FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVIII, Issue 1654, 8 November 1862, Page 4

FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

(VIIOM THE "MAKK LANE EXPRESS.") Ok Saturday, May 3, the usual monthly meeting was hold at theNewcMtlo Fanners' Club. Mr. John Walker, of Bradley Hall, occupied the chair, and proposed Mr. Wm. Stewart, Latnbton Pence Housed, as a member, mid Mr. Stewart was unanimously elected. Mr. Hunting, South Hetton Collieries, lead the following paper upon the " Feeding and management of domestic animals, and tho vaiious natural and condimontal foods used for that purpose" :—: — Gentlemen, — The subject of which my paper treats — tho feeding and management of our domestic animals — I need scarcely tell you is one of very great importance, not only to the agricultiuist and colliery owners, but to the nation at laige, and lequitcs to lie thoroughly understood in all its healings, to enable the proprietor to feed hia animals on correct economical principles, whether fed for the butcher, or used m the hunting field, in agrieultuie, or in the pit. I wish it to be understood that the pie&ent paper must be considered a continuation of tho one lead before you on the sumo subject last year by your late lespected beeietai}, Mr. Glover, and which, in the maiu, consisted of annual reports sent to P. Forster, Esq., of Dtuhum, on the feeding of horses at the South Huttou Collieries Tho piesent paper consists of three divisions, viz., tho physiology of digestion, the chemical composition of the various toods used for feeding animals, and lastly, tho best mode of supplying the provender when requited. We cannot well overestimate the itnpoitancu of a thorough knowledge of the laws which govern the eon version of the food, the vit»l fluid from which every tissue of the body is formed. It must ever be borne in mind, that provender is to animals what the law material is to the manufacturer ; the animal body is simply tho manufactoiy, the laboratoiy, where the piovendei is ground down, softened, mixed, and changed into different forms and compounds ; but the elements coinposing the vegetables remaining the same, we must place within the animal's reach every constituent of which his body is composed, or we cannot have a perfectly healthy state of body for any length of time. Digestion like agriculture, is a succession of chemical changes, au the eaith, air, and water aie the law materials in the laboratory of the farmer* whence he procures the rich compound cereals which form the provender of our domestic animals ; so tins same provender again becomes the law material in tho laboratory of animal bodies, where it fmther undeigoes a succession of chemical changes, an i ultimately becomes the living vital fluid — blood — by winch all animal bodies are formed, developed, and sustained. It is in the mouth where the first of these chemical changes takes place. Here the provendei ib masticated and mixed with tho fluids of that cavity, teimed the salivary fluid, secreted by several paiis of gland«, and conveyed to the mouth by means of tubes or ducts. The quantity secreted is, to a ceitain extent, governed by the kind of food the animal is eating , thus four times the quantity would bo secreted duiiiig half a:i hour's mastication of diy piovendei, than m the mastication for the some peiiod of bian mash or succulent roote, as turnips, cairots, &c. , and tenfold moie is secreted during active mastication than when the jaws are in a quiescent state. Jn the hoise, the quanti ty secreted during the in indication of dry piovender is supposed to be about four gallons per houi The ofhee of the saliva is twofold — iiist, mechanically, by mixing with and conveiting the food into a hoft pulpy mas*-, making itmoie easily swallowed ; secondly, chemically, saliva, when secreted, is always attractive, and cont ins an animal matter termed pytolme, which is the active principle in converting the starch granules into dcxtnn and grape sugar. When we remember that a very large proportion of the food of our domestic animals is made up of starchy matters, and that the fluids of the stomach are always acid, and that acids let.ud 01 prevent the breaking up or digestion of starch cells nut previously mixed with the salivary fluid, we can understand how exceedingly important it is ihat all provender ihould be well masticated It is a well-known fact that starch paste, when mixed with hahva, is quickly transformed into dextrin and grape sugar, mide fit for abi >rption, is converted into fat, and used by the animal economy for supporting the tempeiatuie of the body, and in the bovine tribe foi making weight foi the butcher, instead of being cairied out of the system along with the waste of the digestive canal. Fettenlesfer ai.d Stral,timong the Gei mans; Lassaingue,Bernaidand Magendie, amongst the French; Wi ight, Paget, Mai let and Johnstone, among our own countrymen — all agiee in this important physiological fact We should, tlicrefoie, take caie to reduce it to practice in the feeding of 0111 horses and cattle When the piovendei is sufficiently masticated and softened, the food is passed onw.iuls, tluough the oesophagus, 01 gullet, into the stomach, wheieit is again mixed with other fluids, having .ilwuys an acid re-action. Thegastiic juice secirted by the gland cells of the stomach, possesses powoi fully suhent pioperties, breaking up anil subdividing the pioveiulei into minute particles, foiniing a kind of homogeneous mass, called by phyniulo ists " chyme " So gie.it is the solvent propeity of pepsin, the active piiutiple <>f the fluids of the stomach, that Dis Dunt-rr-on, (thiilim Steven*, and othcis found that, if dissolved in iiO.OOO parts of water, it was capable of digesting moat and other alimentary Bubstances The readiness w ith w lnch the gastric fluids act on the several paiticles of pio vender is, to a certain extent, dctei mined by the state of division and softness of the rul .stance piesmted to it, and the amount of sdiva which has been tutuiatcd with it Thus whole oats, bears, bailiy, and other substances, offer very much greater lesistince to the solvent pioperties of the gastno fluid, than do the same articles of food when bruised before being given to the animal, because they can be then thoroughly penetrated with it, and digestion in more quickly and easily performed. It by no means follows, however, that substances most easily digested aie the most nutiitious, but for a substance to be nututious, it must be capable of being assimilated to the blood ; and to find its wav into the blood, it must, if insoluble, be dieted by the giintiic fluid iv the intestine*, before it cm lie applied to the support of the system. As the contents ol the stomach become hi oken up and convPitud into a semifluid mass, it is passed onwaids, tluough the postemn opening of the stomach, into the first of the tlnec sma'l intestines, where it meets with the bde fioin the livei and the secretion from the pancreas, the latter being analagous to the parotid glands, and its scctetum to that of saliva. In the stomach we get othei chemical changes; but, befoie alluding to these, I shall luiefly notice a few experiments undertaken by myself, to ascertain the length of time required to digest m the stomach the various kinds of provendei. No. 1 w.ii a bay horse, sixteen years old. After fastine twenty fom hours, he had given him, at five o'clock in the morning, a feed consisting of oats, beans, pea«, taics, bailey, and Indian corn — equal portions of whole and biuised — in all, 121bs. weight. The horse was> shot at ten am ; and, examining the stomach immediately afterwauh, we found not more than a fourth pait of the whole left, the greater part of which consisted of the unbrinsed grain. No tiace could we find of the biuised oits, barley, or Indian corn ; but there weieseveial portions of peas, beans, and tares in the stomach In the small intestines, only two or three grains of whole oat.. ; but in the first and 6econd large intestines weie a largo quantity of whole oats, half broken-down beans, taies, and peas, Indian corn, and a few bruised oats ; but in the posterior part of the second huge intestine none of these can be found. The animal had not had any kind of grain for ten days befoie the experiment. No 2, a black horse, 10 3 ears old, uselessly lame, had been kept on grass exclusively for two months. At six o'clock in the evening he was fed with lOlbs of old oats, and Gibs. of split peas. At ten o'clock we gave the aninml ten packets of beans, oats, peas, tares, and barley, five containing the grain whole, and the other half the same kind of grain crushed. The animal was destioyed at 5 o'clock the following morning, and the stomach examined. A few of the oats and beans given at six o'clock were still in the stomach, but a veiy hirge quantity of the oats were in the ccecum, and double colon, not iv the least digested, and only nlteied by contact with the fluids, the same as if they had been immersed in water ; but no trace of the split beans could be detected, and although theie were oats in the stomarh, also in the coecuui nnd in the colon as far back as its second curvature, yet not a single grain could be found between tho posterior opening of the stomach and the enti ance into the coscum, a distance of about 30 feet : the whole of the unbruised grain given in the foim of balls w,is undigested, many of the tares, white peas, and benns not eveu softened, and the bnrley and oats very little altered. No. 8, a bay-horse, 13 yeais old, which had been regularly feeding on whole oats and hay in the day, and grass at nights, was fed at 6 a m with oats and hay, having had his thigh bone bioken at eight o'clock, he was destroyed at te 1, and the stomach examined. About 2lbs of mass, containing hay and oats, weie in the stomach, in an advanced sta"e of digestion ; there were, however, amongst it a few whole oats, In the ccelura and colon weie an immense quintity of whole oats, and paits of oats broken down to all sizes, I should think not less than 12 to 161bs. in weight; but the posterior to tho second curvature, only comparatively a very few giains of oats could be seen, and these whole ; posteiiov to the largest circumference of the colon, they became gradually kss. In this case, as in No. 2, no drain could be Reen in the small intestines ; but they contained a semi-fluid j< lly, a substance similar to what is always seen «hoitly nftei taking food. Without occupying your time fmther with similar experiments, sufficient has been s nil to justify tho assertion that the laige intestines of the hoi so are true digestive organs, and tbat the peiiod occupied for digesting the ordinal y kinds of provender in the stomach of * perfectly healthy horse is about five

or six horns In fie human MibjectV, according to the experiments of Beaumont, Proufc, and others, no substance can pass llie p\lorio opening of the stomach until completely digested, until after all that is digested is conveited into city me This, ceitainly, in not the ease m tho hor->e, foi if a pailful of grnel is given to n hoiho to drink, mid he is destroyed twenty minutes afterwaids, a largo portion can he detected in the largo intestines, as is also tho case with bran and water ; but this is moio clearly shown by the experiments just descubed, whore very lurge quantities' of giain in ft halfdigested Htate weie found m each case in the fust and second anterior portions of the large intestines, but only whole oats weto found in tho (tingle colon and 1 j ctum. Couple this with another fact, viz., that many horses will cat twice or thi ice as much piovender in an hour or two than could possibly 1 email) in his small stomach at one time, and we have veiy strong negative pioMs that the equine nice have the power of digesting their provender m the intestinal canal. As soon as the digested aliment leaves the stomach and passes into the small intestines, it meets with the seeietion from the pancreas, and hvoi, fluids which have a very impoitant action on the chyme. When it leaches this stage of digestion, it is termed chyle, and consists of a jellylike, yellowish, milky fluid, the nitrogemzed matters aie lowered m their chemical composition and made to assume a lovvei form of albuminous principle. St.uchy and fatty mattois of the food me rendered, by admixtute with these fluids, capable of absorption by the lacteaU, which cany their contents to the nieaenteric glands, vvhetea faithcr iuipoitantcheinic.il change takes place, the low albuminous form, which the chsle or nutritive poition of the food has n-sumed, and which is not in tho intestine, spontaneously coagulable, is in these glands elaborated into n spontaneously coaijulable fluid, the first visible step, we may teun it, of the nutritive poilion of the food being conveited into blood ; for it is heie that we fust get fibrine formed, the plsistic in itei ial fioin which nil the structuies ol the body are forme<l ; and the farther the chyle travels in the tube which conveys it to the bloodvessels, Uie nioie fibrine is tlieie in it, and the balder the clot when removed from the thoracic duct which conveys it ; so that chyle, after passing through the mesentenc glands, is in le.dity ludimental blood. This veiy brief, and consequently veiy imperfect, description of tho principal paits of the digestive process bungs me to the second part of my subject, viz. The chomicnl composition of the various foods used for feeding animals. Gra-s, whether green or dried, may leahonably be supposed the most natuial food of the hoi ->c, and doubtless in his wild state is, as a single aitiele of piovender, the food most calculated to supply the system with the elements necessaiy for the support of every tissue of the body ; but man, ha\ing subjugated this* noble animal, and made him subser- ; vient, not only to his pleasuie, but to his profits, by employing him as a locomotive power, the different paits of his system aie very unequally consumed ; thus, in animals excessively hard woiked, the muscles ' or red flesh would be much more rapidly consumed than the bones, intestines nerves, hair, hoin, &c. ; 1 consequently food containing laige propoitions of the elements forming the muscles must bo given. Three points lelative to gia<-s and hay should be taken into consideration by the owners of horses, viz , the relative value of green 01 dued glass, and other provender — the difteience m value between green and dried food, and the advantage or disadvantages gained by using this class of piovender at different periods of ltd growth, with the mode of pieserving it when founed into hay. Without doubt, the fleshforming principle in hay is veiy much dearer than in any kind of grain useu for feeding purposes, more than tiebly so in all leguminous grain. Horses, then, when excessively woiked, should have less hay, and moie beans, peas, oat*-, &c. ; but when they are doing light woik, and there being little more consumption of muscle than of the other structures of the body, it is cheaper to use moio hay and less corn, because the system does not require, and cannot appropriate, so much Hesh-foiming material, and bulk of provender in the hot so is necessary under all ciicumstances for the healthy performance of the functions of digestion No class of provender does so much injuiy to the horse, whether under hard work or othei wise, as bad hay. I do not mean by this long, coarse hay only, but hay of the finest growth and best heritage, if saturated with water, put up toogieen mto pikes, and stacked in an unfit state. You will lemember that 18(50 was a veiy bad hay year ; scarcely a tenth of the hay in the noithern counties was procmed without being exposed to much rain. Many faimeis allowed their old land grasses to stand for three or foiu weeks, after being fit foi the scythe, waiting for the weather This destioyed the value of the hay, as feeding material, quite as much as the rain During last yeai, the effects of this bad hay season were seen on all sides fiom the number of thick-winded and bioken winded animals, and fiom the prevalence of diseases of the digestive oi gins Thiee distinct cases of bioken wind occuned nuclei my own observation, fiom feeding for two months on badly-won hay, two of the thiee being so far gone as to be ineuiable. These thiee auim ds ueiefed on the inferior hay, because thty hid little vvoik to do — a very common eiior B.ul bay should nevei be bo lght at any price ; those who have it would do well to use as little as possible, and to give that little wet, oi. if puieticable, steam it for cattle food. Many peisons believe that if hay, when spoiled to a gieat extent, be put into the stack with good hay in a gucnisli state, cuising paitial fermentation, they got what is commonly called " a sweat," give the hay a nose, aim thus mipiove it veiy much, flattering themselves th>y have not good provender, simply because it his a good smell Tins is a meie fallacy. Not only do the feeding pioperties of the bad hay lemain iinimpioved, but the good hay 1-- spoiled to some extent. Nine out of ten men will piufer old ba\ with a beautiful siikll even if mixed with mountain flax and hempen, to hay of good giow th, as »ieen as the day it was placed in pike, but with little oi no smell, whereas the latter is woi th four times as much as the former. Hoy ought novei to be allowed to heat in the stack sufficiently to cb in<je its ci>lom ; when the hay sweats, or more pi opei l> feuuents, chemical chauues take pi ice, much of the flesh foiming oi mtto<reni7eil parts aie converted into acetic acid and ammonia, agents deleterious to the annual , and that which is not changed by the ferment ition piocess h tendered much less soluble, and consequently nioie difficult to digest. Doubtless you have --eon many eases wheie haj. which has been overhe ited in the stack, has lapidly produced diabetes or excessive staling, tendering the animals totally unfit for labour of an> kind. As to the lelative value of gieen food, unquestionably clo\er is superior to any other, and the second eiop nioie than the fiist. Next to clover, we piefei old land gia<-», an.l, lastly, green tares; but we must lemember, in feeding on green food as w ell as on hay, that to gam the gieatest amount of nutriment it must be cut e.irly. Professors Way, Audeison, Voelckur, and otheisi have cleiuly shown that all gias--e-> aie richest in feeding principles just prior to then floweung, and th it, if they aie allowed to stand until fully ripe, tliev lose 50 pc cent of their value foi feeding pui poses. Every day that the classes stand after being in full flower, a rapid chemical change is <join<j on within their circulating tubes, by which the nutritive tnatetial is conveited into ligniu, or woody h'bie, a principle almost entirely insoluble, and consequently cannot be applied to the system for any useful puipo=e whatevei. The intelfi£«i.t and scientific faimir doubtless knows this great fact; but to suppose the gient ma's of the small tenant farmers to do so is to disbelieve om visual organs Nine out of ten will let then seed hay stand for a wee bit longer, oi until it is quite line, under the impicssion that they will get a. hundied-weight more pei acre, whereas they will not gain an ounce m weight. They may, peihapo, gain a little moie bulk, but this is at the expense of substituting the valuable material for the useless Sm el v, if all who gi ew gi asses knew, and thoroughly belli ved, that one load of grass cut at the tune mentioned, was worth two of the same grass if allowed to stand until fully ripe, we should see our ha\ seasons, as a mle, two or thiee weeks eailier, with an enounous pecuniary advantage to the farmer as well as the buyei. The same remarks nre applicable to the old land grasses, peihaps moie so, as multitudes of small farmeis cannot be induced to cut ej>tly They will wait until the top glass is dead ripe, to get a little moie of the bottom, which is a double loss, the top glass being only half the value, and the after math only woi th about half what it would have been if Hie top "tass had been cut thiee weeks earhei. It should also lie boine in mind tint the nutritive pioperties of all vegetables me governed, to a great extent, by the rapidity of thin giowth ; thus when the growth is rapid, the qiunttty of woody fibte is much less than when of veiy slow giovvtb, which is well illustrated in the common widish, or in our turnip fields. If the seas"on is untivouiable and vogetitiou slow, they aie tough and sticky, fiom the woody filne or hgnin— an insoluble and non-nutritious constituent in nil vegetables. On tho other hnnd, if the -seison be f ivouiable, the soil goo*!, mid the giowth l.ipid. they are juicy and full of succulent mattei ; Mid the same law which governs the pioduiftou of the tadisli and tuinip holds equally good in the growth of all the glasses , thus the long coarse havyjrowu on low lands, coveted fiequently with water, is known to be fat nioie nutulious thmi that grown on hind not in igated Voelek'r stales that he obtained as miieli as 22 per cent of flesli-foinnni: matter, and 5 (!'l pu cent of ii»ml^ fonmil fit in hnv "town on vtill-iuni'ited land-, whin -. fiom o to 10 pn cent, is the a\i'<»»( of onlhmv !,■% , nnd nltho\,:j!i I nnauino the simple fi. mi vhiih Ik ..n-lv.s whs ( iki-n must hni been of quick <jm \ t !i on nch "'biv il soil, culy cut, and not I'lowod to feini nt in tltu stick , yet I know, fiom loncj expedience in horse feeding, that animals can do moie work with much less corn when

fed upon this class of hay, than whon living on ordinary ■hort hay, or seed hay, the latter being, in fact, much inferior in feeding properties thau iv oldland hay. I know 1 ttm trending on debatable ground when I state that new-land hay is of less valuo for feeding horses thin old-land ; almost every farmer I have spoken to on the subject haa expressed his opinion in favour of new-land hay, and up to th" year 1854 I •greed with them. That year we bought about 150 tons o! new-land hiy, and, as an pxj>eriment, Htacked it separately from the old-l.ind. Our average for three months with the latter wns nine stones per week for each horse. We then consumed the new-land, and continued it for three months, when the average was 11 J stones per horse per week. Great care was taken to ascertain that the animals' work was nearly equal as possible, and precisely the same quantity of coin was given to each animal when eating seed hay, as when living upon old-land hay. Nor could I distinguish the ■lightest difference in condition in the under-ground horses, and at bank three of them were weighed, before and after living on the new-land hay, but no important difference could be detected in their weight. Having been always in favour of seed hay up to this time, I was anxious, if possible, to ascertain the cause of this enormous difference, and arrived at the following conclusions ; first, seed hay contains a very much larger proportion of insoluble matter than old-hay, as evidenced by the great increase in bulk of the fecea of horses when fed upon it ; secondly, the large quantity of stubble always mixed with it, which it not only useless matter in itself but it the means of much waste of good hay by the animal, in attempting to separate the hay from the stubble, and the loss of a large proportion of the seeds which are by far the most nutritious part. Our experience, then, is entirely in favour of the old-land grasses as an economical provender; but aa an alterative and change of food, I would recommend the occasional use of new-land hay, on the came principle as I would a variety of mixed diet. At the cattle ties in this'country little else than seed hay ib used, the consumption averaging nearly 12 slonea per horse per week ; but in all case 3 the consumption of hay is, to a great extent, governed by the quantity of coin given; but to show what little store is set upon the seeds by some men, I may mention that, at two l.irge establishments, the horsekeeper used to well shake the hay before giving it to the horses, apd sell the sseds to co.vkeepers by the load, who used to steam them, and, doubtless gained'a good profit from their use.in the shape of new milk, for certainly one hundred weight of the seed-vessels of new-land hay would contain moie seeding propel ties than three hundredweight of the hay from which they were taken; and j-et thet.e men informed me they had done this for upwards of twelve years, and were excessively annoyed at the loss of bo rich a perquisite. The same principles which govern the amount of flesh-forming substances in all kinds of grasses, is also applicable to straw, which is very beautifully illustrated by the fact th it the top of the straw , which is least ripe, is nearly threefold more nutritious than the inferior pait, which is first ripe In ascertaining the value ol oats as a pi o vender for horses, we should be governed always by the Weight per im|>erial bushel, and by their condition as to sweetness, dryness, colour, and age. In buying or selling grain, it is geueially understood that It per quaiter is giveu or allowed when the natural weight of the grain is lib. heavier or lighter per imperial bushel than the guarantee. This we would consider as strict justice between buyer and seller, when the oats are above 3911)3. per bushel ; but the principle does not hold good when applied to foiei^n oats and common tartars, many of which are only about 35 to 371bs per bushel Good Scotch oats 411bs per bushel at 24b )>er quarter aro much cheapei provender for hard-working horses than aie the foieign or common Tartarian oats 371ba. per bushel, at 20s per qr., and yet foreign and English common oat-> are gene rally sold for only three or four instead of six or seven ■hillings leas than the Scotch. I particularly wish it to be understood that I om speaking now of the relative value of Scotch and Tartarian oats as an economical provender for hard-working horses, for horses who get little more than sufficient exercise to keep them in health, and whose owners allow them their three bushels of oats per week, regardless of work. I recommend Tartarian as a wise economy, which w ill prevent their animals becoming too plethoric, and yet contain sufficient nutriment (or the little inusculni exertion required from them At one of the colheiios, under my superintendence, the agent bought new tartars in December and Januaiy, from 35 to 371bs. per bushel. The consequence was, all the horses in the pit rapidly lo'.t fle'h, and many of them being ftged. a great deal of trouble and expense was incuned to get them into condition again. Without doubt, this gentlaman supposed when he bought the rats, that three or four pounds in weight man imperial bushel was of no great oonsequence, so long as he had eight bushels to the quarter. He, no doubt, supposed that w e ought to feed their animals on the same number of holU, and keep them in as good a condition, upon such inferior provender, as> we could do, at an adjoiumsj colliery, on good Scotch oats 411bs. per bushel , and yet each gentleman was paying within a fraction the same price for their oats. This circumstance, amongst others, led me to investigate the principal causes why the foieign and common tartar oat is so inferior for hard-working animals. I therefore ascertained the difference between the weight of husks in a given quantity of each ; one oz. of old foreign oats 391b. per bushel woie weighed ; the same weight of old Scotch 401b. per bushel; and the same weight of tartar oats 361b. per bushel The foreign oats contained 1,112 kernels; the Scotch oats 1,054, and the tartars 1,144 The husks were taken off and weighed. The husks pf the 1,144 grains of tartars weighed 120 grains . of the 1,112 kernels of foreign oats 126 grains, while the husks of the 1,834 grains of Scotch only weighed 26 grains. From this experiment we may 4iaw the following deductions ; First, that the husk of foreign oats is thicker than the husk of the English common oats , secondly, that the husk of both is enormous when oempared w ith Scotch I would particularly draw your attention to the fact that the foreign oats were an extra good sample of Swedish growth, 391b natural weight, whilst the English and Scotch wer<j rather below the average ; thirdly, there is 121b loz. qf husk to the biwhel of oidinnry common oats, 161b. Bqz. to the bushel of foreign oats, and qply 81b 2oz. per bushel in Scotch. Couple thin with anqthpr fact, not less important, that the relative positions of the quantity of nutriment in wheat and oats are entirely opposite — the bran of wheat being richer in nitio genous matter than flour — whereas, the bran of oats contains little more nutriment than the same quantity of oat straw, and you will readily perceive the superiority of the short oat I believe there is more difference than the weight of the husk, as we find that fieailv a th<>d more of the common -or foreign than of Scotch is required to keep the hor«es in the same working condition. Shortly after the reading of Mr. Glover's paper, in April, 1861, 1 received many letters, containing all kinds of questions and statements. One gentleman, a colliery owner and manager, told me that he knew oats, when crushed three or four days before being used, deteriorated, and that the nutriment was j dried up and lost, but he did not condescend to tell me how. The same gentlermu stated that he proved, by many years' experience, that all horses, old as well as young, tboioughly masticated whole oats, it given with crushed beans. As the latter statement, if true, would render entirely useless the cuf tmij of hay to mix jvith the corn, and the former certainly prove that the principle of bruising oats was wrong, we at onco set to work to ascertain the truth of these statements For this put pose, one bimhel of old Scotch oat*, 431bs , and a bushel of the same ciushed, were put into sacks, and alto £vro bushels of new, weighing 39Jlbs. per bushel, prere tieated the same way, and allowed to stand for a rapnth, at the end of whiph the four sepaiate biwhels \»ere again weighed, the difference between the two bunhels of crushed and uncrushed old oats was barely 4 oz , and in the new only 1 ox. The four bushels were then placed in a box with fpur compartment*, lying about three inohes thick, and then exposed to a current of air in a granary for other twenty-one days, when they were again weighed, the crushed oats only losing 2 oz. in weight in the old, and 4 oz. in the new. Now, when we remember that whole oats lose from 1 to 2lbs. in weight per bushel, from harvest to harvest, I confess I expected more loss of weight than we got, but not of nutriment. Out of the 20th part of }ops of weight in a bushel of 401hs. oats, in whole well as cruuhed, not a particle of it would lie nutritive matter. Oats contain about 20 per cent. of water, and this doubtless is the constituent which evaporates, as is negatiyely proved by the fact that old oats contain more feeding properties than new ; and, further, the dryer the oat the more suitable for a feeding material, whether old or new. Having had, for.seyeral months, 1 50 horses under my superintendence, where old oats and crushed beans are used, I hfive had -an opportunity of testing the truth of the (statement that crushed beans asßiefc In the digestion of whole oats, and have found that tnore than 60 per cent, of the animals voided old oats with their faces in as great quantities as when fed exclusively upon the latter alone ; so that both statements given as legitimate objections to our plan of feeding were proved false. The same remarks are applicable to the selection of beans and peas as provender ; as to oatt^the best is always the cheapest, and beans and peas, like oats, are very much more valuable aa feeding material, when a year old, than when new ; indeed new beans, but more especially new peas, are very ohjectionable, being very apt to produce flatulent colic in honses, in proof of which I may mention that the same gentleman who bought the common 1 artar oats also bought a lot of new soft peas, about Christmas, which were given to the horse*, and produced an immense number of cases

of gripes, not leas than 70 per cent, above the general average. Indian com or maize is Sometimes used as food for horses, but its composition proves it to be an inferior food for hard working-animals. But although not very rich in nitrosrenized matter, it contains a very much larger amount of fatty material than either oats or any of the leguminous seeds, und must prove a very useful article for fattening poultry, |>ig«, and cattle, where there is little more comparative consumption of muscle than of the other structures of the body, but, from tho composition of the locust bean, and the relative price of tho two, I think tho latter is very much cheaper ni a cattle food than the former. T may mention, in proof of the assertion, that Indian corn is not a suitable pro vendor for hai d- working aniirmls, that a large fii m in Glasgow, keeping several hundred horse*, bought largely of this grainin 1856, and very impiudently used it. Formostof thehoroeathe results were just what might be expected, great hus of condition, half of them in a very bhoittime not being able to do their usual work. Bran, one of the moat important articles of provender, used for our domestic animals, is indispensable in keeping a large stud of horses in general good health. No horse should go more than a week without a mash made with cold water; it may also be used with advantage dry, mixed with oats and cut hay, when the animal will not eat it in tho form of hiuhli, — a xory common occurrence. I consider this provender the natural laxative of the home, and it is the best mentis for preventing several very common diseases of the digestive organs, as colic, impaction of the bowels, &c, &c. Having noticed the principal articles of what may be termed the natural food of the horse, I propose offering a few remarks on what is now generally called "manufactured cattle food," "concentrated food," " condimental food," a more appropriate name would be "concentrated Barnum humbug." I should certainly be disposed to think thut the celebrated Yankee tactician had a hand in starting so profitable an undertaking. I should not have attempted to introduce the subject of concentrated or manufactured food, which is now offered in almost every village for nil kinds of domestic animate, but for an article in the Colliery Ouardiaii having so strongly recommended it to colliery owneia ; and I having been asked if it were suitable for pit horses, and from knowing that multitudes of the poor who keep n horse, cow, or pig, are pajing a moit outrageously high price for a material of le«s value than the ordinary food consumed by the animals, and that it is the duty of every one who has the opportunity to expose such ft commercial bubble, as drawing out of the pockets of the ignorant not less than 70 to 80 per cent, more than its cost price. The worst feature in this new tiade is that the imposition falls upon those who are least able to bear it. The intelligent agriculturist cannot be so gulled for any length of time, liecause he reads of, and inquires into the nrticlo, which is costing him from £40 to £50 per ton, and the chemical analysis of the food at once tell* him whether he is getting a reasonable value for his money, The following is a list of the ai tides used in one of the most celebrated manufactured foods ; and as it so clearly shows tho enormous profits of those who use it, I give it in full : —

Voelcker, in speaking of this food in one of his reports, sajs, " Independently of the slight colouring with turmeric and flavouring with liquounce, coriander, gentian, gingei, &c, and the medical compounds, aa befoie set forth, the main bulk of these foods is composed of the crab bean, Indian corn, and linseed cake These form nine-tenths of its substance, and it is worthy of note th.it of these by far the most valuable, in point of both price and feeding properties, is linseed cake, and this is used in the smallest proportion. If, however, the farmui chooses to pay tlnee or four times as much .is the intrinsic \nlne of the Article, it is, of course, at hie option do so ; but, inasmuch as the main object of farming is a remunerative profit, it passes my comprehension to undeifitaiid how that object can be gained by feeding animals on substances that cost from £40 to £50 per ton The above ingredianta, throwing aside the flavouring compounds, gise, upon analysis, the following results — Water . . . . 1-5 01 riesh-fornnng substances 14 07 Fatty matters 578 Stirch, sugar, &c 64.40 Indigestible woody fibre 0 25 Mineral matter S SO 100 00 Such a mlxtuie as the one represented by the foiegoing analysis could be made by a mixture of barley meal, beans, and oilc.ike, at less than one fourth of the price charged for the before-mentioned 'ood. lam inclined to think their constant use is very questionable, and very likely to be productive of harm." It is tiue some of these men spend £12,000 per year in advertising their foods, and doubtless many other incidental expenses help to detract from their enormous profits ; but what aitonisbes. me most are the olaboratorely and ingeniously- written ai tides, highly leeoinmending the use of these foods, and this too, in papers eminent for their interest in agricultural matters. An article of this kind appeared in the BeWs Weekly Afesxm/cr last November, and w.vs copied into the Colliery Gtuudian and other papers, all of which added their mite of praise, notwithstanding it contained the greatest amount of nonsense and bad reasoning one could possibly imagine. It commenced . "We ha\e for some tine taken great interest in the subject of concentrated cattle food, but do not ftel at liberty to publish in, detail the ingredients of these compounds, as to do so would be tantamount to a breach of faith ; besides which we are supporters of the laws which piotect inventors and improvers by letters patent.'' " Farmers," says this extraordinary writer, " have no mote business with reducing and bringing out the flavour of locust beans, liquorice, spices, and such like vegetable substances, than they have with moulding iion and steel into ploughs, harrows, and horse shoes." Where the logic of such language is \ leave you, to gueHfe. Again. . " British-g.ro. a n agricultural cattle food langes from the most purgative to the most costive-cau-ang characters Now, however, that counteracting vegetable productions can be procured in foreign countries m a concentrated form, aivl these can be worked up foi mixing with home-grown food, extreme cases may he avoided ; for these foreign concentrated products are equally opposite in their action in animal stomachs ; therefore, by judgment in selection, and skill in mixing, that food of a farm which by itself would purge may have its acrid qualities neutralised, and that which would produce dangerous costlveness may bo mad,e easily digestible." Surely, either Henri or Thorlev, or some concentrated foreigner, must have written the above article, which is the very opposite to fact. Their conscience must be very elastic, when it will not permit them to give details of the contents of their concentrated food, but allow them to gull the ignorant by a mass of misstatements There are no foreign concentrated vegetable productions used for horses and cattle, which contain a greater amount of uiateri.il than, those gro wn in our own country, very few even so much. There are no British-grown agricultural cattle foqds which po.ns.ess the "most purgative properties or the most costlve-oauslng, used as a common provender. There ii no foreign produc tion in the vegetable kingdom which contains feeding principles in a more concentrated form, or in a higher degree, than the leguminous seeds of this country ; nor is there any process which man can adopt whereby the feeding properties of vegetables can be increased after they have been dried for provender. We know that all animals live upon, or are fed by, varioua compound substances or " proximate principles, " whiph vegetables piepare by combining and arranging, through their wonderful organism,, the elements which they find in the earth and ail. The principal flesh-forming compounds are fibrine, cafieine, gluten, albumine, with fatty matters, starch, sugar, &c. We know also, the element* of which these compounds aie composed, but to foim even one of them out of the simple elements is ■Utterly beyond the powers of innn. If this is true, it is clear that no manufactured food can contain weight for weight, more flesh-forming material than a mixture of ground beans, peas, and linseed cake. Since this fact has been proved, the vendors of thpse manufactured foods have applied a new term, and now »tyle them ooiidimental food ,• and, doubtless, this Is their proper name. The queation, then, for agriculturists to decide, is— Do animal* ia a perfeot state of health require condiments ? My experience tells me that they do not ; and by constant use they would destroy the only advantage that would be gained by them when animals are out of health. Thus if you bad a quantity of stock, young or old, who, from impel feet digeition, were not thriving so well ai might bo expected from the quantity of food taken, then condiments, might be beneficial as a medicinal agent by invigoiatiug the system, and enabling the animal to digest a larger amount of food more pei fectly, and in a shot ter space of time than without them ; but, by constant iabituatipn, $hw good effect wpulcT be ilestroyed. jßut lyhy inoiw the

needles* expense of this food when an equally efficient tonic and stomachic in the shape of a little Mt.lt, gentian, ginger, nnd carraway seeds i« within your reach, and at infinitely lest expense ? But a» direct evidenro is more satisfactory than theoretical knowledge, I shall briefly quote the result* and conclusions of one of our most scientific farmers, Mr. Lawcs, of Rotbainstead, who has experimented largely with condimental food. That gentleman says :— " My own exjwriments havt l)een conducted with the greatest care, and without the slightest prejudice against condiments, and the result is, that giving cattle condiment leads to a great increase in the consumption of food without corresponding increase in the making of flesh." He further says, " that if the condiments had been given him for the cattle, it would have been better not to use them, as those eating it eat a greater amount of weight of food for a given weight of flesh than those not getting it M These statements he illustrated by conclusive experiments, which, for want of time, 1 forbear to mention. Suoh a statement, from such a man, is of no little im|>ortance ; and I consider (hat British agriculturists are deeply indebted to Mr. Lawes for the trouble he has taken in exposing one of tho greatest bubbles which has gulled the public for the hut few years. Doubtless, Mr. Lawes knew the important physiological fact, that it does not follow that, because an uniinnl eats more food, he must lay on a proportionate quantity of flesh. You may, by the use of stomachics and tonics, create the desire to eat, but you cannot compel the system to assimilate all the nutriment you are sometimes difipoaed to give. Hnving noticed the leading features of digestion, nnd the principal articles of provender for the low er animals, I shall conclude my paper by a few fuither observations on the feeding and working of horses, more particularly those employed in pits. Since the discussion of Mr. Glover's paper last year, the quantity of food given to animals in collieries has been generally discussed, and oh the average cost at the South Hetton collieries excited some surprise, I feel bound to state that, if the animals alluded to in the reports had been worked and abused in the way some aie, where this plan of feeding lias been adopted, the average consumption would have been higher. No part of these reports were more clearly expressed than the following : " The kind and quantity of the food given should invariably be regulated by the amount of labour the animal has to perform." We know that the muscles of animals cannot be used as a locomotive power without being themselves consumed, and at every contraction of a muscle waste of muscular fibre takes place, and heat is developed ; and the more violent the contraction the greater the waste of their substance, which must be replaced by the plastic material of the blood, or loss of bulk and leanness follow. It does not follow, however, that you must necessarily have assimilation carried on to the same extent as tho waste of the tissues, because you give the animal all the food he can eat. If the weight he has to move is beyond his strength, the pace he has to travel faster than his constitution and breed justifies, and the length of hours greater under such circumstances than is reasonable, you produce Buch a depressed condition of the nervous system that healthy assimilation does not take place equal to the waste which is going on in the muscle*, and your horses must lose flesh ; not because they do not got sufficient food to eat, for I have seen places where the work has been so enormous that, although the horsca were getting two bolls of good Scotch oats per week, nnd as much good hay as they could eat, so emaciated were they as to be unable to stand a twelve hours' shift. As soon as you depiess the nervous system below a certain standard by excessivo labour, healthy digestion ia arrested and impure chyle is fanned ; nature cannot convert it into good, blood, and when the plastic lymph is carried by the blood-vessels to all patts of the body for its nourishment and support, the system is not able to appropriate it in quantities equnl to the enormous waste. The consequence of this false economy is tho loss of a very large number of valuable animals, certainly 90 per cent, over the average, where a reasonable amount of work only is permitted — by which I mean a single shift of from 12 to 14 hours Again, tike a large stud of horses, and you will find that in the lower animals, as well as in man, some will have weaker constitutions than others, some will require a much larger supply of food, although not doing more work. Then comes the aged part of the stud, horses from twelve to twenty years old, which require much moie food for the amount of work they do than younger animals. Conformation of body and temperament has also much to do with feeding horses ; the quiet docile-tempered animal, with good broad chest, short legs, cloae-coupled and broad quarters, will, upon an average, cost 2u. 6d. per week less for pi o vender, while doing equal work with a horse of the opposite build. I wish to impress these facts upon your notice, because very much depends on these as to whether your whole stud is in equal satisfactory condition, or only a part of them ; and much of the advantage gained in feeding depends upon good, trustworthy horsekeepera, who will feed your animals aB instructed; and whilst a careless fellow will have some animals in his stable as fat ns a Baker-street show beast, others in his stable will more resemble Bewick's celebrated old mare ; and yet at many collieries, a good man is so little appreciated that some old wasteman, who is past work, is put to horsekeeping, as a canny job for an old man to do what ? To feed and look after some 16 or 18 valuable horses, as money value of £600 or £600 of the most precarious and most difficult stock on the whole colliery, requiring an active, industrious, sober, sensible man to manage them. This false system of hor«ekeeping is only paralleled by the injudicious plan of overworking them, and especially new young animals, most of which are bought from dealers, with only Just sufficient muscle to keep their bones together. And yet they are frequently put down the pit to work within a week, eyen when only three years old, and being put on to rich keep, which their systems cannot | assimilate, their whole frame is deranged, and disease follows as a consequence — in most cases common distemper — which rapidly spreads to dozens of other*, costing ten times more than the keep of a proper stock of animals to be drawn from when wanted. The hunting-field is not harder work, or more exhausting, than is the work in most pits ; and yet the very men who would sanctiun tho putting of animals in such condition to work, may be, and often are, accustomed to rjde aoross oountry, and who would scarcely gWe the man credit for being sane, if he proposed that he should ride his horse, just out of a grass field, and wretchedly poor, for an hour's gallop with a pack of fox-hounds. Why this difference ' because, when his horse had gone for twenty minutes, he would see that the animal was all but exhausted ; in the pit animal, the probability is, he would not see, and therefore not know, but tho result would be the same in both cases, I need not, however, confine my remarks to the hunting-field. Let it bo any other violent exercise, where the voluntary muscles of tho body are the organs required, and the result must ever be the same. Jf an Oxford or a Cambridge man is going to row a match on the Thames, or if the pedestrian is going to run his ten 'mile match, they would fever, for a single moment, think of doing either the one or the other, without first training the muscular system, by long an<> similar oxercise, taking only the most nutritious kind of food during tho training. There is no other possible w"Vy of bringing the muscular structures o.f the animal's body in a condition for sustaining excessive labour. Constant action of the mußcles for several hours every day is essential for their full development. How is it then, we may ask, that iw a, rule, the owners of- the large establishments i of homes in the north of England act diametrically opposite to these laws of nature ? There can be only one answer ; they do nof ttyflk about it, otherwise it would not bp allowed to take place. I have not thought jt nepegsary tp speak more about the system of feeding as carried out at the South Hetton collieries, as the principles of that system were fully explained in my last paper j but, mny, in conclusion, add the result of that plan, for six months at the Backworth and West Cramlington collieries under the management of T. G. Hurst, Esq., where the South Hetton plan of feeding was commenced on the Ist July, 1861. First half of 1861, ending Second half year, ending June 30. Deo. 31, 1881. The cost of each horse, Tho cost of each horw, with the old plan of feed- with the South Hetton ing, for six months, was plan of feeding, for six £21 115. 7d., 0r £$3 Bs. 2d. months, was £18 9s. 2d., per horae'per annum. or £36 18a. id. per horse per annum, or, with 112 horses, to £705 a-year. Several members complimented Mr. Hunting on his interesting paper ; and, on the motion of Mr. Browell, seoqndad by Mr. Chrisp, a unanimous vote of thanks was accorded to him. Discussion on the subject was adjourned till next month.

Prize 03?.- A remarkably fine ox, grown by JMr. Robertaqn, of Mqdgee, wjw killed »t the Glebe Iriand abattoir!, on Thursday. On being cut up it wm found to weigh no leis than 1,106 lbs. It wm on view yesterday, in the «hon of Mr. Farrell, George-itreet South.— Sydney Morning Herald, Oct. 11. Colonial Gratitodk.— Thb Loss of thk Rotal Ciiauter.— The news received of the death of the Rev. S. R. Hughes, of LlanagUo, leaving his widow unprovided for, has avoked a large amount of sympathy in this colouy. The services rendered by the deceased on the occasion of the wreck of the Royal Charthr are so well remembered, that it was only necessary for a proposal to be made, and at once a fund amounting to seven hundreds of pounds has Ijeen, collected in Melbourn. Ballarat ha? beam, scarHy les«i active, and tlje next nmil will bring to Mrs. Hughe* <> substantial token of the aejpeot in whioh the memory of her husband is held in Victoria. — Awtralian ««<* Ntw Zealand GcvtUt.

COMPOSITION OF MANUFACTURED F( Ordinary Quantity price of of each in articles a ton used * eight Locust be*ns, finely £ s d cwt lb powdered 6 0 0 per ton 0 0 Indian corn, ditto 7 0 0 ditto 9 0 Lmseed cake, ditto 10 0 0 dttto 3 0 Vov, derud tumeric 0 0 C per lb 040 . Sulpher 0 0 U ditto 0 40 Saltyetre 0 0 4J ditto 0 20 Liquorice 0 0 10 ditto 0 27 Ginger . 0 0 3 ditto 0 3 Aniseed. 0 0 8 ditto 0 4 Coriander 0 0 8 ditto 0 10 Gentian . 0 0 7 ditto 0 10 Cream tartar 0 13 ditto 0 2 Carbonate soda 0 0 4 ditto 0 0 Black antimony 0 0 0 ditto 0 (5 Common lalt ... 0 0 0\ ditto 030 Perm lan b.irk 0 3 0 ditto . 0 4 Fenugreek trefoil) 0 7 0 ditto 022 Cost price of a ton to the manufacturer 6 * d 1 10 0 3 3 0 1 10 0 10 0 0 /"> 0 0 7 0 0 2 0 0 10 0 2 8 0 6 8 0 5 10 .0 2 G 0 2 0 0 3 0 0 0 8 0 12 0 0 12 10 20 0 £11 13 8