448 Abstract Report of Agricultural Discussions. 
In France, wtere mangold is employed in the manufacture of sugar, 
a moderately-sized root is much preferred to a large one ; and a crop 
of 14 or 15 tons per acre is all that is desired. The worth of the 
large root may be dependent upon the length of time during which it 
is stored ; and there may be some analogy between the ripening of 
mangold and that of our choice pears. 
Meeting of WeeJtly Council, April 30th. Mr. Raymond Barkek, 
Vice-President, in the Chair. 
Cooking Food for Cattle. 
Mr. Frere said, This question chiefly affects the arable farms on 
which a great breadth of straw is grown, which is to be converted 
into manure, and the problem is to make that straw, as far as 
possible, profitable for food. In Professor Voelcker's paper on Straw 
in the last number of the Journal, this passage occurs : — " It is 
undoubtedly a fact that some practical feeders are in possession of 
the secret of converting considerable quantities of straw into beef. 
What this secret is, perhaps, is not known even to themselves. It 
may be that the combination in which straw is given, or the pre- 
paration to wliich it is submitted before it is placed in the food- 
trough, has something to do with the success that attends its use ; 
but it is yet more probable that on farms where straw is econo- 
mically cut into chaff and given to cattle, its condition, fiom early 
harvesting and other influences, is better than in other locali- 
ties, where a practice prevails of allowing corn to become over-ripe 
tefore it is cut." Professor Voelcker in his paper also points out 
that straw contains albuminous compounds varying from to 
3 per cent., oil from 1 to 2 per cent., the remainder being woody 
fibre ; and the inference is, that straw cannot rank high as a heat- 
producing material, unless the cellular and woody fibre can be 
assimilated. He further remarks, " That this is so in grass, clover, 
and roots, there can be no doubt." He then, led by the analogy of 
the digestive process in animals, tries the effect of treating the straw 
with dilute acids and alkalies, and finds that by this means a con- 
siderable quantity of the woody fibre, which is insoluble in water, 
is rendered soluble ; in wheat-straw as much as nearly 20 per cent., 
and in oat-straw, under f;ivourable circumstances, a more consider- 
able quantity ; there remaining in wheat-straw 54 per cent, which 
these diluted acids cannot act upon, but which, he remarks, the 
animals may still be able to digest in part. To the inquiry 
whether the farmer should attempt, in like manner, to employ 
these mineral acids in preparing the straw, the Professor's answer 
is distinctly in the negative : his aim should rather be to pro- 
duce a vegetable acid, such as lactic acid, by fermentation. The 
question, then, arises, are we able by any artificial means of 
cooking and preparing food, to originate such chemical changes as 
shall produce lactic or other forms of acid, so as to prepare the way 
for, and aid, the digestive process in the animal ? 
