ANIMALS AND THEIR PRODUCTS. 115 



mals, and must feed them accordingly — some for work- 

 ing, some for fattening, some for milking, and others 

 for growing. These different purposes for feeding re- 

 quire diiferent kinds of food. 2nd. He needs to un- 

 derstand the composition of his crops, in order to know 

 on- which class of animals to bestow particular crops. 

 It is not my purpose to lay down fixed rules. If 

 the farmer observe carefully the effect of his feeding, 

 he will learn to feed well without such rules ; if not, 

 he will never feed well, though he have as many rules 

 as there are in an American cook-book. General prin- 

 ciples, however, may be of use. 



205. We will suppose that the farmer has disposed 

 of his fall feed, of his pumpkins, his apples, and other 

 perishable matters, so as to have brought his stock up 

 to the front of solid winter in high order. This is an 

 important step towards carrying them through profit- 

 ably. We will suppose also that he has prepared for 

 winter ; that he has provided pure water in his yard, 

 a trough under cover from which the inmates of the 

 yard may lap salt, or let it alone, at pleasure, separate 

 stalls for his animals as they are to be fed for different 

 purposes, and above all, a plenty of litter for the pur- 

 pose of keeping his floors dry and warm. We will 

 suppose further that he has good hay, second-rate hay, 

 and very poor hay ; that he has corn and oats, carrots 

 and turnips, a few quarts of bone-dust for his milch 

 cows, which they will reject, if their hay contain suf- 

 ficient phosphate of lime, but will eat with great ad- 

 vantage if it do not. We must suppose also that if 

 he fuUy understands his business, he has provided and 



