120 
HINTS FOR THE MANAGEMENT AND FOOD OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
sary to produce the maximum of cheese and wool, 
the peculiar principle of the former, casein, and all 
the latter, being highly nitrogenized; whereas, if 
fatting alone is the object, roots may be plentifully 
added to the hay and grain. Cows do not yield so 
much cheese when confined in a stable, as when 
rambling freely over a pasture, though they will 
yield much more butter on the same food when 
confined. It is very properly supposed that exercise 
is essential to the fullest development of the casein 
in the milk, it bein<r produced by the consumption 
of the tissue, and its subsequent conversion into 
casein. 
Another great consideration in the economical 
management of animals is, that they be as well 
protected from cold and storms as circumstances 
will permit. The propriety of this will appear 
from the fact, that the expenditure of the carbon 
of the food above stated, is required to sustain the 
animal heat at the necessary temperature, and if 
this heat be abstracted from any cause, as exposure 
to cold, winds, or wet, an additional amount of 
food is consumed to supply the waste thus occa¬ 
sioned. This is an inevitable deduction from the 
most firmly established principles of science, and 
however the health and thrift of animals which 
are subject to such exposure may appear to contro¬ 
vert it, actual experiment has fully confirmed the 
absolute certainty of the conclusion. Animals may 
be as healthy, and thrive well when exposed to 
the inclemency of the weather, yet they will re¬ 
quire a much greater quantity of food to produce 
the same effect, than when properly housed and 
protected. 
Hens provided with a warm room, will lay all 
winter on the same food that they require without 
laying at all, when exposed to severe weather. 
Dr. Playfair states, that in an experiment made 
by Lord Ducie, 100 sheep were placed in a shed, 
and ate 20 pounds of Swedes turneps each per day; 
another 100 were placed in the open air, and ate 
25 pounds per day; yet the former, which had 
one fifth less food, weighed, after a few weeks, 3 
pounds more per head than the latter. He then 
fed 5 sheep in the open air between the 21st No¬ 
vember and 1st December. They consumed 90 
pounds of food per day, the temperature being at 
44 degrees; and at the end of this time they 
weighed 2 pounds less than when first exposed. 5 
sheep were then placed under a shed, and allowed 
to run about in a temperature of 49 degrees. At 
first they consumed 82 pounds per day; then 70 
pounds, and at the end of the time they had gain¬ 
ed 23 pounds. Again, 5 sheep were placed under 
a shed as before, and not allowed to take any ex¬ 
ercise. They ate at first 64 pounds of food per 
day, then 58 pounds, and increased in weight 30 
much reliance on the accuracy of Dr. D. to doubt it, the 
feeding of Indian corn to working animals is a most waste¬ 
ful system, as it affords really less material for muscle, 
which is the main thing required, than potatoes, which 
are usually worth not half the price: and if we add 
the salts to the above, which no doubt constitute an im¬ 
portant part of what is desired, it yields but 28 1-2 per 
cent, more than ruta-baga, which are worth but one fourth 
the average price of corn. The great and peculiar value 
of corn is seen in its fatting properties, containing, as it 
does, nearly 9-10 of its whole weight of this principle. 
pounds. Lastly, 5 sheep were kept quiet and cov¬ 
ered, and in the dark. They ate 35 pounds per 
day, and increased 8 pounds. 
Mr. Childers states, that 80 Leicester sheep in 
the open field, consumed 50 baskets of cut turnips 
per day, besides oil-cake. On putting them in a 
shed, they were immediately able to consume only 
30 baskets, and soon after but 25, being only one 
half the quantity required before, and yet they fat¬ 
ted as rapidly as when eating the largest quantity. 
The minimum of food then, required for the 
support of animals, is attained when closely con¬ 
fined in a warm, dark shelter; and the maximum, 
when running at large, exposed to all weathers. 
According to the above principles, no more 
wasteful system could be adopted for the rearing 
of horses in the state of Vermont, than is detailed 
by Mr. Meech, in his communication comprised 
under the questionable title of “ Transactions of 
N. Y. State Agricultural Society for 1841,” page 
302. If land is comparatively valueless, his expe¬ 
rience of the freedom of the animals from disease, 
may justify this system; but if they are required 
to maintain their growth and sustain their vital 
temperature, on the scanty gleaning afforded by 
the wintry pasture of “ from 400 to 500 acres,” in 
that high latitude, the land can yield but a mea¬ 
ger amount of profit. 
But let us look a little into the outward, visible 
world, exposed as it has been for 6,000 years to the 
unobstructed gaze of the multitude, and see what 
that teaches as to the correctness of the principles 
here laid down. Let us take the hybernating ani¬ 
mals for example, and see what they practise. 
We find the bear, that destroyed whole corn-fields 
in the autumn, when the rigor of winter sets in, 
crawls into a hollow log or tree, and there coiling 
himself snugly in his nest, he dozes out two or 
three months, or more, in the dark, dry, warm re¬ 
treat he has chosen, without indulging in a mouth¬ 
ful of food. Using no exercise, there is scarcely 
any waste of the flesh or muscle; and the large 
store of fat secreted in his system, affording about 
80 per cent, of carbon, furnishes all that is neces¬ 
sary to the support of respiration. If exposed to 
the weather and exercise, could he sustain life for 
a fourth of the time, he can by the careful hus¬ 
bandry of his resources ? Could he exist for any 
considerable period if he went into his winter 
quarters lean ? By no means., as his store of car¬ 
bon from the fat would be soon exhausted, and he 
must then cease to breathe, or renew his supply 
by taking more food. Even Bruin may teach 
many of our intelligent farmers wisdom, in what 
essentially affects their interests. The length of 
time he can abstain from food is precisely in the 
ratio of the temperature by which he is surround¬ 
ed, his quiet, and the quantity of fat he carries 
with him to his den. 
Other and extensive classes of the animal crea¬ 
tion, such as toads, frogs, lizards, serpents, turtles, 
many species of fish, and nearly all the insect 
tribes, when exposed to a temperature below the 
freezing point, become torpid, with a total suspen¬ 
sion of all the powers of life, and in this condition 
they remain without food, till the breath of spring 
again wakens them to renewed vigor. The vital 
