The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-01-22
The Feeding OF stock.

THE feeding of stock as a branch OF
farm management necessitates a
knowledge of the general principles on
which its successful prosecution de-
ponds, especially of the nature of the
food, and its use in such manner and
in such quantities as are necessary to
secure proper proportion of the great
nutritive compounds required to main
tain the vital functions in state of
healthy action, and the particular con-
ditions under which the constant waste
of the tissues may be reduced within the
narrowest possible limits, and the guam
tity of food required to supply the place
of the effete matters thus diminished to
the greatest extent. These matters, in
fact, include the broad principles which
must be kept in view in the feeding of
all animals, and practice has arrived at
conclusions in harmony with them. By
studying, in the first instance, the
natural instincts of the animals, and OBJ
serving the kinds of food they prefer,
and then by mixing the different sub
stances in different proportions, and
otherwise varying the mode in which
they are supplied to the animal, it has
. come to be well known that certain
foods and mixtures produce a better
effect than others, some kinds fattening
quickly and giving the animal those
qualities which the butcher seeks, and
others producing much less favorable
A greatpart of this knowledge has
been attained by xperience-that is, by
succession of trial extending over a
very long period OF line, and many OF
which have, in one sense, proved fail
ures, inasmuch as they showed that par.
ticular'miXtures were uneconomical and
source of loss to those who used them,
although, in another sense, they were
not failures, because they showed what
ought to be avoided. If it were possible
to go back over the whole range of trials
by which impractical knowledgeo of the
best proportions and kinds of food has
been acquired, it would mo- doubt be
found that, as in most instances, expert
ence has been bought at very high
price. 1t is only after often-repeated
observations that It can arrive at incon.
testible conclusions, and herein it is
that science differs from experience.
The result in both is obtained by OBJ
servation, and has coupled with it the
explanation of the facts observed.
When the study of the principles OF
feeding is prosecuted into detail, many
subjects of great interest and importance
offer themselves for consideration, and
Of these not the least worthy of notice is
the best method of making the food con.
sumed fully available to the animal II
has been clearly established that only a
very small proportion of the nutritive
matters of the food is stored up within
the body in the form of flesh and fat,
and even under the most favorable cir.
cumstances by far the larger proportion
is practically wasted, or at least reduced
TO the less valuable form of manure. 1t
is known also that the quantity stored
differs greatly in different animals.
Thus, the pig makes much better use
of its food than the OK, for it will in.
crease in weight nearly twice as much
with the same consumption of food. The
same is true, though to more limited
extent, with regard to individuals of the
same species, and every one knows that
some cattle fatten more. quickly and
easily than others. These differences
are, no doubt, often due to constitu-
tional peculiarities, which can not be
overcome in practice but it can not be
questioned that it is a matter of the
greatest possible moment to determine
the circumstances under which waste
can be reduced to minimum, and the
animal be made to ,assimilate the largest
possible proportions of the food which
enters the stomach.--PrGtrte Farmer.