FEEDING OF SUGAR TO CATTLE. 307 



cause may remain concealed, the effect will be very evident. 

 An injudicious application of the food, giving too much or too 

 little, neglect of watering, in short, any deviation from what is 

 proper will prevent the beast thriving." It was urged that no 

 experiments in feeding sugar to cattle be done by persons who 

 may neglect details, for the results obtained would be very mis- 

 leading. 



Oil cake in feeding had at first a certain opposition to con- 

 tend with, but in the end it became popular. Those using the 

 product claimed that the resultant meat had a peculiar taste, 

 which differed from that obtained when the cattle were fed upon 

 grass. An interesting fact was noticed, that cattle thus fed 

 " travelled very badly and fell away on the road. These objec- 

 tions by no means exist in the use of sugar; so far from com- 

 municating anything disagreeable to the beef, it gives it all that 

 fine rich taste and marbled appearance of the finest grass-fed 

 meat. * * * In the West Indian trade it is the custom to feed 

 cattle in those islands with oil cakes. * * * One is surprised 

 that the most nutritive food in nature * * * has been thrown 

 in their way," and not used. As regards feeding molasses to 

 sheep, it was declared that the condition and appearance of the 

 animals would change if the product was given a fair trial. The 

 proposed manner of feeding was as follows: "Let a quantity 

 of molasses, diluted in water, be sprinkled with a common 

 gardener' s-pot and have the sheep driven to the spot; they will 

 not be long there till they find something very palatable in the 

 taste of the grass. * * * They will eat the grass down to the 

 root. By this means they eat away the heart, and in a very 

 short time it will perish and totally disappear, leaving room for 

 a more valuable and useful kind to grow, which the dung of the 

 sheep will contribute to encourage. ' ' 



As regards pen feeding, it was declared that "with molasses 

 and chaff of any description placed in troughs, a mode of man- 

 agement which they will soon come into, they will thrive as 

 well as if wandering over a large pasture. When they once 

 become accustomed to it, the farmer will find it the most ex- 

 peditious mode of fattening and by far the cheapest; a sheep on 

 sugar-feeding will carry a quantity of fat meat, greater in pro- 



