St. Landry democrat., 1884-05-17
UnWhoIesome Feeding.

There is no other part of the farm
work thai is performed in such per-
tunctory and careless manner as the
feeding of the stock. At one time the
tood IS given to excess; at another it is
not sufficient; too often there is no reg
MARTY, and almost universally the
quality is Objectionable. Now, the di-
gestiye organs of an animal are the
most delicate part of the system, and
tie digestive process is far more pre-
else and intricate than anything that
the chemist can perform in his 1abora-
tory. No work of man can nearly APP
| proach in its perfection the functions of
| digestion, assimilation and nutrition in
the stomach and intestines. Indeed,
| the closest and most patient researches
OF ANTAGONISTS and chemists have failed
to explain some of these functions, and
even the purposes and offices of some
important organ connected with diges-
Glon and nutrition are partly or
wholly unknoWn-as, for instance, the
spleen and the pancreas-while we do
not yet completely understand the ae-
ton and effect of the liver, which is the
largest and most important Of the in
testlnal organs. These facts tend to
show the great Importance of q knowl-
edge, as Tar as possible, of the whole
theory and science of feeding, and of
the greatest carefulness in practice.
But unfortunately few farmers make
even an attempt to study this subject,
and the great majority quite ignore
it. The consequence is that animals
suffer from all sorts of diseases due to
disordered digestion and the resulting
impurities of the blood, and the losses
OF farmers, shepherds, and stockholders
are enormous, but yet almost entirely
preventable. The two most serious
causes OF the trouble are excessive feed
ing and the use of unwholesome fodder.
Animals possess no restraining instinct
against overlooking, they eat as long
as they can, and will gorge themselves
with the most savory food in the most
giuttonOus manner. Therefore the.
feeder should exercise wise oversight
and precaution in this respect, not only
to regulate the ration given as to guam
tity, but to apportion the quality in
such a manner as to meet the actual
necessities of the animal. As far as re-
CARDS quantity, common sense indicates
that when an animal is so filled with
food that it can hold no more it has
eaten to dangerous excess. This ex-
cess of food has the very opposite re-
suit from that desired by the feeder; the
dairy cow falls of in milk, or becomes
diseased and suffers with garget or
milk fever; the calves are attacked by
or diarrhea-nature' way Of
getting rid of the excess pigs become
affected by staggers or nervous disorder
Of the spine, which produces the ex-
ceedingly common paralysis of the hind
parts, and when the fdodE Is chiefly
corn, they die by thousands of intiam-
nation and fever of the bowels, which
s the true name of the dreaded hog
cholera. And SO this waste acts both
ways, for it is a waste. of good food. that
$ thrown away and a waste of valuable
stock which is destroyed BY the first
waste, and equally as Wasteful as piling
Up fodder against barn to burn up the
grain that is stored in it.
But worse yet remains to be told
IS regards the use of unwholesome
God. Recent Investigations of biolog-
SITS go to show that the almost infinite
yariety of fungi, both visible and inyis-
BILE, excepting by the aid of the most
powerful microscopes, are the most act
We agents In the destruction of living
natter, as well as of dead organic SUBJ.
tances. Scarcely substance exists
nut has its peculiar parasite which lives
nd grows at its expense, and finally
estroys it. Our knowledge of these
destructive agencies is at present very
leager,, but we know enough of them
Q realize that they are noxious in the
xtreme. Molds. mildews, rt1sts, smuts,
rgots and the invisible infusoriaF
rowths generally called bacteria, and
nown as infusoria because of their ap-
earance ininfusions of organic matter,
and the blood is precisely such liquidG
II these act as poisons which produce
iseases of the most fatal type, because
nese germs and plants increase with
looneeivable rapidity in the blood and
ssues of an animal poisoned by them.
nd yet it is safe to say that scarcely
ny fodder or grain fed to animals is
holly free from them, while in far too
lany cases stock is supplied with food
rofusely reeking with these dangerous
oisons. The subject is to copious to
ursue further at this time, but we can
OF resist the duty of here pointing out
lie danger, so as to awaken thought in
egard to it, intending to refer again to
lis vitality important matter hereafter.
Managing q Farm.
500 ~. ~. : IL. /