Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1876-11-09
T. AGRICULTURAL.
TING AND RU1lINA-
TING.

It is absolutely certain that the
digestive apparatus of the OK and the
horse are not alike, and that they
both differ from that of the bird. 1t
is also known that cattle do not mas
ticate and digest their food exactly as
do horses and poultry. The hen
swallows her food whole, the. OK and
some others swallow theirs after very
little chewing. Watch a COW while
feeding in summer, and you will find
that very little time is expended in
chewing the grass 1t is disposed of
about as fast as it is bitten off, and in
winter, when she is eating hay, one
unaccustomed to the sight would be
surprised at the rapidity with wlich
large armful of hay is put out Of
sight. One OK will probably swallow
as much hay in haitian hours "bait-
ing" as would be consumed by four
horses in the same time. The differ
ence between the OK and the horse is
in their different modes of chewing
their food. The OK rolls his over a
few times, moistening it just enough
to allow the powerful muscles Of the
throat to grasp it and send it along to
the stomach, where it is retained till
such time as suits the conveniance Of
the animal, when it is, by some pow
er not perfectly understood, returned
to the mouth for remastication. This
time it is retained in the mouth a
long while, the animal appearing per-
fectly quiet and unconcerned during
the process of mastication.
If we wished to illustrate to child
the most direct opposite to haste and
hurry, we could find no better exam.
pie than that Of a COW lying in the
shade chewing her cud. This much
we do know, that COWS eat very rap.
idly, and after eating, lie down and
remasticate what they have previous
ly swallowed in such great haste. But
just how the food is disposed of after
it is swallowed, is not absolutely
known at the present time. A very
careful examination has been made
of the digestive apparatus Of the COW,
and doubtless the conclusions arrived
at regarding she condition and course
Of the food while tits being digested,
are, in the main, correct. Still, it
is very difficult to determine with alb
solute certainty exactly what is going
on in the dark channels of living
animnl, by examinations made upon
dead one. The best standard author
tiles upon this subject teach US that
the coarse food, like grass and hay,
on being swallowed drops into the
first or large stomach, often called
the paunch, and after being rolled
over and over good many times, is
picked up, a moutnful at time, bv
the second stomach, and from thence
sent to the mouth to be re.chewed, at
ter which it is swallowed again, but
instead Of entering the paunch as be-
fore, it passes on through esophagean
canal to the third or fourth stomach.
This is the theory of digestion as we
find it in Youatt and other stanpard
works upon cattle, and probaly it is,
in the main, correct.
AS to the question, "Where does
the meal go?' we do not believe there
have been experiments enough made
to determine the point Our own be-
lief is, that it does not always follow
the same track. A few experimenters
have fed animals, just before slaugh-
tering, with different kinds Of food,
and then examined the contents of
the stomachs after death, hoping in
in this way to be able to determine
with certainty, just how the food is
disposed of, but there are SO many
conflicting accounts given, that we
are driven to the conclusion that we
do not know. We have no hesitation
in declaring that meal may go to the
fourth stomach very directly, but,
that it always goes there without
passing through the other stomachs,
we have good reason to doubt, as we
have had the best of evidence to the
contrary. If COW is not feed,
we do not believe much of her meal
is wasted by either method Of feeding,
clear or mixed with nay. Two to four
quarts of grain fed to a COW daily, will
holm bor avory tin,o ~ # Enr,,,o,.