376 CATTLE-BREEDING-. 



themselves in a state of nature. So true is this 

 that we find the only 'single substance which 

 affords what the scientist terms a complete 

 ration that is to say, affords all the elements 

 needed -by the animal in the best proportions- 

 is milk. But we find that in any pasture in 

 which a variety of grasses grow, as in ordinary 

 cases is sure to occur, these grasses as a 

 whole afford a complete ration. A little study 

 of the animal's habits will show that instinct 

 has taught it to seek a variety of foods as if for 

 this very purpose of making one supply what 

 the other lacked; of making one supplement the 

 other. A mixed ration of the ordinary products 

 of a farm always offers, therefore, an admirable 

 ration. But nature tends to be lavish; science 

 aims to be economical. The scientist who 

 laboriously works out the exact ration de- 

 manded by a two-year-old steer weighing thir- 

 teen hundred pounds, in order to gain one and 

 a half pounds per day for six months, will 

 perhaps find when he has finished his task that 

 it is as it stands worthless to the feeder, because 

 he has taken a world-wide field in his calcu- 

 lations of food supplies while the former has 

 only three or four at his command. But the 

 general rule having been reached, the analysis 

 of various foods made, substitutions and varia- 

 tions in the tables can be made at any time 

 without trouble. The first tables puzzled and 



