Practical Experienctes in the Preparation of Food for Stocl-. 475 
protein, wHch was reduced from 46 per cent, to 30. Boiled bran given to 
oxen was le^ digestible than dry bran. Tlie digestibility of concentrated 
fodder is not increased by cooking." 
In the face of such pronounced results as the above it cannot 
be claimed for these systems that they make the foods them- 
selves more valuable. At the same time, as Sir John Lawes 
points out, they may have practical advantages, such as the 
avoidance of waste by making the most of the foods so prepared 
and by the more thorough incorporation of the various mixtures 
employed. Thus Mr. Henry Straker finds that with hot food 
treacle can be added and mixed more readily. In several 
cases, reference is made to the value of steaming as restoring 
damaged hay and making it more palatable eating for stock. 
For acred cattle with defective teeth, and voung stock, there 
may be considerable advantage also. 
Opinions are however not favourable for its use for stock which 
require hardiness, and several correspondents give a very decided 
opinion that animals that have been fed with cooked or steamed 
foods in covered yards do badly afterwards when grazing. 
For the purposes indicated, much also depends on the cook- 
ing and steaming being done cheaply and simply, and descriptions 
of some very good apparatus have been sent by certain of my 
correspondents. Three of these are of a character that may be 
adopted on any farm possessing a steam boiler. Where this is 
not the case, Messrs. Barford and Perkins's apparatus may be 
usefully employed. 
But it cannot be too strongly pointed out, that in no other 
branch of this enquiry is it so clearly shown that the advantages 
are clearly bounded by definite lines. Neither cooking nor 
steaming can be recommended beyond very small limits, and 
each feeder must really be the judge as to whether in his case 
any advantage can be gained. Ko less than 65 per cent, of my 
correspondents in this enquiry either have no opinion to offer 
on the subject or are opposed to the system, and only in 35 per 
cent, of the instances is the practice adopted. 
These are the lessons brought out in the enquiry. That 
they are of value cannot be doubted. Good feeding consists of 
making the best use of the foods available, or most cheaply 
obtainable, under given circumstances. Speaking broadly, 
chaflBng straw and hay, and giving these foods as a portion of a 
mixture (meals of com and cake and pulped roots being most 
usually added) may be generally adopted with advantage. 
Cooking and steaming cannot be so generally recommended. 
The value of these operations is clearly Limited, and — in the 
case of hardy animals — may be non-existent. Under some 
