186 
T. CURTIS "MICHENER. 
enables the skillful feeder to acquire exactness and proficiency. 
I will enumerate the essential principles of the art of feeding, in 
the order of their importance, but must omit detail, from want 
of time. As before intimated, feeding is reduced to an exact 
science and knowledge of the composition of animal bodies, and 
of the various feeds that are to sustain, make growth, produce 
milk or wool, repair waste, perform work and lay on fat, must 
be familiar and by the use of figures, which won’t lie, the prob¬ 
lem is solved. 
The materials must be so selected and combined as to con¬ 
stitute the balanced ration for the purpose. Animals are soon 
fed and bred into a fat-forming or beef habit, which destroys 
their adaptability for the dairy or race track. Hens fed exclu¬ 
sively upon fattening foods cease laying. The hogs of our sec¬ 
tion fail to fill the market demand, too much corn fed, too little 
exercise, too much lard. The chemical constitution of the feed 
is the chief factor in giving fineness and hardness of bone and 
muscular tone and action. Too little attention is paid to the 
amount of water in the feeds. We see animals being nearly 
physicked to death upon succulent foods and others badly im¬ 
paired by constipation caused by hard, dry food. The right I 
condition is maintained by proper combinations of feeds. : 
Stock needs root, silage, wetted feed or mash. The amount 
of needed water varies with the purpose of the animal and can. 
not be supplied by drink alone. The time of cutting, the per¬ 
fection of the drying or curing process, goes far in determining 
the palatableness, the digestibility, and the danger of under¬ 
going fermentation in the digestive tract. Kiln-dried finely- 
ground cereals are the safest and most healthful, mixed with I 
silage or made into a mash with cut fodder or hay. From con- | 
tact, I know the average farmer and feeder is not educated up I 
to these points. Can he obtain the needed knowledge from his | 
veterinarian ? The problem is sometimes difficult because of 
the limited material at hand and the price of such stuff as 
would balance up the ration, being so high as to make its use 
unprofitable. Then the question is, what is best under the cir- f. 
