44 KENNEL SECRETS. 



steam, the work of cooking this meal by boiling is diffi- 

 cult and laborious, for unless it is stirred constantly it is 

 quite sure to burn ; and in the absence of as careful 

 watching as the meal demands, but few to whom the duty 

 is intrusted are likely to stand over a hot fire the number 

 of hours required in the process. Therefore, if without a 

 steam cooker or boiler, all who must trust to hired help 

 not above suspicion should insist that after the puddings 

 have been made they be transferred from the kettles to 

 shallow baking pans, put into hot ovens, and kept there 

 for several hours at least, — and convenience suggests 

 over night — by which means they will be converted into 

 dry and crisp corn cakes, which are easily digested, 

 whereas a mass of half-cooked pasty pudding is like lead 

 to the stomach. 



Cakes made of this meal alone are serviceable merely 

 for admixture with meat and vegetables ; but were meat, 

 either cooked or raw, "beef -flour" or cracklings, added to 

 them in goodly quantities before baking they might with 

 propriety occasionally constitute an evening meal. 



Oatmeal compares favorably with wheat and corn as far 

 as relates to flesh-producing matter, and when it has been 

 rightly boiled some dogs digest it well, but with others 

 it very evidently disagrees ; while if improperly cooked 

 it is extremely indigestible and irritating to the lining 

 of the alimentary canal. And at best it is decidedly 

 " heating." 



Invariably, at least three hours of constant boiling are 

 required in its preparation, and this faithfully done, it may 

 be used to thicken broths or milk, but the quantity must 

 be small — much smaller than that of corn meal — and 

 only occasional use will be allowable, it being regarded 

 merely as a means of varying the diet not as a means of 

 nourishment. 



