158 AGRICULTURE. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



FOODS OF ANIMALS. 



USES OF FOODS. First of all, an animal requires food to 

 build up its body to form bone, flesh, muscle, organs, skin, 

 hair, wool, fat, etc. The material for all -these must be con- 

 tained in its food or the water it drinks. In the next place, it 

 requires food, or fuel, to keep it warm, to supply heat to the 

 body. Then it requires food to keep it alive a horse shut up 

 in the stable without food for a single day will suffer. This 

 food is necessary to replace the waste constantly taking place. 

 The body is constantly changing, and requires food to renew 

 it, whether the animal is working or standing still, whether 

 sleeping or awake. In the fourth place, work demands food. 

 An engine at work demands a supply of energy this comes 

 from the burning of the fuel under the boiler. A horse 

 moving about or doing work requires food to supply energy. 

 These four demands are made upon the food which is daily 

 given to an animal, and the food given should be chosen so as 

 to supply these demands. We have on page 159 a table of the 

 composition of the principal foods given to animals. This 

 table is simply for reference, and is given in order to get a 

 general idea of the great difference in the various foods used. 



WATER. We see that green grass, roots, and fodder corn 

 all have a large quantity of water from 75 to over 90 per 

 cent, (that is, pounds per hundred) whereas hay, straw and 

 grain have only from 12 to 16 per cent. Young plants that 

 are cut while still green are therefore succulent foods and are 

 eaten by animals in large quantities. As plants grow older 

 and mature, the amount of water that they contain gradually 

 decreases. 



