CHAPTER IX. 



The Sources of Tenderness in Cattle. 

 Why some Cattle are tender, while otheis are hardy. 



Much has been said on the subject of "animal heat" by 

 various writers ; and tenderness or lack of power to endure 

 exposure, particularly to cold, is usually treated so as to in- 

 crease inactivity, which undoubtedly increases tenderness. 

 As a farmer, we desire a little more light on these subjects, 

 which we consider as fully as our limited space allows. 

 Tenderness results from deficiency of heat in the skin and 

 the body of the animal, and the source and supply of heat 

 may be therefore considered. 



Heat is contained in a latent or stored up inactive 

 state in food, as it also is in the coal or wood used for fuel. 

 When the wood or coal is disorganized by burning, the 

 heat is set free as the fuel burns, and becoming active, in- 

 stead of latent, it radiates from the points of its liberation 

 in tlie fire through the walls of the stove, so warming our 

 rooms, in all directions. This result is due to the supply 

 of oxygen in the air, that rushes into the fire, there com- 

 bining with the carbon and other substances contained in 

 the fuel. The agitation that results from the union of 

 oxygen Avith elements of fuel, has been called combustion ; 

 the result being the disorganization of the fuel, and the 

 liberation, and active distribution of the heat derived 

 from it. 



In a somewhat similar manner the food of man and 

 animals contains latent heat ; the digestible parts of the 

 food being reduced to small particles by mastication, and 



