The Red Cloud chief., 1884-05-09
Cnwhelesome Feeding.

! There IS no other part OF the laftn
: work thar is performed in such q per-
, functory a. | careless as the
! feeding of the stock. At one time the
food is given to excess; at another it IS
not sufficient; toe often there is nc reg
u~larity, and almost universally the
| quality is OBJ ;ectiOnable. Now, the d.
gestive organs of an animal are the
most delicate part of the sys EN-, and
tie digestive process is far more pre-
else and intricate than anything that
the chemist can perform in his labOra-
tory. No work of man can nearly ap-
proach in its perfection the functions Of
t e stomach and int shines. Indeed,
the closest and most patient researches
of anatomists and chemists have failed
| to explain some of these functions, and
even the purposes and offices of some
important organ connected with diges-
ton and nutrition are partly or
| wholly unknown-aS, for instance. the
spleen and the pancreas-while We do
not yet completely understand the &C
ton and effect of the liver. which is the
largest and most important OF the in
t~estinal organs. These facts tend to
show the great importance of a knOwl-
edge, as Tar as posS BILE, of the whole
theory and science of feeding. and of
the greatest care illness in practice.
But unfortunately few farmers make
even an attempt to study this sub ect.
and the great majority quite ignore
it. The consequence is that animals
suHer from all sorts of di>ea les dde to
oisordered digestion and the resulting
impurities OF the bloOi, and the losses
of farmers. shepherds, and stockholders
are enormous, but yet almost entirely
preventable. The two most Sc o
causes of the trouble are excessive feed
ing and the Use of unwho'e-Omp fodder.
Animals possess no restraining instinct
against O~ver-feeding; they eat as long
as they can. and will gorge themselves
with the most savory food in the most
Iluttonous manner. Therefore the
feeder should exercise a wise overs ght
and %precaution in this +, spect, not only
to regulate the rat on given "a to guam
tity. but to arpCrtion the quality in
such a manner rs to meet the actual
necessities of the animal. AS far Is re-
CARDS quantity. common sense indicates
liIll NuCI Ill III ildi ID 81 liiNV Win
food that it can ho.d no more it has
eaten to Il da gerOus excess. This ex-
cess of food has the very opposite re-
sui: 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
blackleg or diarrh a natures way OF
gett NC rid of the excess pigs become
Il ected by staggerS nr nrrvOu d.sOrder
of the spine. which produces the ex-
ceedingly common paralysis of the hind
parts. and when the food is chiefly
corn, they die by thousands of inilam-
nation and fever of the bowels. which
is the true name of the dreaded hog
cholera. And so this waste &C S both
WAYS. for it is a wa te of good food that
is thrown away and a waste of valuable
stock which is destroyed by the first
waste and equally rs waste al as piling
up fodder against a barn to burn up The
grain that is stored in it.
But worse vet remains to be told
as regards the use OF unwho.esome
food. Recent investigat ons of iolOg-
lists 90 to show that the almost infinite
variety of fungi, both visible and invis-
ible, eXc;p ting by the aid of the NEST
power ul microscopes, are the most act
i've agents in the destruction of living
matter. as well as of dead organic s b.
stances. Scarcely a substance exists
but has its peculiar parasite which lives
and grows ut its expense, and finally
destroys it. Our knowledge of these
destructive agencies is at present very
meager. but we know enough of them
Il realize that they are noxious in the
extreme. Molls. mildewS. ruSts, smuts.
ergots and the invisible inftIsorIal
growihs generally called bacteria. and
known as infuSoria because OF their ap-
pearance n iniuSionS of organic matter.
(and the blood is precisely such a liqu'd)
all these act as poisonS VIII ch produce
diseases of the most fatal type, because
these germs and plants increase with
uncomfortable rapidity in the blood and
tissues of an an NAL poisoned By them.
And yet it is sa G 10 say that scarce v
any fodder OF grain fed to animals is
who ly free from t en-, while n far too
many cases stock is suppl ed with food
profuSely rocking with these dangerous
poisonS. The sub ect is to copiOus to
pursue further at this tine, brit we can
not resist the duty of here point no out
the danger, SO as to awaken thought in
regard to il. intenriins to refer again to
this vitaily important matter hereafter.
N. i. Times.