290 REARING, ETC. 



earthenware rod ; afterwards stir the acid and water quickly into 

 the flour, using the same rod or a wooden spoon for the purpose. 

 The dough should then be quickly put into common earthen 

 flower-pots, filling them about two-thirds full, and baked imme- 

 diately in a quick oven, rather hotter than for common bread. In 

 this method there is no loss or change by fermentation, and 

 the acid and soda combine to form common salt, so that there is 

 nothing pernicious to the dog, and yet the bread is light enough 

 to soak well. It has an agreeable natural taste, and keeps moist 

 and good for ten days, if in an airy place; it is also easily 

 prepared, not taking more than a quarter of an hour from the 

 commencement to the putting into the oven. There is also a 

 saving of 10 per cent, in the weight. In the common process the 

 saccharine part of the flour, with a portion of the gum and the 

 gluten, is lost by being converted into carbonic acid gas and spirit, 

 which are driven into the air by heat, and this waste is incurred 

 solely to obtain carbonic acid gas to raise the dough. In the 

 soda and acid process the gas is obtained in a much more simple 

 way, without loss and without decomposition of the nutritive 

 materials existing in the flour. Wheat and oatmeal may be mixed 

 in any proportion which may agree best with the dogs, and which 

 varies a good deal in different districts, according to climate, 

 soil, and warmth. 



