1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



5Go 



mixed with some fatty substance, and that 

 those which are the richest in the muscle-form- 

 ing ingredients produce a comparatively small 

 effect, unless they contain also, or are mixed 

 with, a connderable proportion of fatty matter. 

 The strict observation of a few general rules, 

 in fattening animals, will ensure profit in the 

 process. 



1. Food should be so prepared that its nu- 

 tritious properties may be all made available to 

 the use of the animal ; and not only so, but 

 appropriated with the le;;st possible expendi- 

 ture of muscular energy. The pig that eats 

 raw potatoes or whole corn, when either 

 cooked could be eaten in one quarter of the 

 time, may indeed fatten, but much less rap- 

 idly than if it were given in a proper manner. 

 All food should be given in such a state to 

 fattening animals, that as little time as possible, 

 on the part of the animals, shall be required in 

 eating. 



2. We have spoken of the importance of 

 mixed food. It will be well, occasionally, to 

 give the animal some one article, by itself, of 

 that which goes to make up the mixed food,— 

 that is, a handful of corn, a few raw potatoes, 

 a few carrots or pieces of pumpkins, and if 

 the animal seems to relish them, continue the 

 treatment. But from the time the fattening 

 process continues, as long as the animal is fed, 

 he should never be hungry,— but, at the same 

 tune, never be fed so liberally as to leave food 

 standing before him. The animal that is 

 stuffed and starved by turns may have streaked 

 meat, but it will be made too slowly for the 

 pleasure or the profit of the good farmer. 



3. One of the most essential p ints in feed- 

 ing animals is regularitij. If fed irregularly 

 the animal will consume his food, but will soon 

 acquire a restless disposition be disturbed at 

 every appearance of his feeder, and never in 

 that quiet state so necessary to take on fat. 



Horses that are fed regularly will scarcely 

 notice a person coming into the stable between 

 their regular hours of being fed ; but if at the 

 usual feeding hour, they paw and whinner, and 

 say as emphatically as their power of speech 

 will allow,— "It is my dinner time, and I want 

 it now !" 



4. Allow nothing to take place to disturj 

 them while eating, or indeed, at any other 

 time. 

 It is said that animals fatten better in the 



dark than in the light ; but we protest, with 

 all the feeling we can express, against shutting 

 out any of God's creatures from the blessed 

 sunlight which he has made to fall on all. 

 There is no need of it. All they want is to 

 be quiet. If fed abundantly, and the places 

 which they occupy are comfortable, they will 

 soon subside into a most quiet and thrifty habit. 

 Even the most irritable of them will soon con- 

 form themselves to their new circumstances, 

 if the demands of appetite and bodily com- 

 fort are all answered. There is no surer 

 proof that an ox or a pig is doing well than to 

 see it eat its meal quickly and then re- 

 tire to its bed until the hour of feeding re- 

 turns. It is poor policy, always, to make a 

 pig earn his living by rooting over manure. 

 He requires extra food by such labor, as well 

 as the ox or horse, that works hard. 



5. Do not withhold cold water from fatting 

 animals. It is a cruel practice. Let them 

 have as much as they wish and they will fatten 

 all the faster for it. 



Fattening Swine 

 need a dry bed, entirely sheltered from cold 

 winds. Their apartment should be well ven- 

 tilated, sweet and clean, and if their food is 

 slightly soured they will fatten faster upon it, 

 and their flesh be whiter and more delicate. In 



Fattening Sheep 

 their food should be so prepared as to require 

 as little labor from the animal as possible in 

 eating it. 



Soiling and Pasturing.— At a late Fair 

 in Duchess county, N. Y., Horace Greeley 

 said he considered pasture land a nuisance, 

 and he advocated the universal adoption of the 

 soiling system. Wonder what he would do 

 with the results of the experiments, as to the 

 cost of keeping cows, published in the Farmer 

 last week. With good hay at only fifteen dol- 

 lars per ton, it appeared that the cost of keep- 

 ing a cow in the barn was about twenty-five 

 cents per day, and in pasture, on land worth 

 $iO per acre, the cost was less than seven and 

 a (luarter cents per day, at the State Reform 

 School Farm, Westborough, Mass. ; and on 

 Gov. Boutwell's farm, the cost of keeping in 

 the stable was the same as at Westborough, 

 while the pasture feed was estimated at ten 

 cents per day. Circumstances govern cases, is 

 an old adage that some of our enthusiastic 



