Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-11-24

| Thorough masticatlon Of food is recon-
meudcd aud generally admitted as all.impor.
tant to the well-being OF stock. But cooked
food rarely calls forth the necessary process
and no amount of cooking will add more
nutrition TO the food. Mastication is essential
for two purposes-to break down the food
and saturate it with an important fluid, the
saliva, that fluid effectiDg important changes
in the nutritive elements to fit them to un.
dorgo subsequent actions by other juices Of
the digestive organs. 1t is not possible to
supplaut these secretons by any process of
preparation by cooking or the addition Of
fluids Nature has supplied vegetable food
for every season, and only requires of man
that he should observe the pocularitics Of
each and give the benefits to animals as far
as possible. Again, says one English au-
thority, it is u decided mistake to cook the
food of animals when it is sound and sweet.
The mistake, so called, of supplying the dry
food in winter is more apparent than real The
exercise OF common sense is called for 10
order to regulate the practice with suitable
roots and proper shelter and warmth, more
than is usually done.
Among working horses the effects OF
cooked food are something marvellous. Collie
aud indigestion generally, with disease Of the
liver and kidneys, is Of common and fatal
occurrence 1t may be more easily UNDER
stood to say that such preparations are quite
unnatural, as the digestive organs arc con-
stituted to act upon the most nutritive grains.
1t is also com monty believed that animals,
especially horses. pass much away by the
bowels that ought to be digested aud appro.
priated TO the system. This question re-
quires more philosophical research before it
can be definitely and accurately settled but
we can 60 so far as to say that when the
masticatory organs are in good order and di.
geston perfect, u proper allowance of food
is thoroughly assimiated, Apparently whole
grains may be found in the excrcment, but
upon close examination they will turn out to
be the shells only, which, by the action of
the digestive juices, have been divested Of
their internal nutrient parts. Some persons
look upon digestion as a process in which
everything must be utilized for the building
up of tissue. They forget that it is quite as
essential that other substances should be pres
cnt-these non-nutritous in themselves, but
by their constitution and presence giving
bulk to the rest aud assisting in their gen.
era reduction in the stomach of the higher
animals, exactly as sand and pebbles act in
the crops Of birds.
The success Of feeding our domestic an-
finals does not lie in the way of cooking food
aud in the administration OF condiments, but
in a judcious management generally, in
which the peculiar features Of organization,
physiology, geology, meteorology and hy-
grometrics play their respective parts; and
agricultural success will never be certain un-
til these branches of science are more def
nitely acknowledged"
These are the arguments urged against
the general employment Of cooked food for
cows, sheep and horses. On the other hand,
there can be no doubt that a considerable
saving in the expense of fodder can be eff.
fected at tines in making up a ration Of
straw and ground grain, and cooking the
same to render it soft and palatable. la
cooking food for stock, the cost Of apparatus
fuel and labor must be taken into account,
and when hay and grain are cheap, the saw
lug from cooking does not meet the extra ex.
pense Of preparing the fool The question
is one which has been before the public for
a long time, and much has been written upon
it--more, perhaps in its favor than against
The fact, however, that many persons who
have tried cooking food for dairy stock have
soon abandoned the practice and returned to
the old method is significant. Hence We
should advise a limited trial at first, always
keeping record of the exact cost and com
pairing it with the expense of uncooked food
1t may be proper to state in conclusion
that in our observation of herds wintered on
cooked food the animals appeared to bC
healthy and there was entire freedom from
the diseases to which allusion has been made
The cooked food, however, was used for COM
paratively short periods. What the effect
might be from a loug-continued use of such
food, We are not able to say.-Rara Neu
Yorker.