132 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



The magnificent pippin, with all our improved apples, are 

 supposed to have sprung from the wild crab, and each of 

 these improved products ripen earlier than the parent 

 stock. Are they less perfect? The illustration may be 

 carried into every department of vegetable and animal 

 growth 



It thus appearing that the quality of the flesh must 

 depend upon the quality of the food; and that all food 

 produces a greater profit when fed to young than mature 

 animals thus showing the great importance of early ma- 

 turity as an element in the profit of growing animals for 

 their flesh. 



But so far we have treated the subject more from the 

 standpoint of general principle and theory than of definite 

 experiments, which appeal more forcibly to the practical 

 stock-feeder's judgment, and are more likely to control his 

 action. It may be laid down as an axiom, that 



PROFITABLE FEEDING MUST BE DONE BEFORE MATURITY. 



Let us fortify this position by facts and experiments. 



As we have seen, the digestive and assimilative organs of 

 the young animal are in the greatest activity ; and thus the 

 stock-grower must take advantage of this period to pro- 

 duce the best result in feeding. Careful experiments show 

 a constant increase in the food required to produce a pound 

 of live weight, as the animal increases in size and age. 



Two separate experiments were tried at the Michigan 

 Agricultural College Farm, in 1866-68. In the former, 

 three pigs, and in the latter, six pigs were fed upon milk. 

 The pigs were from four to six weeks old at the commence- 

 ment of the experiment. The average amount of milk to 

 produce one pound of live weight, was : first week, 6.76 

 pounds; second week, 7.75 pounds; third week, 12.28 

 pounds'; fourth week, 10.42 pounds. The professor says 



