STEEPING THE FOOD OF CATTLE IN WATER. 581 
water to make it weigh 100 lbs. after an infusion in water for 
twelve hours. It is therefore thought that by this means the dry 
fodder is again, in some measure, restored to the state of green 
food. It has been the general opinion that in the warm and dry 
state in which cattle are usually kept, moistened food would be 
more profitable than the dry hay with which they are usually fed 
when grass or fresh clover cannot be obtained. 
It was the wish to decide this question which induced me to 
make a comparative trial for the purpose of observing the effect of 
steeping the food. I entrusted the details of this experiment to 
M. Eugene Opperman, who is studying practical agriculture under 
my care at Bechellbronne. Four heifers, aged 17 to 19 months, 
were divided into two lots; the one of these (No. 1) was fed with 
new land hay, No. 2 received the same food previously steeped 
in water twelve hours. Each lot received besides 3 lbs. of old land 
hay for each lOOlbs. of live weight. The following is the result 
of a trial of fourteen days : — 
Food. 
Weight at 
commencement. 
Grain in 
weight. 
Gain per 
day. 
Weight 
after 14 
days. 
Weight 
of food 
con- 
sumed. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
Steeped. . 
1604 
51 
»i 
1655 
624 
Dry 
1715 
45 
Si 
1760 
693 
This experiment was then repeated, inverting the order of the 
lots, so that the moistened food was given to the heifers which had 
previously received the dry food. The result again obtained did 
not differ materially from that given above : it was as follows : — 
1st lot, which had dry food, gained in fourteen days 51 lbs.; 
2d lot, which had steeped food, gained in fourteen days 49 lbs. 
This slight advantage gained by moistening the food is so small 
as to cause a doubt that it may not be the result of an error in the 
experiment, and should it prove a real gain it is too small to repay 
the manual labour and trouble caused by steeping the food. 
In the course of the experiment M. Oppermann observed that 
the cattle ate the moist hay more rapidly than the dry. The one 
lot consumed the steeped food in 45 minutes, whilst the other occu- 
pied an hour in eating their “ ration” of dry hay. Greater rapidity 
of consumption may possibly, in some cases, be an advantage ; for 
example, in fattening, when it is necessary to give as much rest 
as possible. No doubt, also, the soft moist food, by its easy mas- 
tication may be of advantage to very young calves when the milk 
is taken from them. In a word, dry hay, after it has absorbed 
two or three times it weight of water, ought to give; the same ad- 
VOL. XX. 4 H 
