FOOD OF PUPPIES. 265 
at a higher price, being from £12 to £18 per ton, according to the 
season. But a much larger bulk of thick stuff, commonly called 
“puddings,” is produced by oatmeal than can be obtained from any 
other meal in proportion to weight, the absorption of water being 
greater, and also varying in different qualities of oatmeal itself; so 
that, after all, this meal is not so expensive as it looks to be, when 
comparing an equal weight of it with barley or Indian meal. The 
real coarse Scotch oatmeal yields the greatest bulk of puddings, 
and is to be preferred on that account; besides which, it appears 
to agree best with dogs, and altogether is a very superior article ; 
but in any.case it ought to be nearly a year old. It may, there- 
fore, be considered that Indian meal or Scotch oatmeal, both of 
which may always be procured from the corn-dealers, will be the 
best meal, unless the price of wheat-flour can be afforded, when 
the best red wheat should be coarsely ground and not dressed, 
and in this state made into biscuits or dumplings, or used to 
thicken the broth. 
If Indian meal is employed, it must be mixed with water or 
broth while cold, and then boiled for at least an hour, stirring it 
occasionally to prevent burning. If it is intended to mix oat- 
meal with the Indian meal, the former may be first mixed with 
cold water to a paste, and then stirred in after boiling the latter 
for three quarters of an hour; then boil another quarter, reckoning 
from the time that the contents of the copper came to the boiling- 
_ point a second time. . 
Wheat-jlour should be boiled from fifteen to twenty minutes, 
and may be mixed with the oatmeal in the same way as the Indian 
meal, 
Oatmeal pudding and porr adge or sttr oor are made as follows; 
the first name being given to it when so thick as to bear the 
weight of the body after it is cold, and the last two to a somewhat 
thinner composition. In any case the meal is stirred up with cold 
water to a thick paste, and, when quite smooth, some of the broth 
should be ladled out and added to it, still stirring it steadily. 
Then return the whole to the copper, and stir till it thickens, ladle 
out into coolers, and let it “set,” when it will cut with a spade 
and is quite solid. The directions as to length of time for the 
boiling of oatmeal vary a good deal, some preferring at least halt 
