Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 70L 



Was butchered fifteen days later ; Iiis beef weighed 1,550 pounds, 

 had 26-i pounds rough f\\t, and was, as you may suppose, excellent 

 eating. 



From ten days old he ate a quart of meal and oats ; increased 

 gradually to two quarts, and the cow had all the meal she would eat 

 until spring. He ate three quarts per day the first summer, and had 

 first-rate grass. The second winter he ate four quarts per day of 

 meal and oats and two- quarts of roots. The second summer he had 

 four quarts per day of meal, and gradually increased his feed until 

 the last winter he ate eight quarts, and the best of hay always during 

 the winter, together with roots. 



Fat Animals as Food, 

 Dr. J. V. C. Smith.— I would not be satisfied, Mr. Chairman, to 

 allow this statement about very large and fat cattle to go out as an 

 indorsement of the popular prejudice in favor of such animals as the 

 most suitable for food. On the contrary, I am satisfied that when an 

 animal has become very fat he is more or less diseased, and for that 

 reason is not suitable for our tables. In early and pastoral times, 

 animals were never stall-fed, but taken from pastures where they had 

 free range and high health. In eastern travel I have noticed tliat 

 the Bedouin Arabs, even those that are old, still retain their vigor 

 and firm health. The accumulation of fat is mucli increased by cer- 

 tain conditions that induced a diseased state of the organs, The 

 famous j9a^5 de foi gras, or pie of fat geese livers, is produced by 

 nailing the poor animals to a floor in-a very hot room. Unable to 

 take exercise, and confined in a sweltering air, tlie poor creatures fall 

 sick, their livers enlarge to a monstrous size and often have abscesses 

 or sores upon them. When their sufferings are about sufficient to 

 produce death, their heads are taken oft", and these overgrown livers 

 used to make a pie, which is eaten by some gouty epicure, for which 

 he pays the price of many pounds of healthy natural flesh. Heat 

 and darkness promote the accumulation of fat, but they are inconsist- 

 ent with the highest efficiency and vigor of an animal. The best of 

 all meats is considered to be the flesh of birds and wild animals, and, 

 strange to say, the next best meat is considered to be the flesh of 

 animals confined and over-fattened. We cannot be wiser than Moses 

 was, and he expressly forbade the use of pork. As a physician, I have 

 noticed that the Jews, who religiously abstain from swine's flesh, are 

 remarkably free ft'om eruptions, carbuncles, boils and salt rheum. 



