THE MAMMALIA—MAN AND BEASTS. 



99 



meatation, which the grain undergoes when used for mating beer. By this means, 

 the saccharine principle becomes more fully developed, while the food is unquestionably 

 made more digestible and nutritious. Hence cattle-dealers seek with avidity, and em- 

 ploy with great advantage, the residue of breweries, distilleries, and starch manufacto- 

 ries. A part of the grain thus prepared, or its refuse, is used largely for feeding 

 •attle in Beloium, Alsace, and generally in the immediate neighbourhood of all large 

 manufacturing towns. The nutritive properties of the food are further augmented by 

 rendering it sour, or at least, it tends in this state to render the digestive function 

 more energetic. Hence, the farinaceous substances used for food, especially when it 

 u intended to fatten the cattle, are made in a great number of places to undergo the 

 acetous fermentation. Indeed, all the modes of preparation already enumerated are 

 but little useful to animals destined for hard labour. Seasoning renders the food more 

 agreeable to their taste, more digestible, and therefore more profitable. Common 

 jalt is probably the most powerful and useful of all substances for this purpose, and 

 hence it is employed almost every where with advantage. It sharpens the appetite, 

 excites to drink, facilitates digestion, renders the flesh of animals intended for the 

 table of a superior quality, and either promotes or supphes the acidity induced by the 

 second stage of fermentation. All Mammalia seek salt with as much avi 'ity in their 

 wild state as in that of domestication, and show a degree of pleasure, which is a sure 

 index of its utility when mixed with their food, and of its power of correcting the 

 hurtful qualities of their aliment when it happens by some accident to have become 

 vitiated. 



In addition to those precautions, which are essential to the proper selection and 

 preparation of food for the domestic animals, it is of great importance to regulate the 

 rations or quantity of food distributed to them at intervals, in order that they may be 

 rendered as profitable as possible. The quantity of food ought always to be in pro- 

 portion to their age, state of health, the violence of their exercise, and final destina- 

 tion, always observing, at the same time, the general principle, that the quantity of 

 the food must be more considerable when it is less substantial, as any diminution of 

 its nutritive qualities can only be compensated by a proportional increase of its quan- 

 tity. It is always impossible to determine, in a fixed snd positive manner, how much 

 of each kind of food an animal should consume in a given time, because this depends 

 apon a great number of circumstances relative to its species, its race or breed, the 

 peculiar constitution of the individual, its employment, as well as its age and state of 

 health. The daily allowances further change with the very variable nature of their 

 food, the difierent ways in which it is administered, the state of the atmosphere, the 

 •easonof the year, and several other circumstances, all of which should be taken intocon- 

 iideration before we can determine their proper daily rations with any degree of accu- 

 racy. Hence result the various and contradictory opinions emitted on the subject by 

 most writers who have attempted to fix quantities. Some have laid down as a principle, 

 that certain domestic animals will daily consume the third part of their weight of watery 

 food, such as turnips, beet-root, or green clover ; while others have fixed for the 

 lame animals a fourth part of their weight of cabbages, carrots, and parsnips, and 

 a fifth or a sixth of beet-root, potatoes, and Jerusalem artichokes. There must be, 

 however, a great variation according to the difi"erent circumstances just enumerated. 

 It appears to us that all these matters should be regulated by particular and in- 

 dividual trials, and be left wholly to experience. This is of more real use than 

 the futile attempts made in most practical books to fix quantities, and which only 

 lerye to demonstrate the real ignorance of the persons attempting to enforce them. 

 Physiologists, and all who have studied this matter properly, know very well, that 

 although there are certain well ascertained general laws which regulate the entire 

 animal economy, each individual possesses a peculiar constitution, or idiosyncrasy ; 

 which more or less serves to modify these laws. Hence we frequently find a dis- 

 parity of effects resulting from the same apparent or reaf cause, and these varjatiorts 

 ihow themselves in the quantity of food which animals consume, as well as on a 

 great many other occasions, the explanation of which can only be obtained on the 

 principles already explained. 



Along with the really nutritive food, there must always be mixed a certain quan- 

 tity of ballast, that is, of some coarse and slightly nutritious food, otherwise the 

 lides of the stomach, as well as the intestines, will not be sufficiently distended 

 and stimulated, so as to perform completely the functions for which Nature intended 

 them. Unless this condition is rigorously attended to, the digestion, elaboration, 

 and assimilation of the nutritive juices, will always be incomplete even in healthy 

 and well constituted animals. It is therefore a very important error to overload the 

 stomachs of these animals with any very nutritious food unmixed, even when it is 

 exclusively intended to 'fatten them. 



In respect to the distribution of their food, it is only necessary to notice one ex- 

 cellent maxim. Good food, a Utile at a timCt and ojten ; they should be allowed 

 to eat quietly and slowly in order that they may digest the largest quantity of food 

 in the shortest possible time. Regular intervals of feeding should be observed, with 

 occasional fasting, which serves to appetize them, and give an impulse to their di- 

 gestive organs. They should not, however, be allowed to grow impatient, which 

 occasions a loss of animal force and nutrition. Digestion never proceeds rapidly as 

 long as the animal continues eating. It is only when sufficiently filled that the 

 circulation becomes accelerated, the temperature of the body more elevated, and 

 digestion proceeds with its greatest activity.. All these phenomena succeed in the 

 course of a few hours, after which the temperature of the body falls, the respira- 

 tion becomes moderate, and hunger returns. It is only at this time that more food 

 should be given, in small rations at a time ; and when treated in this manner, the 

 animal consumes less, and derives more benefit from its food. 



To alternate and vary the kind of food used is always necessary, because the continual 

 nse of the same aliment does not sharpen the appetite so well as a judicious selec- 

 tion and rotation. A variety of food serves to stimulate the digestive organs, and 

 prevent that di=gust which the same diet continued too long always occasions by its 

 wuformity. Care should be taken, in respect to these changes of food, to avoid a 

 nodea alteration of diet, especially from green to dry food, or vice versa, for these 

 arc always more or less prejudicial. It is also very important not to overload th« 



stomachs of labouring animals, immediately before they set out to their work, as is 

 too frequently done, for this often occasions indigestion, or at least renders it imper- 

 fect or laborious. From want of food or other circumstances, these animals are often 

 obliged to submit to a long fast, which they are always better able to endure in pro- 

 portion as their food has been the more substantial. 



There are some domestic animals, such as the Camel and the Ass, which are re- 

 markable for their frugality, as well as their capacity of remaining long without food. 

 There are also some races of other animals which are equally celebrated for these 

 qualities ; and when they do not originate in some constitutional defect, or from ill 

 health, and when it is not effected at the expense of their other useful properties, this 

 forms a powerful inducement for propagating some races in preference to others. 

 The Mule is an instance of the above, as well as some of the improved breeds. A 

 quantity of barley, equal to about one feed, is sufficient, according to the report of 

 travellers, for the daily maintenance of an Arabian saddle Horse, after a long jour- 

 ney in the deserts ; while a European Horse performing the same service would have 

 consumed, in the same time, a much larger quantity of barley, besides a considerable 

 bulk of hay and straw. The remarkable frugality of the former, although doubtless 

 owing to an original constitution improved by habit, is partly due to a difference in 

 the nutritive qualities of the food, as well as to the climate. If animals of the South 

 consume, in general, a smaller quantity of food than those of the North, this is in 

 part due to the circumstance, that the food is much more nutritious in the former 

 than in the latter case, and also that it possesses a greater specific gravity. It may 

 not be improper in this place to notice a remarkable error almost universally adopted 

 in this country, of giving out corn, which is the most substantial part of their food, 

 by 7neas\ire instead of by weighty as it has been ascertained by many trials, that the 

 quantity of really nutritive matter may vary in bulk by nearly one-half, according to 

 the quality of the corn. 



As the most useful and important of our domestic animals are herbivorous, it may 

 be advantageous briefly to notice here the general qualities of the several vegetable 

 substances which usually form the basis of their diet. 



The substances principally used for this purpose are, Isi, Grass, either fresh, or 

 under the form of Hay. 2rf, The Straw of the Cereal plants. 3(/, Leaves or 

 Stalks. Atht Roots or tubers. 5t/i, Seeds, Grains, or Fruits. Each of these sub- 

 jects adm'ts of being treated somewhat in detail. 



Grass is the most natural food of the herbivorous animals, and is often sufficient to 

 restore feeble animals to a good condition when they have fallen off, upon any other 

 kind of diet. This food is not, however, adapted for hard-working animals. 



The best kind of green food is fine, substantial, not very watery or faded, and 

 should not ha^e grown in a shady situation; it is usually found upon natural or arti- 

 ficial meadow-land. The Natural families of the Graiuineae and Leguminosae are the 

 most abundant in important Plants. In the former we may notice the Meadow- 

 grasses (Poa), Fescue*grassc3 {Festuca), Fox- tail-grasses (Ahpecurus), Oat-grasses 

 (Ave7ia)^ Cat's-tail-grasses (P/i/pum), Bent-grasses (.-/groi-^/i), Canary-grasses (P/m- 

 /ari's). Wheat -grasses (Triticum), the Barleys (^Hordeum), Hair-grasses (AiraJ, 

 Soft-grasses i^Holcm)^ Dug's-tail-grasses {Cynosurvs), Quaking-grasses (Briza), 

 Millet-grasses (iViVnfm), and a few other genera. Of the Leguminosfc, the follow- 

 ing are the most remarkable: — The Medicks or Lucerns (Medicago), the Trefoils 

 (Trifolium), Ss.miio'ia (Oiwbrychis), the OTelilots (Melilotiis), the Vetches (Ficia)^ 

 the Tares (Ervum), the Milk- Vetches (Astragalus), and the Bird's-foot Trefoil 

 (LotJis). There are some plants, which not only have ihe property of exciting a 

 more abundant secretion of milk in those females which are fed thereon, but 

 also render it of an excellent quality; such are the roots of the Parsnip or 

 Carrot, and the stalks of the Maize; while others, such as the Garlics (Allium), 

 actually impart a disagreeable odour, or other unfavorable qualities. Each domestic 

 animal shows a marked predilection in favor of some plants, and either refuses cer- 

 tain others altogether, or feeds upon them only when compelled by a scarcity of food, 

 as Linnajus and several of his followers have long ago remarked. Not only do they 

 derive pleasure from particular parts of certain plants in preference to the remainder, 

 but the different states of vegetation in which each of them is found, as well as the 

 different situations and nature of the soil on which the plants grow, contribute still 

 more strongly in determining their choice. With a very small number of exceptions, 

 we find in general that when plants are in their flowering state, or one which nearly 

 approaches to it, they are most nutritious. At this time, their nutritive particles 

 are diffused abundantly and equally throughout the whole plant, and they hold a 

 middle state between the aqueous condition which is too relaxing, or not sufficiently 

 nutritious, and the ligneoun condition, which renders difficult the functions of mas- 

 tication, deglutition, and digestion. In general, also, medium qualities of the soil, 

 as well as intermediate stations, should be preferred for pasture grounds. 



After numerous comparative trials made at Upsal in Sweden upon the common 

 plants of the meadows, fields, and other pasture lands, it was found, by M. Hessel- 

 green, that the plants used by each species of domestic animals vary greatly in num- 

 ber. His results are represented in the following table : — 



Of 575 Plants, the Goat eats 449, and refuses 126 

 528 the Sheep 387, 141 



494 the Bull 276, 218 



474 the Horse 262, 212 



243 the Pig 72, 171 



This serves to indicate that the Goat is the least delicate in his taste, and can eat 

 without inconvenience a great number of plants hurtful to other species. The Sheep 

 feeds upon nearly three-fourths of all the plants it encounters ; the Oxen and Horses 

 refuse nearly one-half, while the Hog can eat the leaves and roots comparatively of 

 a very small number of species. The above results are, however, very incomplete^ 

 and must be considered merely as approximations. 



Subsequently to the investigations of M. Hesselgreen, M. Yvart examined nearly 

 seven hundred of the most common plants of France, or those capable of being na- 

 turalized there, and as his inquiry appears to have been conducted with moch care. 



