the conditions under which birds 

 are kept, and the purpose for which they are destined. Food should 

 vary according to the season of the year. A little Indian corn may do 

 good in winter, but it is bad in warmer weather, and such foods as rice 

 may be useful in summer, but would be useless in winter. So, when 

 we desire eggs, the food should not be flesh- or fat-forming more than 

 is sufficient to repair the daily waste of tissue and heat, but should con- 

 tain constituents requisite for the making of albumin, fat, and phos- 

 phates, which form the principal ingredients in an egg. It will easily 

 be seen that, when the weather is cold, the material available for the 

 making of eggs is considerably reduced by the elimination of heat from 

 the body, and therefore, if they are at all to be produced this loss must 

 be made good. On the other hand, if flesh is to be formed, to give 

 egg-making constituents would be waste of food, and fats are chiefly 

 useful in this direction. And again, chickens require different food to 

 adults, because of the necessity to build up the frame and form the 

 feathers. In this connection it is desirable to add that as far as possible 



