“to improve the soil and the mind.” 
New Series. 
ALBANY, OCTOBER, 1850. Vol. VII.—No. 10. 
Fattening Animals. 
There is a great advantage in commencing the 
fattening of animals early in the fall. There are 
many articles on a farm which may be profitably 
used at this season, but which, from their perishable 
nature, would be lost, or greatly depreciated in 
value, by long keeping. Early apples, squashes, 
pumpkins, unmerchantable potatoes, and unsound 
corn, should be used first. But besides the advan¬ 
tage in saving these kinds of food, there is another 
important argument in favor of early fattening; the 
same amount and quality of food will go farther, or 
will produce a greater amount of meat, in mild 
‘weather, than in cold—less food being required to 
supply the waste of the animal system under a mild 
temperature, than under a low one. 
Experiments have established the fact that for 
swine there is a great advantage in cooking food. 
This advantage results in two ways; first, from the 
aid which the cooking process affords to the organs 
of digestion, by bringing the nutritive properties of 
the food into a condition in which they maybe more 
easily assimilated; second, by rendering food more 
palatable, so that some articles, which would be re¬ 
jected in a raw state, are, when cooked, eaten with 
avidity. 
The actual saving or gain by cooking, depends on 
many circumstances, and perhaps has never been 
ascertained with mathematical accuracy. Indian 
corn may be fed liberally to hogs, in a raw state, 
before it becomes fully hardened, and they will 
extract the nutriment from it pretty thoroughly; 
but after it is seasoned and dried, it cannot be used 
to advantage (except when fed in very small 
quantities) without being ground, or softened by 
soaking or cooking. The grinding is doubtless 
best; and if swine are to be full-fed ., there would 
then be considerable saving in cooking the meal, 
over feeding it raw. Some observing and careful 
persons have estimated this saving at one-fifth the 
value of the food, and others at more. The 
remarks in regard to Indian corn, will apply to 
other kinds of grain that may be used as food for 
swine. In fact the general advantages of cooking 
food for these animals, is admitted by most authori¬ 
ties. The Book of the Farm observes —“ By direct 
experiment, it has been ascertained that pigs fatten 
much better on cooked than on raw food. This 
being the case, it is only a waste of time and 
material, as also loss of flesh, to attempt to fatten 
pigs on raw food of whatever kind; for although 
some sorts of food fatten better than others in the 
same state, yet the same sort, when cooked, fattens 
much faster and better than in a raw state. The 
question, therefore, simply is-—what is the best sort 
of food to cook for the purpose of fattening pigs ? 
Roots and grains of all kinds, when cooked, will 
fatten pigs. Potatoes, turnips, carrots, parsnips, 
mangel-wurtzel, as roots; and barley, oats, peas, 
beans, rice, Indian corn, as grain, will all fatten 
them when prepared.” 
Swine are benefitted by being fed with different 
kinds of food. They, like most animals, when left 
to themselves, feed on various plants and sub¬ 
stances. This variety is doubtless promotive of 
their health and thrift; it excites the appetite, and 
their food is consumed with less waste. We believe, 
also, that the quality of pork is improved by a mix¬ 
ture of food—that swine fed with food composed of 
vegetables, fruits, and grain or meal, with dairy 
slops, will make better pork than those which are 
fed entirely on Indian corn. The cooking of food 
probably tends further to the improvement of the 
quality of the pork. Indian corn contains a large 
proportion of oil, and when swine are fed with a 
large quantity of this grain in a raw state, it is 
not improbable that the oil is assimilated in a 
greater proportion, comparatively, than the other 
constituents; and this may partly account for the 
fact that 11 western pork,” which is produced almost 
entirely from corn, is generally more oily than 
eastern. 
The feeding of swine with fermented food has 
been frequently recommended, and some who have 
practiced it have spoken favorably of its advantages. 
We apprehend, however, that erroneous ideas on 
this point are often entertained—especially in regard 
to the degree to which fermentation should be car¬ 
ried in food. Chemistry teaches that fat may be 
derived from sugar, and hence the presence of sugar 
in the food of animals, is important. Now the 
result of the first fermentation of vegetable sub¬ 
stances—the saccharine—is the production of sugar; 
it is obvious, therefore, that the development of 
this property in the food may tend to the accumulation 
of fat in the animal. 
The remarks of Dr. Thomson, in regard to the 
formation of fat may be properly introduced here. 
He says— a There is another constituent of the 
animal body, namely, fat, the production of which 
deserves notice. It is not an organised tissue, but 
is formed and collected in the cellular tissue under 
certain circumstances. These are restand confine¬ 
ment,—that is, a deficiency of oxygen, and abun¬ 
dance of food containing a considerable proportion 
of non-azotised matter, such as starch, sugar, &c. 
Now the chief source of fat is sugar, the composi¬ 
tion of which is such that when deprived of oxygen 
fat remains.” 
From this reasoning it is evident that the fermenta¬ 
tive process, in substances designed for food, should 
not be carried too far; it should not be allowed to 
run into the acetous stage, as that would convert 
the sugar into vinegar, a substance which can afford 
