Cooking Food for Cattle. 
451 
because the animals which were then fed on diy oilcake did not 
give the increase they ought to have given. The average increase 
on that particular set of animals was something like 1 to every 
18 parts of dry food consumed, and in other papers he had stated 
that an increase of 1 from 12 was more like the real average. In 
such cases conclusions should only bo drawn fi-om data of sufficient 
extent ; looking to individual results only leads to error. To draw 
conclusions in favour of cooking from these experiments alone was, 
therefore, hardly fair. 
In this question there were two points to be considered. The 
first was, whether the increased labour and fuel expended in the 
cooking were not equivalent to the saving ; and he thought that, 
taking the gross increase, there was a slight saving. The second 
was, whether the increase in the animal fed on cooked food was 
as good as that produced by uncooked food ? On this point lie was 
disposed to think that the quality of the meat was inferior when the 
food was cooked. If pigs were always fed on boiled swedes and 
meal, although they might increase very fast and be very profitable 
to the seller, still it would be found out by degrees that the quality 
of the pork was bad. The butcher would ultimately refuse to buy, 
and would say that such pork, to use a common expression, "boiled 
away." All animals as they fattened had a certain amount of water 
displaced ; that was to say, they contained less and less water ; but 
if they were fed with boiled swedes and meal, the water would 
increase as well as the fat. Some time ago he fed one animal on 
steeped barley and another on dry barley, with a view of testing 
the merits of the two systems of feeding. The animal which was 
fed on the steeped barley increased very fast, while the increase on 
the other was comparatively slow. They were both killed ; the 
loins and other parts were cooked in the establishment, and it 
turned out that there was much more waste in the former case than 
in the latter. The question whether the increase from cooked or 
from dry food is the most economical, was one of considerable 
nicety, on which at that moment they had not sufficnent facts to 
guide their opinion ; but he should not himself expect to find any 
great difference in the results. Supposing a man saved 201. a-year 
by the use of cooked food, and that he spent 10?. on labour, and 
10/. more on coals in consequence, he would in reality be a loser by 
the cooking, because there would be less manure. Some years ago 
Mr. Warne's system of cooking was very extensively adopted, but it 
did not seem to maintain its ground. 
But a new phase of the question had been suggested, namely, 
whether natural cooking or fermenting might not be advantageously 
substituted for artificial heat. It should, however, be borne in mind 
that all fermentation meant the loss of a certain quantity of carbon 
consequent on decomposition. In all food the most valuable consti- 
tuent was the carbon. If they mixed sugar or saccharine matter 
with woody fibre, they got a certain amount of heat together which 
might soften and render the latter more digestible ; but that was 
2 G 2 
