126 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



March 



Here it is reduced to a liquid, and "the power 

 possessed bj' liquids and f,'ascs of penetrating and 

 passing tlirough membranes, is of the highest 

 pliysiological inqjortanfc ; indeed it is one of the 

 primary conditions of Ut'v. Tlie little cell, the 

 starting point of organization, is a cioserl bag — 

 without an aperture. All its nourishment must 

 therefore pass through this membranous Mall. So 

 also with the i)erfeet animal body. Currents and 

 rides of juices are constantly setting this Avay and 

 rliat, through the membranous sides of vessels. 

 Tlie liquified food is destined to pass into the blood, 

 Imt there is no open door or i)assage by which it 

 ran get there, and so it enters tlie circulating ves- 

 sels by striking at once through their sides." 



The result, then, is the same in animals and 

 vegetables. In reducing manures to fine con- 

 dition, before applying them to the soil, they 

 jiass through one of the processes of digestion, 

 or preparation, for the plant ; then, moistened 

 ill the soil, they pass through another, and if 

 heated, would go through a third. 



All Effort Expends Food. 



We have said above, that all effort by the 

 animal is sustained by food ; it follows, there- 

 fore, that all efibrt expends food. "VNHiy do 

 we allow (lie fattening ox to rest? Certainly, 

 so that he shall not expend his food on eiFort 

 Qf any kind, but divert all the nuti-itive prop- 

 erties of the food to fat and flesh. If an ox 

 eiiews thirty or forty pounds of dry hay in 

 twenty-four hours, there must be a consider- 

 able effort in it, and whate-fer is saved by 

 .T.tting that bay is clear gain, after deducting 

 the cost of cutting. 



The object of mastication of food is to com- 

 minute it, to break down its structure, and to 

 render it more easily acted upon by the gastric 

 juice, thus enabling the animal to appropriate 

 its nutriment. Now, the more finely divided 

 the food is, when subjected to the gastric 

 juice, the more easily and rapidly it is di- 

 "■ested. For when finely divided it presents 

 many hundred times more surface to the action 

 of the digesting fluid. 



If fresh grass is fed to cattle, or any other 

 succulent food, "the fibre is easily broken and 

 reduced to a pulpy mass ; but not so with dry, 

 woody fibre, which must be broken and com- 

 minuted before the food contained in it is ac- 

 cessible for animal nutrition. This the aninml 

 seldom doc;s, and especially the non-ruminat- 

 ing ; therefore, it becomes -highly necessary 

 that we should assist the animal as much as 

 possible, in extracting the nutriment contained 

 in food." All food has to be ground up be- 

 fore it can be assimilated, and pass into the 

 circulation of the animal ; if we do not do it. 



the animal must prepare it himself. The ar- 

 gument is, that we can do it by the aid of 

 machinery cheaper than he can. 



Tliere are other points worthy of consider- 

 ation. The following assertion will not be 

 controverted, probably, by any one : "A 

 small portion of food, which an animal can at 

 once eat, digest, and make into its own bones, 

 muscle, and fat, is worth more than a large 

 quantity of some kind which it can only eat 

 with difllculty and digest slowly." 



Cells containing Nutriment must be Broken. 

 Much of the nutriment afforded to animals 

 in what they eat, is contained in little sacks or 

 globules. These globules vary in size, but 

 are always very small. The globules consti- 

 tuting meal, flour and starch, we are informed 

 by chemists, are incapable of affording any 

 nourishment as animal food until they are 

 hi'oken. "No mechanical method of breaking 

 or grinding is more than partially efficient. 

 The most efficient means are by steaming. 

 The fragments of the shells of these globules 

 are not nutritive, but are indispensable to 

 digestion, either from their distending the 

 stomach, or from some other cause not under- 

 stood. The economical preparation of afl 

 food containing globules or fecula, that is, 

 starch or the green matter of plants, consists 

 in perfectly breaking the shells of the globules 

 and rendering the gummy matter contained in 

 them soluble,, and digestible, while the frag- 

 ments of the shells are at the same time ren- 

 dered more bulky, so as the more readily to 

 fill the stomach. 



Another Keason for Cutting Fodder. 



It is said by high authoiity that hay cut fine 

 affords much more nutriment than hay when 

 fed uncut. The philosophy of this is, that 

 hay contains woody fiber, which, notwithstand- 

 ing its hardness, if only made soluble, is iden- 

 tical with starch ; and as nutritious and fat- 

 forming. Hence when hay is cut fine it is 

 better masticated, absorbs more saliva, and of 

 course it becomes more soluble in the animal's 

 stomach ; soaking the hay for 24 hours, wet- 

 ting with scalding water or steaming it, will 

 make it still more soluble. 



Our constant practice in feeding 30 head of 

 stock, is to cut all the fodder, hay, straw and 

 corn fodder, add whatever grain is used in 

 the form of meal, sprinkle, throw into a heap 

 and let it remain 24 hours before feeding it 



