150 Cattle Problems. 



grow, which, in this case, is according to bulk in its vari- 

 ous contents. Hence it is not necessary to further insist 

 on the, evident influence of bulk in the air inhaled by the 

 lungs to maintain the natural size of their cells, and of the 

 whole breathing organ ; and in maintaining due size in the 

 digestive organs and surrounding growth of cattle and other 

 domestic animals, this being most conspicuously necessary 

 in cattle, sheep, and horses. 



If concentrated food were substituted for the natural 

 proportion of bulky fodder in feeding growing calves, 

 heifers, and steers, from their first use of natural proven- 

 der, their stomach and entire alimentary canal would neces- 

 sarily contract to the small bulk of their contents. The 

 natural size of the body would be thus reduced, and ani- 

 mals so fed would soon present the tucked-up appearance 

 of the race horse or Greyhound, thus changing their 

 natural form, as well as reducing the size of cattle. Or, if 

 they were grass-fed in summer and meal-fed in winter, the 

 alimentary canal would be contracted in one season and 

 expanded in the other, according to the change in the 

 bulk of the feed, a result that is equally unnatural and un- 

 necessary. If young growing stock were fed in this way 

 until the age of maturity, their size would be considerably 

 reduced by such unnaturally concentrated feeding. 



If the practice be recommended for cows because no in- 

 jurious consequences appear in the short period of a few 

 months, that is no justification of a practice that cannot 

 generally be carried out, because of its inconsistency with 

 the necessary bulk that is required to facilitate digestion, 

 as well as to maintain size in the successive parts of the ali- 

 mentary canal ; as one, and by no means an unimportant, 

 condition that is essential in maintaining the natural size 

 in the animals, due proportion in bulk as well as nutriment 

 being required in feed to produce the best permanent re- 

 sults in feeding^any class of farm animals j and while con- 



