FOOD 269 



convenient to boil the grain. Care should be taken that it 

 is not carried to excess and fermentation produced, which 

 would certainly be productive of intestinal disturbance. 



Ge7'mination. 



This has been dealt with when speaking of 'malt' 

 (p. 246). 



Fermentation. 



This has been described as a good method of preparing 

 straw for fattening cattle and sheep, by which means it is 

 said to be rendered more soluble. The straw is mixed with 

 the other food ingredients and damped, being allowed to 

 remain until fermentation occurs. How far this is a 

 reliable method in practical feeding there is not much 

 evidence to show. 



Ensilage, which is only another form of fermentation, has 

 previously been dealt with (p. 231). 



Cooking. 



Food may be cooked by steam or by boiling in the 

 ordinary way. The foods so dealt with are the various 

 grains including linseed, and certain ' roots,' such as 

 potatoes. 



It is mainly in the fattening of cattle that the steaming 

 or cooking of foods is employed, for there appears no doubt 

 that boiled foods induce the deposition of fat. They are 

 frequently given to horses on this account in order to pre- 

 pare them for sale. 



We have in previous pages dealt with this question of 

 boiled foods for horses, and set our face strongly against the 

 process for animals in health. We raise no such objection 

 in the case of fattening cattle, for here there is no question 

 of their being kept under physiological conditions. 



It is said that the steaming of straw and hay increases 

 their digestibility, but by others this is denied, and experi- 

 mental enquiry shows that as a rule there is a loss of 



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