268 [Assembly 



Professor Mapes— No doubt of it ; because the human stomach 

 and that of a hog, can digest such fatty matter, as we see in the 

 Esquimaux, who eat train oil 5 but for an ox to be fed such stuff, 

 shows how little the feeder knows about his own business. The 

 small amount of oil in oil cake, like that almost dry substance, 

 (the cotton seed oil cake,) upon the table, injures the health of 

 the ox very soon without being mixed with other food very 

 largely, to act as a divisor, and it is simply ridiculous to talk of 

 feeding cattle with oil, and I only rise to refute such nonsense, 

 for fear it might go forth as a sentiment of this club. Fatty mat- 

 ter, such as chandlers' greaves, may be fed to swine, and so may 

 treacle, or the cheap residuum of the sugar house, be fed to cattle 

 or hogs in limited quantity, mixed with other food, but it would 

 not be healthy to give it clear, notwithstanding they would ^row 

 fat, like the negroes in sugar-making time, but a continued use of 

 such food, without grain or roots, would injure the animal's 

 health. So necessary is it that all rich food should be largely 

 diluted, that we cannot feed grain alone; and the ruta baga tur- 

 nip, so very valuable for cattle, is ninety-three parts water. All 

 the nutritive matter is in the other seven parts. 



Solon Robinson — Some years ago, the British government tried 

 the experiment of feeding cavalry horses in the West Indies with 

 sugar, because it was cheaper than anything else, and because it 

 fatted the animals at first very fast, and so they continued it, and 

 finally found it did not hurt them any, it only killed them, that's 

 all. It would be just as reasonable for a farmer to fat pork to 

 feed his horse as to think of making beef of it. 



THE BENEFITS OF AN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 



The subject of the day was now taken up. 



Professor Mapes — By what means can agricultural truths be 

 disseminated 7 All agree that agricultural education is at the 

 lowest ebb, and that some means should be devised for its im- 

 provement; but how? Agricultural colleges have distinctly 

 failed; the experiment is fairly abandoned by practical men; and 

 while they admit their usefulness for the preparation of teachers, 

 all know that but few of those educated in the^e colleajes become 



