76 THE da^ikyman's manual. 



are the fat, carbo-hydrates, fiber and albuminoids. The 

 fat, it IS believed, is absorbed directly from the digested 

 food and passes into the circulation, and consequently 

 into the milk of cows. This is a most important fact to 

 remember. The carbo-hydrates consist of starch, sugar, 

 and gum, and are all composed of carbon and water 

 combined. These furnish the carbon required for the 

 maintenance of the vital heat, and to some extent may 

 furnish material for the development of fat in the won- 

 derful chemical changes of the animal digestion and nu- 

 trition. The fiber consists of cellular tissue or woody 

 substance, but a large part of this is digestible, and is 

 changed in the animal system into heat and fat. This 

 is unquestionable, for the beaver, which is one of the 

 fattest of animals, lives almost wholly upon the bark and 

 young wood of trees. The albuminoids are perhaps the 

 most interesting of all these substances. Vegetable al- 

 bumen, fibrin and legumin are all of precisely the same 

 chemical composition, as will be more fully shown in a 

 succeeding chapter ; and it has been thought probable by 

 some competent physiologists, that these substances, of 

 which the albuminoids of the food are composed, are 

 converted directly m the animal system into the fibrin of 

 blood and flesh, and the caserne of milk. Thus the foods 

 which contain a large proportion of digestible albumi- 

 noids must be of the highest value to the dairyman, and 

 hence it is of great interest to know which of the grasses 

 are the best for use m the dairy, and in what condition 

 they are taken for food. A study of the above table is 

 therefore of much interest and use to those who are con- 

 cerned in the dairy business. 



It should not be passed without calling special notice 

 to the fact, that grass m its early stage of growth is 

 much more nutritious than at any after period. Good 

 pasture, it is seen, contains in its fresh state four and 

 a half per cent of matter which nearly all goes to make 



