Meal feeding and animal digestion

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“cal Feeding and Animal Digestion,
AS TEXT Book

FOR

ALL WHO FEED CONDENSED FOOD.

SECOND naw ON.

pee. Ee wer

By LINUS W. ‘MILLER,

LE CRE REP pr ee

BAAS i ad

Author of Notes of an etl. Design of Creation.

—_ —*> @= ——.
Published by request of the
AMERICAN DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION,

Before whom it was delivered Mareh 14th, 1875.

—_—_+-9-e____
Price Fiitty Cents.

Address L. W. MILLER. StocKTON, NEW YORK, or M. L. MILLER,
1661 eae AY, NEW YorK.

The usual Be benks made to the 7rade.

“a

Chautauqua Farmer Steam Print, Forestville, N. Y.

Meal Feeding and Animal Digestion.

ADDRESSES

Delivered before the Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania
State Dairymen’s Association, at Meadville, Pa.,
January and December, 1875.

ALSO

Before the Tenth Annual Convention of the American Dairy-
men’s Association, at Utica, NewYork, January 14, (which
Convention, by Resolution, Requested the Author to
- Publish it in Pamphlet Form).

With an Addendum, Giving Instructions for the Practical
3 Application ef the Principles Elucidated.

A Lext Book for all who Feed Condensed food,

By LINUS W. MILLER.

(Author of Notes of an Exile, on Canada, England, and Va

d ieman’s” Op
Land, Design of Creation, etc.)

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cOF YRIGA; ;

ae. DE PROFUNDIS.
SEOOND EDITION REVISED, ENLARGED AND IMPROVED.

STOCKTON, N. Y., August, 1877.

‘ Entered according to Act of Congress, A. D, 1877, by LINUS W. MILLER,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

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Rog ey eee CE

TO THE

SECOND EDITION.

The rapid sale of the first edition of “Mra Frrpine
AND Anima Digestion,” the favorable comments by the
Agricultural Press of the country upon its merits as a
valuable contribution to agricultural science, and above
all other considerations, the uniform testimony ot those
who have practically tested the new system of wintering
stock in its favor, not only as very economical, but as
followed by a marked and very important increased milk
production in dairy cows, are the chief reasons why the
author is induced to offer a new, enlarged, and revised
edition of his unpretending work to the Public. He is
impressed with the full and mature conviction that as
soon as the inerits of this new system are recognized as
facts, it will be generally adopted, not only by dairymen
and herdsmen, but by every man who keeps a cow tor
milk, in town, city or country; and believing-its general
adoption will add an immense sum annually to the
wealth of the country, he regards it as a sacred duty
which he owes to the world in which he lives, to agitate
the subject of meal feeding in every proper way, and by
all available means, until the prejudices which impede
its progress are overcome. If it had been possible for
ridicule, malice and abuse to put down this new system,
it would have been thoroughly done. History repeats
itself. Meal teeding will prove no exception. As far as

4

it is based upon facts it will signally triumph over all
opposition. Upon racrs the author rests his case, re-
spectfully inviting the unbelieving to tests of his system.
The reader will find in this edition a correction of the
popular error that meal and other fine food passes di-
rectly into the fourth stomach of ruminating animals.
The adoption of this popular error was the chief fault of
the first edition of “Meal Feeding and Animal Diges-
tion.” The author flatters himself that he has done his
share towards settling this dispute concerning the use of

the several stomachs of the order of animals classed as

Ruminantia.

ee
en

Piece E) Libor yLiO.IN :

Millions of dollars are undoubtedly wasted every year,
both in this country and Europe, by injudicious feeding
of concentrated food to our domestic animals. This as-
sertion may perhaps be deemed extravagant, by the ad-
vocates of the old theories; but time alone is needed to
demonstrate its truth.

A better understanding of the digestive powers and
capacities of our ruminating stock, and the adaptation
of certain kinds of food to produce certain results, alone
is needed to work a revolution in our whole manage-
ment of feeding, not dairy stock alone for a few winter
weeks, as some have supposed, but in the use of fine tood
at all times and under all circumstances. Every man
who feeds for the production cf beet, keeps a dairy or a
single cow, in town, city or country, should understand
the general principles of animal digestion, as he is liable
to throw away his money without knowing it.

He who attentively studies the principles of this un-
pretending work, will need no apology from the author
for the importance which he attaches to it; and he who,
from whatever cause, chooses to tollow the old beaten
track of his fathers, as it is his undoubted right to do,
has no business to exact any. The intense interest man-
ifested both at Meadville and Utica upon this subject of
meal feeding, where large numbers of earnest practical
men from various sections were congregated, and their
acquiescence in the general principles laid down in the
Address, is a guarantee of the ripeness of the public
mind for the reception of truth, no matter what may be-

6

come of old theories. “This would have saved me one
thousand dollars \ast winter, had I known and. practiced
it,’ was said to the author by three different persons af-
ter the reading of the Address; whiles score named
smaller sums, ranging from one hundred dollars up-

wards, as the measure of benefit which it would have

conterred upon them. When, in addition to the exigen-
cies of short hay crops, we take into consideration the
daily waste of meal and other fine food, at all seasons of
every year, in the production of milk and beef, the mag-
nitude of the interest involved in the aggregate is as-
tounding! Certainly, it is high time that this question
is better understood. Personal considerations are of lit-
tle moment, wheii such general interests are weighed in
the balance; but the author claims the right to say, in
this connection, that if in errror as regards the applica-
tion of any of the principles laid down in this little work,
no one can mourn so deeply as himself. The world is
full enough of error and false theories already; and his
chiet’ ambition is to bear some humble part in their cor-
rection.

The criticisms and strictures which have appeared in
the agricultural and secular press of the country with
reference to “feeding meal alone,” if collated would com-
prise quite a volume; and would be chiefly interesting
as showing the want of correct knowledge as to the real
principles involved, and the absurdities of the old theo-
ry as based upon bulk and woody fibre. From a mass of
strictures, in some of which threats of prosecution under
the statute to prevent cruelty to animals is directly hint-
ed, two or three of the most moderate are herewith given
as a matter of history.

NEVER FEED MEAL ALONE.

_ Fine meal, we know, is niuch more valuable than
eoarse meal, but farmers do not reach the true reason
for the disturbance in the digestive system of the cow
from feeding coarse meal. The scouring is caused by

feeding the “meal alone or unmixed with hay or other -

(i

coarse food, which would carry it to the first stomach.
When meal is fed alone it goes directly to the fourth or
digesting stomach, and not having had the macerating
process of the first stomach and re-mastication aud mixed
with saliva, it is not in a fit condition for the action of
the fourth stomach, and will cause scouring, whether fine
or coarse, although very fine meal will cause less dis-
turbance than coarse, because the finer particles are
more easily dissolved by the digesting fluid, and thus
more readily assimilated; but nature intended all the
food of ruminating animals to have the macerating pro-
cess of the whole series of stomachs.

FEEDING MEAL TO COWS.
Eds. Country Gentleman:

In your last issue (March 19th), Reaper, in his article
on winter feed for cows, makes the following assertion:
Harris Lewis gravely informed the people of this coun-
try that ‘‘all the meal they were feeding to cows was be-

ing thrown away.” This may bea correct quotation
from some one of the published reports, and it may be
what I said. I would ask Reader, however, it I did not
say that I believed the dairymen of Chautauqua county
were feeding corn meal at a loss, and that much of it was
thrown away? I am ready to accept Reader’s under-
standing of what I did say, and will not deny anything
people charge me with. i

Reader then goes on to state that the farmers are go-
ing to determine the relative value of different kinds of
feed for wintering dairy cows. This is just the thing I
_have often urged dairymen to do, and I rejoice that any
man has the independence to step out of the beaten track,
as Mr. L. W. Miller has done in this matter. I also re-
joice that Reader has opened his eyes to some rays of
light which have changed his opinions, similar to those
of mine, which he used to hold in regard to the value of
corn meal and corn fodder for cows. _

If Mr. Miller’s experiments with corn meal do not put

8 ‘
his profits for the coming season, and his cows, also, in
about the same predicament that the dairymaid’s chick-
ens were in when counted so long before being hatched,
I shall again rejoice. If Mr. Miller’s corn meal diet
proves just the food for dairy cows, it will settle one
thing forever, viz., that the very best corn lands are
above all others the lands for dairying, for we cannot on
the best grass lands in the United States, north or south,
east or west, keep dairy cows for six and a quarter cents
per day, on grass or hay, or both, the year through. The
cost of keeping a dairy cow at the west, on ten cent corn
meal, would be so near nothing that it would be hardly
worth naming. If I can keep a dairy cow well on corn
meal, I will sell or give away my grass farm, and go west.

Harris Lewis.

THE MEAL THEORY.

The meal theory of L. W. Miller ot Stockton, by a cor-
respondent of Country Gentleman, is hit off as follows:
“J have known a cow to increase in milk by feeding a
moderate quantity of Indian meal at regular periods, in
addition to other food. But when you talk of feeding a_
cow three pints of dry meal in the morning, and three
pints at night, and no other fodder, “with very little”
water, of course there must be some screw loose in the
statement. Why, there are some men who would use -
about as much food as that. The six pints would weigh
about five pounds (the actual weight is about four lbs).
Indian meal has about 66 per cent. of fat forming food
and 11 per cent. of muscle forming substance. Good hay
has about 86 per cent. of the former, and 18 per cent. of
the latter. Ten pounds of good hay would be more than
equal to the six pints of meal. Yet who ever heard of
keeping a good cow on ten pounds daily of hay ?—to say
nothing of the “very little” water !

FEEDING MEAL.

The Utica Herald notices the report of the experiment
being made by Linus W. Miller of Stockton, on feeding

9

meal alone, and accompanies the report with the tollow-
ing remarks: =

The feeding of finely ground corn meal to dairy cows
is now being widely considered. Dairymen in this re-
gion are now feeding more meal than ever before. The
question to be determined is, whether this nutritive ma-
terial is in a form unsuited to the full exercise of the di-
gestive functions, and consequently, likely to waste its
nourishing qualities through imperfect digestion. That
it is an unnatural food, that it slips untouched through
part of the digestive machinery of the animal, is claimed
by some of our most intelligent dairymen. On.the other
hand, there are many men who feed meal, and think
they do so with profit and with good results to the
animal.

Weare glad that Mr. Miller is making the experiment
which is described above. We have little faith in his
proving that meal is a pertect and sufficient food; for if
his cows maintain their bodies on meal alone, they will
perform several creative acts, and creation is not vested
in the animal economy. There are materials in the tis-
sues of the body which do not exist in corn meal.* They
are not present in it in any shape nor form, consequent-
ly the transforming power of the animal cannot act, for
it has no material to work over. Again, Mr. Miller is
operating in the face of well established beliets, that a
single food is not suitable tor maintaining the health and
strength of the animal for any great length of time.
That Mr. Miller has so far proceeded in his war against
nature, that he has succeeded in doing away with rumi-
nation in his herd, will startle those who believe — in the
strict utility of natural processes. But though we are .
forced to sympathize with Mr. Miller’s cows, we hope he
will pursue his experiment to the end. We have almost
as little faith in his success as in anything we might
mention. Feeding meal alone is very different fron
feeding meal together with more diffuse food. We be-

*What are they P—AUTHOR.

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lieve that meal fed properly will do good service, im-
parting richness to the product and fullness to the form,
but a food which leads the cow to forget the cunning of
her natural machinery, must seem at the outset to be-
prejudicial to health and profitable increase. Neverthe-
less we shall watch Mr. Miller’s progress with much in-
terest and attention.

MEAL ONLY FOR COWS.

Eds. Country Gentleman:

I observe that the statement of Mr. L. W. Miller rela-
tive to the keeping cows on meal alone, is attracting
some attention, and deservedly so. I cannot help re-
gretting that so preposterously absurd an idea, as that
‘attle can be maintained in health tor months together,
on nothing but a few quarts of corn meal a day, should
be put forth as worthy of trial. The stomach of the bo-
vine is intended by nature to receive a large mass of
moderately nutritious food, and it is only when it is
properly filled, that the animal can experience the sen-
sation of comfort so essential to health. If Mr. Miller
will try the experiment on himself, being contented with
three meals a day, each to consist of a single meat loz-
enge or a teaspoontul of concentrated beet tea, he will
experience much the same sensations as hs unfortunate
cows.* I cannot. however, regard the-statement as any-
thing but a hoax. Any one accustomed to cattle knows,

* Mr. Miller, along with about ninety other political prison-
ers, for the offense of trying to give a responsible governinent
to his friends in Canada, suffered the gnawings of hunger on a
very empty stomach for years, in Van Dieman’s Land, under
British rule; and he ean tell L. B. L. a tale of horrible suffer-
ing, usurpation and cruelty, that should make a savage blush for
shame! Mr. Miller has no taste for starving even dumb animals,
much less his fellow men; and if L. B. L. had ever suffered a
a little of what those unfortunate. prisoners endured, he would
not wonder nor take any exceptions to the severity of this note.

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that the excessive use of meal invariably results in diar-
rhoea or dysentery, if long persisted in; and that unless
a proper proportion of coarse feed, such as hay, straw or
grass is used, the health of the animal is sure to give
way. I think the statement in question will be accepted
by none but “the marines.”

EB ke

Sherbrooke, P. Q., Canada.

Meal Feeding and Animal
Digestion.

Gentlemen of the American Dairymen’s Association :

I shall confine my remarks mostly to feeding Indian
meal to dairy stock, when dry, and to their digestion of
coarse and fine food. Certain practices of my own in
wintering my cows, having attracted much attention and
not a little criticism, I suppose you will.expect me to ex-
plain those practices. Sixteen years ago, happening to
mention to a gentleman of my acquaintance that I was
short of hay for wintering my stock, he informed me that
he had wintered his cow upon three pints of scalded
meal, keeping in stall all winter, and watering by hand,
and he assured me she came through in good condition,
and yielded a fair product of milk that season. Seizing
upon this hint of my friend I ventured to place my herd
of twenty cows, having first dried them off, upon an ex-
clusive meal diet, feeding an average of three pints, dry,
morning and evening, giving the lar ge cows a little more,
and the small ones a little less; keeping them in warm,
clean, properly ventilated stables, and only turning them
out one-half hour each day for water. They were uneasy

13°

the first three or four days of meal diet; but after that
had the appearance of unusual quiet and content. I am
confident their rations were ample to satisfy the wants of
nature, and that they did not lose flesh. The experiment
would have been more valuable if they could have been
weighed at the commencement and end of mea: feeding.

In the spring when they began to drop their calves, I

fed them all the hay they would eat in the morning and
two quarts of meal at night. But they showed a decided
preference for meal over hay. The calves dropped were
ot the usual size, strong and healthy and gave no indica-
tion of a deficiency of. proper and essential elements in
the food of the mother. When upon exclusive meal diet
—a period of nine weeks that season—rumination ceased
when they had no longer any food to remasticate. Oc-
easionally one would refuse her meal. It was my cus-
tom to administer a tablespoontul of dissolved copperas
on such occasions, and a restoration of appetite followed.
When the weather was very stormy “they were kept in
and supplied with water by hand. The amount of wa-
ter drank at such times was surprisingly small, varying
from one quart, in rare cases, to eight or ten per cow each
day. I think they would not average to exceed five
quarts. Although accustomed to eating a daily ration
of salt during the summer, they Bhaicad. but little ineli-
nation to eat it on meal. But when again fed upon hay
they at once resumed consuming-the usual quantities of
water and salt. I made more than the usual quantity of
spring butter that season, and when turned out to grass,
my cows did better than I had ever known them before,
when wintered in the usual way.

After this experience, whenever short of hay, I resort-
ed to meal, feeding in as many winters, five, seven and
eight weeks and always with the most satisfactory re-
sults; my cows when turned out to grass invariably do-
ing better than when wintered on hay, both as to quantity
of milk and a tendency to lay on aah: In the season of

1873-4, my hay. crop was unusually short, and what corn

14

fodder I had was badly damaged by frost, feeding which,
in early winter, my stock were in unusually poor flesh
when I commenced feeding meal on the 1st of January.

The result of my experiment I condense trom a com-
munication over my signature, published in the Chua-
taugua Farmer in August last.

“The records of the factory where I send my milk,
show an aggregate of 531 cows. There are three herds
ot cows giving as much, or more than my own the pres-
ent season—one of them nearly two pounds more daily;
but the last sale of cheese of which I have a record, being
the make of sixteen days, from June 10th to 26th, cred-
its my herd with giving two pounds fifteen ounces each
per diem more than the average of the whole 531. My
herd was selected with reference to making butter, not
cheese, and [ have never regarded them as great milk-
ers; they averaged twenty-seven pounds per diem, for
the sixteen days’ sale.

In 1872273, I wintered my herd upon hay. They
came through in good condition, and were fed during
the spring months with two quarts of meal daily, and all
the hay they would eat. In 1873-74 I fed for nine
weeks (while dry) three quarts of meal; then what hay
they would eat and two quarts of meal, for three weeks;
_then bean vines and meal, for two weeks, losing one of
my best cows in the operation of feeding bean vines, and
setting the whole herd scouring badly and losing flesh.
Then I did what I have never done before to cows giving
milk. I fed during the rest of the spring before turning
out fo pasture, on clear meal, a period of about five
weeks, giving five quarts of wet meal daily to those giv-
ing milk, Under ‘this treatment they did well, and al-
though the flow of milk was less than when fed on hay,
its quality was excellent, and the butter superior. The
bean vine butter, however, was poor.

I find, by the factory records, that my cows are giving
five pounds of milk each, per diem, more than they gave
_ during the corresponding period last season, when win-

15

tered on hay. But with this difference in their treat-
ment. This season my hill pasture has been very short
during the entire season thus far, although I am carry-
ing four head of stock less than last year, and I have in
consequence fed about three quarts of dry, bran, per
head, to my herd daily. I do not think, however, that
this bran would make up the deficiency in pasture as
compared with last season.

I fed, last winter, white western meal instead of’ yel-
low native corn of my own growing, as heretofore. White
Indian corn contains only a fraction of one per cent. of
oil, while yellow contains nearly four per cent. There
was a marked difference in its effects from anything I
have ever seen while feeding yellow meal. The hair first |
began to look and feel stiff and harsh, then the skin be-
came dry, with the appearance of scurvy, after about six
weeks feeding; and finally some of the herd actually
broke out with small blotches along the back and sides.
I understood pertectly well that a small quantity of lin-
seed oil cake, fed with the meal, would correct all this,
and make white meal equal to yellow; but the eyes of
the whole country were upon me, predicting failure, ruin
and starvation to my cows, and I chose to run the risk
of consequences, without any variation from what was
advertised; but I shall never feed white meal exclusively
again, without adding to it something to supply the defi-
ciency of oil. Hereatter I intend to winter my cows,when
dry, upon meal, when I can get it, in preference to hay.”

At the close of the season, having fed no bran or extra
feed since the 20th of Angust, I find, by factory returns,
that my cows averaged a fraction less than 20 pounds
per diem for the season of five months—May 19th to Oc-
tober 19th—being 1 pound 38 ounces each, per diem, more
than the average of the 531 cows whose milk was sent to
the factory, and an average of four and a quarter pounds
each per diem more than they gave for the corresponding
season, the previous year, when wintered on hay. I had
also two cases of abortion in my herd—the result of acci-

16

dents—having but one the previous year. The condi-
tions were more than ordinarily unfavorable; but the
results were, to say the least, a demonstration of the
adaptation of an exclusive meal diet to meet the wants
of my animals under the conditions enumerated. An-

other result of meal feeding I find to be a tendency to.

lay on flesh more readily than when wintered in the
usual manner. I am also satisfied that my herd hold
their age better, and that their teeth last longer; the rea-
sons for which are apparent. What the effect would be
if wintered continuously for consecutive years on con-
densed food I am not able to say, never having tested it.
But looking to my own profit, as a dairyman, I propose
hereafter to feed my cows when dry upon an exclu-
sive meal diet, and also to feed more freely on this arti-
cle during the spring months. My practice has been to
make the change from hay to meal and wee versa sud-
denly without gradation, and thus far it has been with
safety; yet prudence might dictate a gradual change
when returning to hay; and also care in supplying the
animal with the necessary quantity of water for moisten-
ing the coarse food. If cows could be watered in their
stalls, whether fed on meal or hay, in cold weather, and
their stables kept warm and clean, taking care to curry
daily at such times, there would bea great saving in
food. I would not wish to be understood as Jaying down
the rule that a daily ration of three quarts of meal is
sufficient in all cases. Large cattle would require more,
and small less. He who feeds meal exclusively should
watch his animals closely, and variations be made in the
quantity according to circumstances. In very cold wea-
ther the animal requires more food, no matter what its
nature may be, than in warm pleasant days. The prac-
tice of turning out animals in the cold and storms to be-
come chilly, is neither humane nor economical. Regn-
larity in the hour of feeding is also of great importance,
whatever the food. It isa law of animal life that the
appetite conforms to habit, and that the digestion of food

will be more perfect if taken at stated intervals. Where ~

.

17

food of any kind is kept constantly within reach of an
animal, it is tempted to eat more than nature requires,
and much more than can be properly digested. In feed-
ing meal, whether alone or diluted with coarse food, it is
absolutely imperative that it should be ground as fine as
for family use; and if from white corn, on an exclusive
meai diet, a smal] quantity of oil meal cr cotton seed
meal should be mixed with it.

As to the economy of meal feeding, much depends up-
on the respective prices of corn and. hay. The present
season corn is-high, and hay can be had at a reasonable
figure; but when the conditions are reversed, the balance
sheet, leaving out the question of increased products, is
decidedly in “favor of meal. Our far ming lands should
average fifty bushels of corn to the acre, ‘and our mead-
ows two tons of hay in ordinary seasons. One bushel of
corn should last an average sized cow twelve days, when
dry. Fifty bushels should keep twenty cows thirty days,
where the ‘product of an acre in hay would barely sutlice
for ten days. The question of labor would vary the result,
as well as the value of the manure. I do not claim the
facts which I have related as a complete demonstration
of the superiority of meal over hay for winter feeding of
dairy stock. The known difference in the product of
cows in different seasons, without any per ceptible cause,
renders all detached experiments to a certain extent un-
reliable. When, however, whole herds show an increased
product, it is safe to attribute the change to the causes
specified. An experimental farm, like those so ably con-
ducted in Germany, where car eful experiments could be
conducted tor a series of years, testing the relative value
of all kinds of food for the production of milk, and the
accumulation of flesh and various other desiderata is
much to be desired. Nevertheless some propositions
have been proved, and some theories exploded, which
Were regarded as axioms only one year ago; as that ru-
mination is not essential to health in the ruminatia; that
itis only natural when made necessary from feeding
coarse food; that condensed food may be ted profit: bly, :

1

and in perfect harmony with nature’s laws, without be-
ing diluted with coarse food; that bw/k in food is not ad-
vantageous, but the contrary; that nutriment in food, and
not bulk, governs the condition and health of the animal;
and that condensation of nutriment, and not expansion,
is true econonly.

Following in the track of this advanced step, are re-
sults of vast importance to the dairying interests of the
world. The terror of short hay crops, and famine prices,
are among the things of the past. By planting more
corn, we can keep more cows on our farms; and our
brethren in the great corn growing regions ot the west,
may confidently anticipate an increased deimand, and
enhanced price for their great staple product. A few re-
marks upon the digestion of ruminants, and I have done.

Gentlemen, nature has made no mistakes. Her laws
are the perfection of wisdom. Design is inscribed in
characters of living light upon all her varied pages. The
primitive rocks, not less than alluvial soils, bear the stamp
of royal laws, harmoniously working out the great prob-
lem of existence. The lowest forms of vegetable and an-
imal life are but links of the great chain, stretching from
Silurian periods down through inter minable ages to the
present day. Adaptation to surrounding circumstances,
and to the exigencies of hte, are clearly discernible in
every phase and grade of the animal and vegetable king-
doms. A creature of such vast importance to man as
the ruminant, would be an exception in nature. placed,
as she is, in latitudes where malignant and blighting
frosts and drouths, so trequently cut short vegetation, if
she was not fitted to live and thrive, in spite of such ad-
verse surroundings. Her four stomachs are a wonderful
adaptation to her wants and necessities under different
conditions. In the calf, living upon its mother’s milk, we
find but slight development ‘of the stomachs used upon
coarse food. This fact is important, as showing that con-
centrated food is not unnatural to the ruminant; com-
plete digestion and assimilation certainly takes ‘place;
proving ‘that all the conditions of life are fulfilled in this

(o 6)

19

order of animals, independent of the use and functions
of the 1st, 2d and 3d stomachs. Pardon the digression,
in remarking, in this connection, that calves should never
be suddenly weaned, but the change from milk or con-
centrated food, to grass should be gradual; giving time
for the gradual development of the necessary machinery
for preparing grass, and other coarse food, for digestion
and assimilation.

In the full developed ruminant, we find grass, hay and
all coarse food, after slight mastication in the mouth,
passing into the cesophagean canal or passage on the
floor or bottom of which are two doors or openings, the
first of which receives all coarse food, and as much wa-
ter, when the animal drinks, as is required to moisten it.
This opens into the first stomach or paunch, which is, so
to speak, the animal’s storehouse; and which, when herb-
age is abundant, she soon fills, and is prepared, or rather
inclined, from its bulk and weight, to lie down and at
leisure finish the work which the non-ruminant is com-
pelled to do as it eats. This storehouse has an opening
into the reticulum or second stomach, and by muscular
action forces, in small quantities, its contents into it,
where, also by muscular force, it is formed into pellets
or cuds, and forced through a valve which opens up-
ward, (but never downward) into the esophagean canal;
where, by muscular action, it is forced back to the mouth,
Here, at its leisure, the animal remasticates it until it be-
comes so softened and pulverized, that in the second act
of swallowing, it passes the first opening, or door, where,
in its coarser state, it forced its passage before; passes
the door of the second stomach, which is always closed
to food in its downward passage, and enters near the ter-
mination of the cesophagean canal, the door of the third
stomach. This is the popular theory, but from récent ex-
periments elsewhere related, it is shown to be an error.
Thus far the food has been only chewed and softened;
but here it is ground. Duplicatures, of the coatings of
the stomach are here suspended from the esophagus,
which seize upon the food as it enters, and by muscular

?

20

action, file and = all the coarse parts so that noth
solid or fibrous escapes them.

From the third it passes directly to the fourth stomach,
where true digestion begins. The gastric juice here se-
creted has the power of converting it into a mass called
chyme, from which it is changed ‘to chyle. The action
ot the digestive juices and glands i in converting it into
milk, blood, and from blood into fat, flesh, bone, mus:
cles, hair, ree has as yet never been satistactorily dem-
onstrated.

Modern investigations go to show, however, that slight
chemical changes only take place in the.food, or the ele-
ments composing it, but rather a mechanical change, dis-
integrating such substances or compounds as the animal’s
wants require, leaving that which is worthless to be ex-
pelled: and that not only ruminants but the whole ani-
imal kingdoin, are endowed by nature with organs, whose
office it is to seize upon the elements required, generally,
but not always, in solution in the form of chyle or blood,
and with unerring certainty convey them to their desti-
nation.

In other words we say nature is conservative of her
forces; and in the great chain of life, stretching from the
lowest vegetable erowth up to man, she appropriates,
with the least possible change, the material of the lower
to build up and pertect the higher. It is true that na-
ture’s laboratory is immense, and her power unlimited,
but for that reason we must not charge her with being
wasteful. Even cellulose (excepting “ernde) is not de-
stroyed. but passing through the process of digestion 1s
found deposited in the frame of the eater just, or at least
nearly, as it was before mastication in the article of food,

Gentlemen, nature furnishes, in this respect, a pattern
for man to follow. Let the dairyman do it and he will
get rich. In considering the question of digestion, its
proportions are of such magnitude as to forbid any at-
tempt at even a cursory glance at its details in extenso,
in this essay. I desire, however, for the purposes which
I have in view, to call your attention to certain general

21

principles involved in the subject of pou feeding, as an
exclusive diet, under certain conditions, versus hay. In
pushing our inquiry in this direction, we are met at the
threshold with certain difficulties in the nature of the an-
imal. For instance, the capacity of our cows to consume
any given kind of food materially varies. Cows of equal
weight will seldom eat an equal quantity of food. When
they do its effects vary and are far from uniform. When
the cow gives milk, we find in those of equal weight and
size an astonishing variation in both quality and qnanti-
ty of milk product. One will give four gallons milk per
day, and the other but two gallons. The milk of one
may be rich in oily matters, and the other in caseine. In
other words, there is a marked difference in the propor-
tion of its constituents. Make the milk into butter sepa-
rately, and we find a difference in. color, flavor, and per-
haps texture, as well as quantity. If equal quantities of
each cow’s milk from equal amounts of food were ana-
lyzed we should, perhaps, find the result from one as fol-
lows: I take, at random, an analysis of milk by J. Al-
fred Wanklyn:

IN 100 CUBIC CENTIMETRES.

Ec ee 88.438 grammes.
ee Sty ia i 4.12 sé
RE eR 5.16 “
dp FT gp aa ia dah 4.43 ag
a eee 0.76 i
102.90
From the other

EE eee 90.09 grammes
emmeceen Sh i it. BE Ou 3.16 “
Se ee ae 4.16 és
memimiare ie ll... ee ob 4.76 be
Ash

RTA sti i . SRE 0.73

22

Both being the product of the same food in quality
and quantity, but from different cows, this conclusion is
forced upon us: ,

Ist. As to difference in quantity of milk. The mam-
mary glands of one must have double the capacity of se-
ereting milk which are possessed by the other;. or the
stomachs of the latter must be sadly out of repair and
incapable of performing their normal functions. Upon
the last supposition, an analysis of the excrements, solid
and liquid, would probably fix the responsibility where it
belongs. But we daily find greater discrepancies in the
product of cows equally healthful; and we are compelled
to look for the cause in the secretive glands of the ani-
mal. But the amount of food being the same, we havea
right to look for the ingredients of two gallons of milk,
stored away in the body of the defaulting animal, and
shall not be disappointed, unless there is a want of ca-
pacity in her secretive glands to appropriate them. That
such is the case, I think no intelligent dairyman, who has
given his attention to the subject, will deny. The ditfer-
ence in condition of our good and poor milkers at the
end of the season, will not account for the great deficien-

cy of milk. At any rate we do not find its equivalent .

stored away in the form of fat or flesh. The poor milker
is generally in the best store condition, but she ought to
be much better than we are accustomed to find her. If
we could analyze her excrements, we should probably
find the missing constituents.

2d. As to difference in quality; the same course of ar-
gument followed out, forces upon us the conviction, that
there is a marked difference in the capacity of the lacte-
al glands in the two animals to secrete the same constit-
vents.

The difference in the fattening qualities of different
animals of the same breed, as well as of different breeds,
are additional facts pointing in the same direction, and
forcing upon us this conclusion, viz.: There is a limit to
the capacity of each animal to appropriate the nutritive
elements of its food. Henve, if food, we will say meal, is

|
|
:

23

taken into the stomach, in quantities larger than the va-
rious organs of digestion are capable of appropriating its
constituents, the surplus is crowded ont with the excre-
ments and are lost. An analysis of the manures, solid
and liquid, would determine the amount of waste, in any
given case. That meal, fed in large quantities at one
time, is partially lost, except as manure, is evident; and
this accords with the experience of many dairymen who
having thus wasted it, come to the hasty conclusion that
meal is of little value for food, and that three quarts per
diem would be wholly inadequate to supply the wants of
an animal,

The gentleman referred to in my opening remarks, as
wintering his cow upon three pints scalded ineal per day,
wintered her the same season that I commenced this
practice, upon three quarts; and he informed me she
never did better in her milk product than in the follow-
ing season. Last winter he fed three quarts scalded meal
and a small bundie of cornstalks, daily, milking her all
the winter and getting a product equal to four quarts per
diem, and _ he says she gained in condition all the time.
Col. Potter of Potters Corners, Crawtord Co., Pa., in-
formed me a short time since, that in fattening two
beeves a few winters since, be began by feeding corn in
the ear. Noticing whole kernels in the manure dropped,

he turned a couple of small pigs into the stable, to get
their living from the droppings of his beeves. He atter-
wards fed meal in large quantities, and the pigs ap-
peared to thrive better than betore; but finding that his
cattle did not gain very fast, he reduced the quantity of
meal fed until the pigs began to squeal for want of tood;
but, said he, ‘“‘my beeves laid on flesh and fat much bet- °
ter than when fed in such liberai quantities.”

My own experience teaches me that if, in cows of’ or-
dinary size, more than,say from three pints to two quarts
is fed at one time, without scalding, waste ensues. That
if more is to be fed for the purpose of laying on flesh and
fat, the feeding should be, if fed clear, once in six or eight
hours, in such quantities as could be assimisated; that if

24-

fed immediately before or after the feeding of hay, in
large quantities, a loss ensues from the causes already
considered, viz., 2 want of capacity in the animal to di-
gest only a limited quantity in a given time. In other
arende! the animal after eating te hay, commences re-
mastication; and the meal commingling with the float-
ing contents of the rumen, each propulsion of the latter
into the reticulum causes also an undue propulsion of
meal into the demi-canal leading indirectly to the 4th
stomach, and an over supply ensues. Which is wasted,
hay or meal, it is not worth while, in this connection, to
inguire; but one or the other, more likely a portion of
both, are forced through the system with the excrements.

That there is economy in cutting and steaming hay is
self evident. It has been cl: timed by able men without
being questioned, that nineteen pounds cut hay, in pieces
two inches long, is equivalent to twenty-five pounds un-
cut hay. No nutriment is added by cutting; but so
much less work is to be done by the ‘animal, ‘which re-
quires a certain amount of vital force to perform it. This
vital force, when used, consumes a corresponding per
cent of the nutriment eaten. Therefore a less quantity
of food suffices if the hay is cut. If it could, by mechan-
ical means, be ground as fine as the stomachs of the ani-
mals grind it, the saving would be in proportion, and
probably would not be less than fitty per cent. But the
hay thus ground would pass the same as meal, through all
the stomachs without remastication.

Why would not this ground hay be a natural food tor
the cow? It would go ‘just where the cow’s Creator de-
signed it should.

Steaming is a step in the same direction, and in some
respects its effects would be more advantageous: as, soft-
ening the woody fibre, dissolving the soluble parts, and
rendering true digestion more easy and thorough. A
saving of thirty per cent. is claimed by this process. As
no nutriment ‘ean be added, the saving must be chiethy
in mechanical force. These considerations lead us to the
question of equivalents, in the matter of meal versus hay.

A cominon sized animal consumes daily three quarts of
the former, or twenty pounds of the latter.
the miller does the mechanical work; in the latter the
cow. The miller exacts a tenth toll for grinding your
- meal, but the cow is obliged to take more than one-half
for the labor which she pertorms on your hay! The con-
stituents of meal and hay, when contrasted as equiva-
lents, are liable to more or less error in results, from the
tact that the composition of both vary, different kinds of
corn yielding different quantities of any given constitu-
ent; some being much richer than others, especially in
oil, ‘starch and sugar; while hay also varies, according to
the soil upon which it is grown, the time of cutting, and
the manner of curing; bit we are able, Hievertheless: to

25

approximate results.

One analysis by Dr. Salisbury of Albany, of corn, gave

as follows:

etter gt see |) eee Te 4.62
ee | eee ee 2.64
ali yt aM Mec el i ln 41.85
eee, ee St 3.88
Rika oe ail Aga ga 1.32
a ie SA alla gala 5.40
er Se eee 21.36
a i 1 EG SRR le cl a, ei 10.00
ae pa ll el i AMR” a i tag 10.00

Or, i in other words, of nitrogenous or flesh forming sub-

NT SC a Be Oe OT Pe SET 13. 00

ay Of non-nitrogenous or fat arog substances. -- 69.00

“This analysis is perhaps as favorable for arriving at an
average of the true value of corn for feeding to animals,
‘as any that can be found, except that the amount of

woody fibre given is very large.

The result ot an analysis of Timothy

In the first

hay, which is

Si drat (2) gp ae A Ee a, = eee ene ec 14.61
Flesh producing or nitrogenized substan-
Coe te. - ~ Se 8.44
Fat producing or non-nitrogenized sub- —
SLanGeds =... — eee er 43.63
Woody tibre : <i. eee 27.16
eh ws So. - -.- - gee 6.15

We find the respiratory elements, starch, sugar, &., —
an excess of which goes to the production of fat in the —
animal in much larger quantity in the corn than hay. In
considering the doctrine of equivalents in this case, we |

must look beyond these figures, and take into account

the difference in the wants and absolute requirements of —
the animal upon these different diets. In feeding meal —
the animal has the three quarts of meal, when introduced
to her stomach, to raise to the temperature of animal —

heat, and say two gallons cold water. per day. This is

higher as to water than cattle on meal will average; but —

I find myself in a situation to be generous in estimates.

In feeding hay, twenty pounds per diem, and at least —
twelve gallons cold water, are to be raised to the temper- —

ature of animal heat, and kept there; and not only this,

but her first stomach is filled with the food of several —

days, weighing from 200 to 300 lbs., according to size of
animal, which is also to be kept at the same temper ature

2.

rie 2 4)
TOT as Pa Sb OO NE ee

Se ert

Be 3

ee

for the 24 hours, wholly at the expense of the 20 Ibs. of
hay, excepting what heat may be produced by the slight —

fermentation of the food in that receptacle.

In feeding hay, she must use up from fifty to sixty per
cent. of the nutritious elements in her food, to perform
the labor of mastication, remastication, carrying so much

extra weight in her stomach, and supplying the extra —

heat.
In feeding meal, the teeth of the animal have pertect
rest. :
In feeding hay, the teeth are in constant use upon

pbb oy =

‘

ij 27

“tough woody fibre, at least three-fourths of the twenty-

four hours, and of necessity wear out much faster than

when used on tender grass as in the summer season, or
when fed upon exclusive meal diet. The stomachs, like-
wise, have a correspondingly tough job in performing
their functions..

But why weary your patience by pursuing this subject
further ?

Gentlemen, I have proved to you on paper, just as I
have demonstrated by my practice, at various intervals
for sixteen years, that three quarts of good Indian meal,
ted under given conditions, are more than an equivalent
for all the good hay you can coax a cow to eat! I am
aware that the best known recognized authorities of the

_ world are against me. Galileo’s doctrines were not more
radical to his contemporaries, than mine are to-day upon
this subject; nevertheless, he was right and they were
wrong. Theories are sublime fallacies in the histor y of
our race. Guessing, and taking the most important
things for granted, has been our bane throughout all the
ages. But tests don’t lie, and theories have to vanish
before them. I quote here from “Milch Cows and Dai-
ry Farming,” by Charles L. Flint.

“Now, the normal functions of the digestive organs
not only depend on the condition of its food, but on its
-yolume. The volume, or the bulk of the tood, pcisiibiionc

to the healthy activity of the digestive organs, by exercis-

ing a stimulative effect on the nerves which govern them.

Thus the whole organization of ruminating Panimals ne-

cessitates the supply of bulky food to keep the animal in
| ipod condition.”

The idea is not original with Mr. Flint, who is excel-
ont authority upon many of the subjects upon which he

treats, but it has long been taught as an axiom by the
_ very highest authorities. A greater fallacy could not
easily be invented. Force an animal to grind up a great
bulk of wood fibre, and carry it about with her, to Eine
ulate the nerves of the digestive organs! Why, every

: notion she makes, outw: ard or inward, is at an expense

Pd °

28

of vital force, whichis generated by nutriment, not bulk !

Alas! poor ruminant; you must chew all day, and you”

must chew all night, to stimulate the nerves of your di-

gestive organs ! ‘Nature cries out in vain for rest and_
recuperation ! ! Your lord and master says, chew! chew
to stimulate your nerves: Nature cries out for nutrition —

to stimulate your whole system; but man, your lord,
gives you woody fibre, bulk, work!
Dairymen, give all the rest you can to your cow, all

the year round. .When she is in milk if you feed hay, :
cut and steam and mix a little meal with it if you can; —
but give her quiet; when you feed green grass in the—
stunmer months, cut and carry her food to her in her —

stall if you can, if you want the greatest possible amount
of milk from a given amount of food. It your pastures
are short, teed her two quarts of meal in the morning, —
and let her stand in her stall until it is digested; then
turn her out. When she is dry, save your “hay for the
milking season; fasten her up in a warm, well ventilated

stable, and keep her there; give her from one to two
quarts of meal (according to her size and richness of

meal) at regular hours morning and evening, and a little

me
M

Fs.

ae pera ten et

salt, after the meal, once in. two or three days. Carry —

her what water she will drink (which will be but little);
curry her at least once a day. If she is in poor flesh
give her a little extra oil meal at noon; do this and she
will look a little gaunt and shrunk behind; but stand
und look her in the face, which never deceives, and you
will see a bright eye, with no hunger in it, and a placid,

contented countenance; and when you turn away she
will not bawl after you, asking in her dumb way for |

woody fibre, to grind through her system; do this and

she will give you a better return in milk, when you turn

her out to grass, than the cow did betore, wintered on
hay.

Plant more corn, feed more meal, and instead of di- |

Morte . . 7
minishing your herd gradually, as in the years that are—

passed away, you may, in the years to come, increase

their number.

pata oon

=< 99

_ A new and better era is dawning upon us. The days
of famine prices tor hay have already passed away, ney-
ertoreturn. Let us hasten tolearn lessons of wisdom
pm the errors of the past; let us study the nature and
ants of our animals, questioning all theories, demand-
_ ing demonstration by tests that cannot deceive us; let us
acquire new and valuable skill in the manipulations of
our milk products, in the manufacture of both butter and
eese; let us educate our sons and daughters to make
dairying what its importance demands—a science; let
us agitate for experimental stations or farms, which alone
ean lift agriculture, in all its branches, trom its past low
tate to the very front rank of all known sciences, where
rightly belongs.

ey: let us prove all things, holding fast only that
which is good.

Exclusive Meal Feeding.

An Appress DELIVERED BEFORE THE ANNUAL MEETING OF —
THE Pa. Srare DarRyMEN’s ASSOCIATION AT f
MEADVILLE, FOR THE YEAR 1876.

—_—_——_

Mr. President and Gentlemen:

One year ago I had tne honor of addressing you upon —
the subject of exclusive mea! feeding, as I ‘practice it. ¥
The tact that you have invited me the second time to |
continue its discussion is proot of your appreciation of its ;
importance, and that the determined ridicule which has —
assailed iny theory on every hand, has not prejudiced —
your minds against it. For this I tender you my grate. —
ful acknowledgments. You will find your reward in its” i
practical adoption. That it 1s to be adopted when un- 3
derstood I cannot doubt. i

As dairymen seeking the best methods of feeding for |
profit, [ invite your consideration of such facts as my own —
limited experience and that of others who have tried ny —
system afford. Inasmuch as it involves a suspension of
rumination hitherto considered indispensable, its effects —
upon the animals thus fed, their milk product, health, 4
length of lite, tendency to fatten and the character and
quality of their offspring generally, are matters of the
gravest importance which call for the closest ser utiny. i

The value and weight of my observations you must de-_
termine for yourselves. It will take many years of con

a sve

of demonstrations. Let us examine the facts. For six

31

tinued meal feeding to satisfactorily settle all the ques-
‘tions involved in the innovation, but to minds free from
prejudice the facts already established are of the nature

different seasons during the last twenty years, I have fed
meal exclusively to my dairy herd for a greater or less
length of time.

The tour first seasons were detached, the two iast con-
secutive. During the first my milk was manufactured
into butter at home, and was not weighed; but I had oc-
casion to contrast during these years the yield in milk
atter meal feeding with that after ordinary wintering up-
on hay, and invariably noticed a perceptible difference
in favor of meal feeding, a difference so marked as to
render mistake upon the point impossible.

There is a bare possibility that the increase in these
‘eases was accidental, and that the product would have
‘been the same if the previous wintering had been upon
hay.

There is always more or less uncertainty in tracing re-
sults to their true cause in the matter of milk product in
consequence of abundance or scarcity of pasturage.

We can easily regulate and estimate the amount of

winter feed, although there may be a great difference in’

the nutritive value of hay in different seasons, pound. for
pound, from various causes, but we cannot grade our
pasturage or control the season so as to produce unitorm-
ity of growth. In comparing the yield of my cows du-
ring these periods this uncertainty is entitled to conside-
ration.

Whatever the cause nay have been, the fact that my
cows always did best after wintering upon meal is indis-

putable. The calves dropped after meal feeding were

larger, stronger and in better flesh than after hay feed-

ing. I submit that this result cannot reasonably be sup-

&
5

posed to have been accidental. .
Some of these calves I raised, and they are among my
best milkers. Whether wintering the mothers on meal

had any perceptible influence in developing milking

32

qualities in the offspring, I am not yet prepared to affirm —
as established. P

Another fact early attracted my attention in the prac.
tice of meal feeding, viz: All animals wintered in this —
way, take on flesh when turned out: to grass in the spring \
more readily than when hay fed.

Again, for the past three seasons I have sent my milk”
to the Stockton cheese factory for a period of about five |
months each season where it has been daily weighed.

In 1873 they were wintered upon hay; in 1874 and ~
1875 upon meal. They averaged for the first season a
little more than 16 pounds of milk daily, and this was |
about their usual vield when wintered on hay; for the
second season about twenty pounds, and this year, which —
is my first of consecutive meal feeding, over 27 pounds —
daily.

Bubtive the spring months betore turning to grass, their
rations being what hay they would eat and two quarts of
meal daily; their daily average of butter when wintered_
upon hay has ranged from 12 to 14 ounces.

The present season upon the same daily rations, they
have averaged during this period, 14 pounds of butter
daily—a gain of 75 to 100 per cent. Their whole pro-
duct for the season is equivalent to 250 pounds of butter
per cow.

Their feed has been the grass of the pasture only. The
season was wet and cold; the pasture may have been
better than in 1873, but other herds, the milk of which
has been sent to the same factory, have shown no cor-
responding increase of yield. The legitimate inference
to be drawn, is that the difference is owing to their man-
ner of winter feeding.

Again, three of my cows proved to be barren last —
spring, two of which were meal fed with the rest of my
herd, “but the other was fed what hay she would eat and |
two quarts of meal daily, and milked tor family use till
the 10th of March, when she was dried off.

The two meal fed cows were milked till the 10th of
January, and had about fifty pounds of meal each, du-

:
|
|
|

DO

ring the spring months. They were turned to grass with
my milch cows, and in three weeks time were beef and
sold as such. The one not meal fed had the same fare,
ran dry all summer in the pasture and had to be stall
fed in October and part cf November, and even then
was not in as good condition as those that sold for beef
early in June.

Whether this remarkable increase of milk production
in my herd, and this quick fattening for beef, have any
connection with my manner of wintering, you, gentle-
men, can judge as well as I. It is possible that the same
results might have followed if meal feeding had not been
practiced.

It is an axiom with dairymen, that cows well wintered
yield larger returns in milk, than if insufficiently fed,
and that if allowed to become poor or thin in flesh before
dropping their calves, the latter will be inferior, and the
milk product for the following season materially lessened.

Cases of retention of placenta have very rarely oc-
curred after a winter of exclusive meal feeding.

Mr. Philip Lazell, the well known butter buyer of
Stockton, has wintered his one cow upon an exclusive
meal diet, as many seasons as I have my herd; he how-
ever, scalding the meal, and has twice fed in this way
from November till grass grew in the spring. with satis-
factory results.

In the spring of 1860, Mr. Thomas Lyne, a tenant of
Mr. Truman Todd, of Stockton, who is widely known as
a cattle broker, being out of hay ted meal from March
Ist till grass grew—three quarts daily to those not in
milk, five quarts daily to the milkers, with this innova-
tion upon my practice, that he allowed his cows to range
his fields when the weather was favorable instead of
keeping them closely in the stables. His herd made
more butter that season than they had ever done before.

Mr. Todd-informs me that being satisfied of the desir-
ability of meal feeding, he had since then repeatedly
urged upon his tenants a renewal of the practice, but
they were unwilling on account of the popular prejudice

54

against the smallness of the ration, and the chi ot
rumination,

Since the public agitation of this subject, so strong has
been the prejudice against it that but few have had the
temerity or the independence to test the merits of the
practice. All the cases reported to me, however, have
been witnesses in its favor.

Mr. Wm. H. Whitney, of Bladensburg, lowa, writes

me that he fed four two-year-olds last winter, according |

to my rule, which fattened very, quickly in the spring
when turned to grass. He appends this remarkable
statement that during a residence of eight years in that
great corn-growing State, he has never heard of another
instance of “fattening cattle upon meal.

Win. Beadle, Esq., of Cadiz, Ohio, in a letter to the
New York Times, gives his experience in wintering two
of his herd of cows, feeding under my rules for ten
weeks, and strongly endorsing the practice as a great
Improvement.

In a recent letter received by me, he says: “These

cows have done full as well if not better than the rest of

my herd running in the same pasture, but wintered on
hay.” He also commends my rules of feeding as laid
down in my pamphlet.

John Adams, Esq., of Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada, win-
tered a large herd of fifty cows according to my system.
He writes me that the winter was the coldest ever known
in that region, that his stables were very cold, and that

in consequence he increased the ration to an average of

four quarts daily; that upon this ration they did not

scour; that they went throngh to grass all right, came in
all right, and at the close of the milking season, says they
have never done better; and that meal feeding was a
great saving to him, both of time and money.

You will) perceive that this test of my system by Mr.
Adams has great value, at least in two respects: Ist, it
shows that the meal ration can and should be graded by
the wants of the animal. The intense cold demanded a
corresponding increased ration ot heat producing tood,

35

-and the needed supply of carbon was readily found in
the meal.

Could an equal amount of carbon have been found in
any hay ration that the cows could possibly have eaten
if the labor of the animal in its consumption be consid-
ered #

Had the weather been still colder, the animals would
have required still more, and it would have been pertect-
ly safe to have fed them accordingly. Ten degrees fur-
ther south 2 quarts would very likely have met the ani-
mals’ wants as fully as the 4 quarts at Ingersoll.

The Greenlander readily consumes his 6 or 8 quarts
of whale or seal oil per day, the inhabitant of the Tem-
perate Zone his pound of meat and one or two pounds of
farinaceous food with condiments, while he of tropical
climes is content with his ration of rice and a few sim-
ple truits.

All animal life is subject to the same laws, and only
uniform under the contingency of like conditions.

2d. Mr. Adams has shown that meal feeding can safe-
ly be followed in the coldest regions, wherever it is de-

‘sirable to domesticate the cow or a sheep. The import-
ance of this fact cannot well be over-estimated, and the

lesson which it teaches should be heeded. 3
Gentlemen, | have given you the facts bearing upon
my system of meal feeding, as I understand them, in the

plainest possible language. without coloring or exaggera-

ran] 2
tion. My firm belief is, that the system tends to devel-

op the milking capacity of cows thus fed, and that all
ruminating animals will fatten quicker and cheaper un-
der this than any other known system. The demonstra-
tion of this is within easy reach of any who may elect to
test it. Beyond all question, the proofs are conclusive,

that three quarts of corn meal, fed in accordance with

my rules, is fully the equivalent of twenty pounds of the

best hay as ordinarily ted by our dairymen and stock

raisers, and that, if necessary, hay may be entirely dis-

pensed with, in wintering dry stock or sheep with per-

fect satety.

One bushel of corn ground and tolled will last an or-
dinary sized cow of 900 pounds weight, 12 days, and is
equal to 240 pounds of hay. Corn at 60 cents per bush-
el is the equivalent of hay at 55 per ton of 2,000 pounds,
and where it can be had at that rate the cost of winter-
ing an animal, weighing 900. pounds, will range from
$7 to $10, according to eearieed and length of the fod-
dering season.

But hay, as a rule, costs at least $10 per ton, and fre-
quently, in many localities, ranges from $15 to $25. The
saving effected, by adopting my system, will be from $5
to $20 per animal, according to the respective prices of
eorn and hay. In seasons of short and defective hay
crops, Which are becoming more cominon, the import-
ance of meal as a substitute for hay is apparent.

As a deficiency of the corn crop seldom, if ever, occurs
in connection with that of hay, there can arise no neces-
sity hereafter for sacrificing our animals tor want of food.

In these times, when economy in every possible way,
with very many, is both a necessity and a duty, meal
ieeding commends itself to all who are desirous of saving
their money.

A new and probably permanent market is opening for
aoa beef in England.

The price of corn in many western States ranges from _
ten to twenty cents per bushel.

Corn and grass, either separate or combined, produce °
the richest and cheapest meat, as they do also the best
and cheapest butter and cheese.

The poor man, who keeps his one cow, in town, village»
or country, can winter her safely in spite of $20 or $30)
hay.

This may not please those who make a business of!
selling hay, but they will have to accept the inevitable, ,
and be content with more reasonable profits.

But [ am speaking to dairymen who are dependent t
upon their herds for their living. Your business will be-
come much more profitable if you avail yourselves of the

ulvantages of iny system of feeding.

B7

Many will find it very convenient to adopt in conse-
quence of a disproportion between their meadows and
- pasture lands.

Meal feeding will enable all of you to increase your
~ herds and keep any portions of your lands under the
plow.

In my address before you one year ago, I assumed the
direct passage of meal fed to ruminants to the fourth
stomach. This has been almost universaily conceded in
this country for the last fifteen or twenty years.

Our most distinguished agriculturists claimed to have
demonstrated the fact contrary to the observations of the
French scientists.

During the past season I have slaughtered two meal-
g

fed beeves, and an examination of the stomachs has

shown an accumulation of a number of days rations in

the rumen. This is conclusive testimony as to the pas-

sage ot the meal. I found also that, like coarser tood, it

passed into and through the third Ae oninch:

Feeding meal immediately before the animals were
killed, | have also made very careful examinations of all
the stomachs of a large number of beeves fattened in the
ordinary manner.

The great mass of the meal so fed has also been found
in the rumen, with only very slight traces of it in the
third and fourth stomachs, where it was probably car-
ried prematurely by the violent death struggles of the
animals.

As my rules for feeding are founded not upon theory,
but upon practice, | find no good reason for their modi-
fication, in this discovery, except perhaps to emphasize
the necessity of allowing animals fed under my system
all the water they may wish to drink, otherwise it teed-
ing heavily, there might be danger of impaction of the
manifolds.

Gentlemen, when this agitation first began, the whole
world was arrayed against me. The harmless suspen-
sion of rumination and the small ration fed were held to

38

be prima facia evidence of the torture of my animals,
and their slow starvation.

I was arraigned at the bar of public opinion, accused
of either wanton cruelty to dumb beasts, or of falsifying
facts. The most ignorant were loudest in their denun-
ciations, but many who assume to be teachers in agri-
culture encouraged them.

My accusers in many instances, were those who claim
to speak in the name of science, as Galileo’s claimed to
represent the Bible. History repeats itself; the condi-
tions are similar, but I shall sign no recantation from
fear of being torn limb from limb.

All reforms and discoveries pass through three stages, ©

viz: Ridicule, discussion and adoption.

There seems to be a lull in the cy clone of ridicule, and
for the credit of this generation it is to be hoped the storm
is over.

Discussion so far has been in the form of assertions,
generally affirming the infallibility of German scientists,
whose experiments in feeding, so far as they go, are in
no respect antagonistic to my system. Facts will in time
elucidate themselves. The explanation of my system in-
volves a more intricate knowledge of physiological laws
than prevails among those who assume to speak in the
name of science.

Let me be understood. Those who are entitled to the
appellation of scientific men have not vet spoken, as I
aim aware, with the exception of Prof. J ohnson, and he
treats the subject with all the candor that has ever
marked his able writings.

In the future I hope, if iy life is spared, to be able to

satistactorily solve some of the problems involved in my

system of meal feeding. A thorough investigation of its
merits is now in order. When,once understood, its uni-
versal adoption is inevitable.

cme

Meal Feeding.

Rocuerster,. N. Y., November Ist, 1875.

0. C. Blodgett, Esqg., Cor. Sec’y Western New York

Dairymen’s Association:

Srr:—Will you, or your society, please take very care-
ful notes of the result and effect of exclusive meal feed-
ing to cows this winter in L. W. Miller’s experiments ?

Note the appearance and behavior of the animal in
every particular, also her appearance and weight at the
time of going on to meal as compared to the sane at the
end of such feeding; to the end that you may have some
information as to whether she has gained, held her own
or lost flesh during the time. Also please report any
points of interest that you may observe about them.

When you or your society have completed your obser-
vations, please state what value this method has, and in
what manner you would apply it in practice upon your
farms. Yours, truly,

(Signed) L. B. ARNOLD.

Upon this suggestion the president appointed a com-
mittee to take observations. They were composed as
follows: E. L. McCullough, chairman, Stockton; Dr. Geo.
S. Harrison, Sinclearville; Philip Lazell, Stockton; Dr.
D. G. Pickett, Stockton; Chauncey Warren, Stockton;
0. C. Blodgett, Pomfret.

REPORT OF MEAL FEEDING COMMITTEE.

* To the President of the Western New York Dairymen’s
_ , Association:
Your committee appointed to note the result of exclu-

40)
sive meal feeding to dairy cows, respectfully report as
tollows:

We have trom time to time visited L. W. Miller’s hertil
of dairy cows in Stockton, N. Y., during the winter while
being fed on meal, and after they were put back again
on hay.

They are for size and general appearance about an ay-

erage lot of Chautauqua county native cows; average
live weight about 900 pounds.

The herd were fed exclusively upon corn meal for 7
(seven) weeks; each animal according to its digestive
capacity, making an average of about 3 (three) quarts of.
meal per day for each cow.

During this time the following points were apparent:

The cows did not ruminate. Were very quiet; did
not evince any inordinate desire for food when hay was
shown them; not so much as is displayed by cows that
are fed on hay alone, in the usual way of feeding, a lit-
tle Jess than they will eat. Were much more quiet than
cows fed mostly on meal with a small feeding of hay;
say 4 to 5 pounds per day. We could not discover any
signs of suffering or unrest in any way whatever.

That by comparing their condition at the time of going
on to meal with their condition at the time of going “back
again to hay, we could not discover that they had either
lost or gained in weight of flesh. That. visiting them
again after thirteen days on hay we could not discover °
anything about them that would denote but that they had
been wintered in the usual way; were then filled up
again like other cows; their stomachs sufficiently dis-—
tended for digesting hay and were ruminating in the»
usual manner. :

We also find that the calves dropped from these cows
are of more than ordinary size, fleshy, strong, active and
healthy, and that in parturition, cases of retention of the»
placenta are unusually rare.

That these cows have been treated in this way for sev-r
eral winters at a greater or less length of time each year, ,
and by referring to notes from cheese factory records, ,

gas? ald wae eae
Sapa ROR

41

_we discover that they sometimes produce more milk per
day than any other herd; last July, for instance, being a
daily yield per cow of 29 Ibs. 3 ozs., or 1 Ib. 11 ozs. per
cow more than any other herd.

From affidavits placed betore us by persons who have
observed the point in years past, we find that such meal
fed cows, when turned to grass, take on flesh faster than
those wintered in the usual way, other conditions being
equal.

Signed—E. L, McCullough, Philip Lazell, Chauncey

Warren. D. G. Pickett, Geo. S. Harrison, O. 0. Blodgett.

JameEstown, N. Y., May 10th, 1876.

Pror. L. B. Arnotp:—I herewith hand you report of
committee on meal feeding on the “Miller plan. 7
_ Let me say that I have met with them several times,

and I fully concur in their report.

You ask us the question, “How will we apply this
method to our practical business”

I will answer by saying, (1) should I find in the fall
of 1876, that I lacked feed for my thirty or forty cows

tor thirty or forty days, I should not sell off a per cent.

of those cows; nor should [I buy hay; nor should I cut
down on their daily feed of hay and add a little daily
ration of grain to ‘make it “go further;” but when my
cows were all dried off, should keep them all on meal
exclusively for the thirty or forty days, and then go back

rap)
to hay again. Other ways of makine this method use-

ful to us will readily occur. Thus we may keep more

=

stock with a given amount of meadow land, or we may

utilize the corn crop in the place of hay at any time when

the meal would’ be cheaper than hay. Many. Ways will
occur to us how to utilize a fact in nature when it has
onee been discovered.

Again, should a June frost sweep off 70 per cent. of
our hay crop asin years past, our 50,000 cows would
not be sacrificed down to a minimum, bat they would be

all carried safely through. I am of the opinion that

te!

42

when Mr. Miller’s rules are followed in this matter as
laid down in his treatise on “Meal Feeding and Animal

aoe
nates

Digestion,” that not only is meal feeding cheap, sate and °
reliable, but we have some evidence to show that the

treatinent goes to improve the after inilk production of
the cow. On this point please let me remind you that
this Miller herd of cows, although only an average lot to
appearance, often outstrip the premium herds of Stock-
ton, in quantity of milk given the summer after being
fed on meal. Of course other causes may produce this
result. They may have better grass, (not very likely),
or they may be milked with more precision and treated
nore kindly, (not probable), or perhaps they would
beat the other herds under exact like surroundings; but

the fact at least does not argue that meal feeding is det-_

rimental to after milk production. On this point we

have the result of Thomas Line’s experiment, that also
points in the same direction. He ted a herd of cows on
neal exclusively from about March 1st, till grass grew.
The result was that the cows gave a large yield ot butter
the following summer. Therefore putting the results so
far obtained all together, we can not well resist the logi-
cal conclusion that exclusive meal feeding has a tenden-
ey to influence both the animal after milk production,
and her capacity for laying on fat when changed back
to other feed. Other questions occur in this connection.
What would be the result on her length of lite if this course
was followed every season? Would she live a greater
munber of years or would she die younger? What would
be the effect upon her race if they were kept in this way
for a number of successive generations? Would you
thereby build up a breed of better milkers, or would they
deteriorate after the first generation in their milking qual-
ities? It is quite an easy matter for a class of minds to
settle all these questions beforehand by a system of guess-
ing; or as we might say, “deciding the case before the
facts are all in.” In order to bring in the facts I hereby
suggest that Mr. Miller continue to pursue this course,
and to raise calves from such cows and in turn the calves

45

again from them, and in this way settle the question not
only as to what the immediate but also the remote eftect

_may be upon such a.race. These and many other points
_are liable to be brought out, following the first discovery

of the main fact; namely, that a rnminant may be fed in’
such a way as to suspend rumination for a time without
detriment to the animal.

In the future there will be a great number of animals
kept in this manner in this county, and our opportunity
for observations more extended; and -I shall take great
pleasure in assisting to carry out any system of taking
such observations as you may suggest. j

Yours, respectfully, |
FLINT BLANCHARD.

To Pror. L. B. Arnotp, Sec’y American Dairymen’s As-
sociation, Rochester, N. Y.

Awl? D Bad La Aa

ConrAIntnc Runes AND EXPLANATIONS, FOR THE PRaActI-
cAL APPLICATION OF THE PrincreLes InvonvED
IN THE ForEGoiInG ADDRESS.

FOR AN EXCLUSIVE MEAL DIET.

The stables should be warm and comfortable, securing
protection from the rigors of winter. Light and air should
be treely admitted when the temper: ature will permit; sun-
light should never be excluded from our animals, unless
it involves the admission of cold winds. The platform
upon which they stand should be dry, and if covered with
retuse straw, or forest leaves, gathered tor the purpose, it
will add to their comfort, securing better results for the
food consumed, and a valuable addition to the manure
pile. Dairy cows should be first

DRIED OFF,

before they are restricted to the limited quantity of food
recommended, If any of the herd are to be kept in milk,

they should be placed by themselves, and out of sight of

the others if practicable, and fed accordingly upon both
hay and meal, or other coarse succulent food. If however
coarse food is wanting, and milk is desired, the animals
may all stand together as usual, and those in milk fed
according to directions given.

OVER FEEDING
is to be guarded against as indispensable to success. The

@

—

45

“mangers or troughs, in which the animals are to to be fed,
must be arranged so as to render it impossible for any ot

co)

_ them to obtain, by overreaching, any part of the portion
fed to their nearest neighbor. Feeding troughs are not a

s
necessity in meal feeding. The mess may be eaten from

the smooth floor, in front of the animal, or any convenient
vessel, movable or otherwise; but as some will eat faster
than others, they will infringe upon their neighbors’ rights,
unless prevented by a partition which renders it impossi-
ble. The usual distance between the stanchions in the
common American stable where hay is fed, is not sufh-
cient, without partition or other effective barrier. The
damage to the animal robbed of a portion of its daily ra-
tion, hears no proportion to the injury inflicted upon the
trespasser. Scouring, which is most zealously to be guard-
ed against, is sure to result if overreaching is practiced.

THE MEAL

lieast be ground as fine as possible. Scouring is liable, if
it is fed coarse. The gastric juices perform “their work
upon fine meal readily; and if the quantity fed is not too
large, not a particle can escape their action. If coarse
meal is, from necessity, fed, it should be thoroughly cooked
or steamed, which alone would render it e jual totine. In
case it was desired to lay on flesh or fat, either to improve

- general condition, or to make beet, the quantity might be

gradually increased, if cooked, with but little, if any, dan-
ger of relaxation of the bowels. The corn used should be
of the yellow variety, unless

OIL CAKE OR COTTON SEED MEAL ,

is added. There should be from three to four per cent.
of oil in good sound yellow corn (white corn although it
may be rich in stareh and sugar seldom contains even
one per cent. of oil). This proportion of oil in their
food should never, under any circumstances, be dimin-

ished, but may with safety be increased fifty per cent.;

and if beef is desired, the quantity may be doubled.
The feeding should be at |

46
REGULAR HOURS

if possible. Habit governs the appetite and wants of
the animal, to a much greater extent than is generally un-
derstood. Quiet, which is essential, if the best results are
desired froma given amount of food, can never be se-
cured unless the hours of feeding are regular and uni-
form. Twice a day, not far from sunrise and sunset, with
an average of about three pints to one teed, has been the
author’s Tule; but, if convenient, dividing the meal into
three messes instead, might insure better digestion with
some animals, and also “obviate some of the dangers of
relaxation. As a rule, the meal when fed to cows not am
muk should be
DRY.

The animal has an abundance of saliva, which is bet-
ter than water to moisten it, and which otherwise will be
partially wasted. The dryer the food, the longer will be
the process of moistening it with the secretions of saliva.
As these secretions are natural, the presumption is, that
their agency in preparing the food for the action of the
gastric juices, and other acids employed in the different
stages of digestion and assimilation, may be essential. As
over-teeding i is most rigidly to be guar ded against, an

EXACT MEASURE,

holding three pints (if feeding is to be twits a day, or
one quart if three times) should be used, that no mistakes
may occur. It cannot be impressed too strongly upon
the mind, that success in meal feeding depends more up-
on this one lettle tem, than perhaps many others com-
bined. The meal musr be fed in small quantities. Re-
laxation, which may prove difficult to control, is sure to
follow if due heed is not paid to this point. For the
same and other obvious reasons, the feeding should be
done, if possible, by

THE SAME HAND

from the beginning to the end; and_ this should never,
under any a SS ae be lett to a eareless or incom-

47

_petent person. The animals will require watching close-

ly, and no one should have charge of them, unless he

feels interested in carrying them through in the best pos-

sible condition. One ounee of prevention will be found of

far greater value than a pound of cure, in feeding meal.

THE CHANGE

trom coarse food to fine, had better be made at once,

without any gradations. It takes a number of days tor

‘the first stomach to become < juite empty, and remastica-

tion of the coarse food previously eaten will continue
more or less until this is accomplished. The meal fed
goes at once into the rumen, and if the quantity for the
first two or three feedings is not small, an over supply
ensues; at all events it is mixed with the coarse tood
previously eaten, until the supply runs out. For this rea-
son the change cannot be made suddenly, if it was de-
sired, and the feeder must use his judgment at first, ra-
ther than his measure. - Besides, if the animal is unae-
customed to eating meal, three pints would be likely to
produce satiety at fir st, even if it did not affect the how-
els unfavorably.

The absence. of the weight and bulk of the coarse food,
and the necessary gradual cessation of rumination, in-
volves more or less uneasiness, on the part of the animal,
fora few days. It is simply, however, the breaking up
of an old habit, and the formation of a new one in its
place; and perfectly in accordance with nature, and the
laws designed for the well-being of ruminants. The pas-
sage of fine food directly into the rumen, is of itself a full
and complete answer to any and every assertion and ar-
gument, that meal is an unnatural food; or that its ex-
clusive use involves any actual suffering whatever. The
animals had better be kept in their stalls, and watered
by hand, until they become quiet and contented. If ac-
customed to the change of diet, they accept the situation
very quietly. For several winters a str anger daily visit-
ing the stables of the writer, would scarcely have noticed
any thing unusual in the appearance of his herd, when

.

48

the change of diet was being made, unless it was the nat-

¢. “at = iP eS v7

ural shrink age in bulk. This shrinkage soon becomes

marked and prominent, and, to one unaccustomed to see-
ing animals in that condition, might cause him to regard
them as wasted and poor, when in reality they were the
reverse. The animal, relieved from carrying a large
bulk of matter (amounting in an aggregate to ‘from one-
fourth to one-third of her live weight) and the by no
means insignificant labor of remastication, soon learns

to enjoy her new lite. The old habit might incline her

to seek bulky food, if she had the chance, | “but the better
way is to keep such food out ot her reach, compelling the
formation of new habits in accordance with her changed
condition. The same hand that feeds the meal should

CLEAN THE STABLES,

or at least examine the manure of each animal as often
as he feeds. This he should never neglect, until his ani-
mals have become accustomed to the new diet, and their
discharges become natural, showing regularity and per-
fect digestion. The amount of meal fed when this oe-
curs shows the digestive capacity of the animal; some-
times this digestive ¢ capacity is gradually increased, in
which case the rations should be correspondingly in-
creased. Upon his care and discrimination in this matter

will depend his success in meal feeding. The manure —

dropped for the first few days will vary more or less, be-
ing composed, in part, of the contents of the coarse food
previously stored in the rumen. If any tendency to re-
laxation is shown, scald the meal, or lessen the amount
fed. When the old food has been evacuated some ani-
mals will go one, two, and even three days without drop-
ping any manure whatever. This is no cause for alarm,
but is an indication, if the appetite is good, that the ra-
tion of meal may with safety be slightly increased. If
however the appetite is poor, and a reluctance is shown
to eating, try if scalding the meal will not better meet
the requirements of the animal’s taste. No harm will
ensue if the ration is withheld for one or two feedings, or

49

even more. It is always safe to underteed, but never to
overfeed. In nine cases out of ten, they will resume eat-
ing their rations when they get ready, and uppear to be
better for the sexson of fasting g. If, however, the case is
obstinate, a tablespoonful of copperas may be dissolved,
and poured down the throat. A inarked difference will
be observed in the appetites of _a herd of cows for™this
diet, which generally, but not always, contorm to their

DIGESTIVE CAPACITY <>

that i is, those that eat meal with the greatest avidity, are
generally able to digest their rations thor oug ad Again,
as a rule the best milkers will be found to be the er eatest
eaters, but in this there are exceptions. The Aerie be-
ing dry, the mammary glands are at rest, unless, indeed,
they haye the power to lay up stores of fat, to be used
afterwards in the production of rich milk. The animal’
having become accustomed to a meal diet, which will be
shown by the reowarity of its daily evacuations, it be-
comes important to learn its actual digestive capacity,
which may always be done, by closely watching the ma-
nure dropped, and conforming the amount of the ration
to its distinctive characteristics. When, as will frequent-
ly be the case in a herd of cows thus ted, the manure of
any animal assumes a whitish mealv appearance, and is
soft and watery, the rations are too large, and should be
gradually shortened until the desired condition of the
droppings is reached, which should be about three (3)
evacuations daily, of the color and consistency of ordina-
ry winter manure. It

COSTIV EN ESS

ensues upon the feeding of a giveu ration to an animal,
the manure will be rarely dropped, and always hard,
dark colored, and expelled in small round balls. In such
eases the amount of the ration should be gradually in-
creased, until the desired regularity and consistene y is
-reached. This condition howeeal is sometimes occa-
-sioned by want of exercise, and care should be used in
increasing the ration of meal. One half hour each day,

50 -

when it is ordinary winter weather, tor drinking and out
door exercise, will obviate costiveness from sedentary
habits. If the animal can be thoroughly curried daily,
and watered in the stable, the effect of the food eaten
will be much more satisfactory than if allowed to rnn
out in the cold for a longer period. In case, from any
cause whatever.

SCOURING

actually sets in, the ration should be witbheld, or the
meal thoroughly cooked; and this should be persisted in
until the bowels ecoine’ regular. If the case is obstinate,
teeding scalded milk is one > of the safest remedies known.
The juice of hemlock bark boiled until strong, or of the
root of the common suinac, is sometimes used with suc-
cess. The animal loses flesh very fast when in this con-
dition: and no pains should be spared, either to save her
from getting into if, or curing her at once, when unfortu-
nately in. Some cows will digest much more meal than
others of the same size, and a ration that would cause
costiveness in the one, might prove the occasion of scour-
ing in the other, but such are extreme cases, and rarely
occur. A per fectl y sufe remedy when an aniinal is
found incapable of eating, without scouring, is to

SCALD THE MEAL,

and persist in the practice, increasing the quantity until
her wants are iully satisfied, and improvement in. condi-
tion is manifest. He who feeds meal intelligently, will
soon learn, that each of his animals has a capacity of her
own, for the digestion of her food, which is irrespective
of size, weight or general condition as to flesh; and to
this he must conform; and he will find the amount re-
quired to meet the wants of any given animal can be
determined by no fixed rule, but is learned by close ob-
servation. Digestion, and the assimilation of the elements
of food, are mysteries which science has never as yet
been able to unfold. Unseen and invisible agencies si-
Jently work out their mission, under the fixed and unt-

51

form laws of nature, within all living beings. If we

knew all the mysteries of digestion, it would enable us

almost to baffle death itself, in the human family, pro-

longing our lives beyond the limits of the patriarchal
age; and empower us to make greater improvements in

our domestic animals than the wildest visionaries (gen-
erally falsely so called) have ever dared to predict. Sci-

ence is gradually but surely working out the great prob-

lem. Professor L. B. Arnold, who needs no eulogy from

me, for all his writings and works praise him, under
date of February 4, 1875, writes me as follows:
“Analysis of the various digestive juices is of little ac-
count. The recent investigations in the physiology of
digestion, in which I have taken an active part, show

that all the changes involved in digestion are of a fer-

mentative character; 7. e, they are carried on by the ac-
tion of ferments, and chemists in analyzing the juice in-

variably kill the ferment, and thus put out of sight the
very thing they are looking for.
It has recently been proved, that saliva acts as a yeast,
and multiplies its power the same’ as any other leaven,
* * * JT have fully demonstrated, that gastric juice
acts also as a yeast, and that the ferment may be multi-

‘plied and carried from day to day, as a housewife con-

tinues her yeast: and have also done the same with sec-
tions of the intestines and bladder. The eflicacy of the
pancreatic juice lies also in a ferment, the power of which
is capable of being extended from batch to batch; that is
to say, a certain quantity of pancreatic juice is capable,
in a given time, of converting a given amount of starch
into sugar, and after having done this (all it was capa-
ble of doing in a given time), it can then be used again
to convert another portion of starch into sugar in an

equal length of time.”

This limit to the capacity of the digestive organs and

-agencies should always be borne in mind, in feeding

concentrated food. In the remastication of coarse food,
nature provides a feeder, which is never at fault in this
respect at least, for the food passes in small quantities,

2

wos

under the action of the digestive juices: coarse food also
lies in the first stomach or rumen for days, before it is
remasticated; and without doubt, becomes partially fer-
mented prior to its passage into the reg Ox
ive secretions; the same fermentation takes place with
the meal, and the quantity fed at one time must be small
if waste is to be avoided.

IN FEEDING FOR FATTENING

this should be borne in mind. The large quantities of

concentrated food usually fed must of necessity be in a
great measure lost. Not over two quarts of such food
should ever be given at one time, and three feedings in
twenty-four hours, if coarse food is given also, would cer-
tainly be the full extent of almost any animal’s digestive
capacity. It is impossible, if coarse ‘food is given liber-
ally, to prevent a waste of meal unless the quantity is
small. In wintering

YOUNG STOCK, CALVES, ETC.,
it is a question to be determined by long experience,

whether an exclusive meal diet would be advantageous
to the full development of the stomachs of the animal,

Ordinarily, if any organ is not in use, it ceases to devel-

op and grow, and it may be found that young stock,
which have not arrived at maturity, will have small and
defective rumens, as far as cé ipacity to hold a large quan-
tity of coarse food is concerned, it fed for any considera-
ble length of time on clear meal. A portion of meal dai-
ly, and” aration of coarse food, would seem to be safer;

Hut actual tests are better than theories. In changinz
FROM MEAL TO HAY,

which should always be done if possible with dairy cows,
when they commence making bag, it is desirable to do it
gradually. The conditions are reversed from what they
were in the stomachs of the animal, when the change was

made from hay to meal. Then the rumen was full of

coarse food, but now it is empty. It has been the expe-

sion ot the digest-

By

eS
ty
a

/
Fr.
’
es
“Nee

meal diet, greatly prefer it; at any rate they generally

DO

-~

rience of the writer, that animals once accustomed to

_ refuse coarse food at first, and the very best of tresh hay
has little power to tempt the appetite. It takes days,

more or less (according to size and appetite of the ani-
mal), to fill the first stomach so that she will commence
remastication. Unless a portion of meal was fed during

this period, hunger and sutfering must of necessity ensue,

for there is positively no digestion and assimilation of

the coarse food while it is in the first stomach and previ-
ous to the resumption of remastication; except the starch
aud sugar released by fermentation. Wetting the hay
with a little brine, or steaming it, might tempt the appe-

_ tite of the animal to resume the discarded habit of gong

to work upon coarse food. Care should also be taken to
teed al] the salt that an animal will eat with relish, while
this change is going on, and especially water, and this

should always be done summer and winter. If she is

fed dajly with a portion of meal, that will be evacuated

_as before the change; but no hay manure can be dropped
until after rumination has begun, and the food has had

time to pass through all its accustomed stages. When
the cow drops her calf, if, as is sometimes the case, hay
or coarse tood cannot be obtained, the animal can be
kept entirely upon meal, even while giving milk; but it
is to be justified alone upon the plea of necessity, and

practiced with caution. Generous feeding of all the nu-

oD
tritious and succulent food which she can be induced to

eat, should be the rule, after three or four days from par-
turition. It will be found that she will bear from five to
six quarts meal] daily under her changed conditions, with-
out causing scouring, and it may be even more; but it

might be advisable to wet or scald it. The mammary

ek eb

glands, which were dormant before, now act with re-
newed force and activity; this activity gradually dimin-

ishes as the months roll on. The flow of milk will not

be large upon clear meal, but its quality will be excel-

k
.
ra
rt
-,.
--)

A,

lent; and if made into butter, the amount from a given

quantity will be satisfactory. It has been the invariable

a al
| rod

54+

experience of the author, that cows wintered in this man-
ner yield a Jarger
FLOW OF MILK

when turned out to grass, than when wintered in the
usual manner upon hay and ordinary coarse food. The
reasons for this result he does not venture to give, as
they would be only his opinions founded upon theory,
but the fact is indisputable. Another sequence he has
noticed, which is a remarkable tendency

TO LAY ON FLESH.

-

ees

poet SY

This is so marked, that the past season some of his :

cows, giving a good flow of milk, have been fit for the
butcher as early” as the month of August; a circumstance
which he certainly never knew to occur with cows in

milk, which were wintered on hay. The dairyman not
unfrequently has in his herd cows that have an excep-
tional value, either as great milkers, or as giving milk of ©

5
peculiar richness and color, and which are very valuable

in giving tone and color to his whole dairy product. The
usefulness of such cows

CAN’ BE PROLONGED,

even after their teeth begin to fail, by feeding more meal

during the winter months and less coarse food. Hay, -

oO

corn todder, and all kinds of straw, no matter how early —
cut, or how earetully cured, has a coating of hard woody —
fibre, requiring - good teeth for mastication and remastica--

‘tion. If such food is given to an animal with poor teeth,
it will be found impossible for her to thrive, and lay on
flesh; but if thoroughly steamed and cooked, the case is

different; it being by the process rendered fully equal in|

digestibility to the young and tender grasses of the pas-
ture. But, where steaming is impr acticable, Indian meal
(cooking will not hurt it), oatmeal, bran, brewers’ grains,

linseed oil cake, or cotton seed mal, fed j in snitable com- -

binations in suitable quantities, may take the place of all |
coarse food; and the animal kept “much longer than is
possible on hay and the usual treatment. Such animals |

should have meal all the year round. A vast amount of’
food is lost, except as manure, every winter, by

OVER FEEDING

_ for the production of milk, to supply our villages, large
towns, and cities, throughout the country. Milk in the
winter, and early beet in the spring, always command a
% _ high price, and springers and farrow cows are bought up
in the tall, and ted with this double object in view. As

ca rule, ie class of feeders lose sight of the great fact,

that there is a limit to the digestive capacity of their an-
_imals; and in their eagerness to produce both milk and
- _ beef at the same time, overcrowd the fourth stomach and
intestines with a larger amount of nutrition than can
_ possibl y be assimilated within a given time. If fine food,
_ like coarse, was remasticated, the loss would be less, for
ie would have to pass, in small quantities, through the
i whole process of digestion. If the animal is given all the

coarse food it will eat, and that of a very nutritious qual-
ity, remastication will nearly furnish all the material
, that the digestive organs and juices can handle, the sys-
tem being clogged with a lar ge amount of worthless mat-
: ter which has to be expelled. Adding to this from four
to six and even eight quarts of rich Indian meal at a
single feed, to pass into the rumen and by natural pro-
cesses through all the stomachs in connection with re-
_ masticated coarse food, not only insures a great waste in
material, but has a tendency to surfeit and sicken, in

‘some cases, the animal. Less coarse food and much jess
- fine, the latter to be given at intervals as far as possible
between the feedings ‘of the coarse, will be found to pro-—
‘duce more milk and beef, and of a better quality, than
_ an possibly be obtained by the crowding process. When-
ever, and wherever there is much scouring, there will be
= loss. pi henover a of any kind, or any onde of

: ie It ted iy it is Ss Sa ihe a. ee
‘passed in smaller quantities into the stomach than if fed

a

56

wet; besides the saliva assists fermentation in the ru-
men; but if scalded or cooked, and allowed to stand un-
til fermentation begins, digestion will be thereby assisted.

For the production of rich milk and butter of superior
quality, Indian meal is invaluable to the dairyman; but
when he is enabled by its use, to laugh at the calamity
of short and detective hay crops, and to use it as a sub-
stitute for coarse food under all eontingencies, the chief
uncertainties and discouragements of his business are
overcome; for corn is the most certain crop of our coun-
try and seldom fails. Judicious feeding of dairy stock,
both while dry and in milk, as well as for the produc-
tion of beet, will, when practiced, greatly enhance its
value. That these pages may contribute to such a result
is the earnest wish of the author.

Since writing the above, letters of inquiry have been
received from various parties in different sections of the
United States, asking for information upon some points
not treated distinctly under the foregoing heads, which I
herewith answer to the best of my ability.

THE SENSATION OF HUNGER

cannot arise trom the absence of coarse bulky tood in
the first stomach. It is only nature crying ont for nutri-—
tion. Whenever the organs and agencies of digestion, in
the fourth stomach, bowels, ete., have exhausted the ele-
mentary constituents of the food last eaten, by carrying
them to such parts of the body as are in want, if there is
any deficiency in the supplies, a craving arises for more,
and this is hwnger. |

The distension of the first three stomachs and_ the
' performance of their distinctive functions are not sus-
pended by feeding meal. There is no danger in the

HEATING PROPERTIES OF MEAL

fed as an exclusive diet in the small quantities re-.
commended. [f fed in larger quantities over-heat-—
ing would be liable to arise, as the food once ta- |

yt

" ae a wt ct eas aaa c
Saas epee Ot Sere ME

DT
ken in these, must lay for days, and take its turn in
passing out. The “very little” water drunk, when on an
exclusive meal diet, demonstrates, that there is no un-
natural or dangerous heat generated. Iam asked by
“one almost persuaded,” if it would not be better to feed
three or four pounds of
: HAY

along with the meal, even if the quantity of meal was
reduced? Possibly it might. be, but I think not, and I

give my reasons as follows: A small quantity of hay, or

any other coarse food. would only keep up the old
habits which it is desirable to break off. There might
not be any loss of food, if this small quantity was given
in connection with a areal amount of meal, but “here
would be a great loss of gwiet; and thus a larger amount
of food would be required, to keep the animal in a given
condition as to flesh. Another asks, if it would nob be
better to cut and steam five pounds of hay, mixing the
meal with it, and

FEEDING THE MIXTURE TOGETHER /

To which I reply: I can only theorize, never having test-
ed it; but my judgment would tell ine that if large quan-
tities of hay and meal were to be fed, tor the purpose of
getting a large flow of milk, or of fattening an animal,
or both, this might be advantageous. Prof. Stewart is
a good authority upon this practice. But if light quan-
tities are to be used, to be ted to cows not in milk,
should certainly prefer clear meal.

FEEDING MEAL ALONE

is Just as safe as teeding coarse food alone, if proper care
is taken to observe the rules laid down in this work.

In reply to several correspondents who inquire as to
the teasibility ot feeding meal exclusively

ALL THE YEAR ROUND,

I will say that green grass is the natural food of the ru-
minant. Ina Btate oF nature they would only thrive in
latitudes where this is constantly available. They are

naturally very plastic. By domestication and varia-
tions in climate and food, supplemented with judicious
crossing, all the different breeds have been established
with their peculiar characteristics. All have become ac-
customed to living in an unnatural state, upon unnatu-
ral food, during our winter months. (1 call dry hay an
unnatural food) but in the country, when grass again
grows, the ruminant roams the fields in a state of nature.

Place them in confinement within sight of green fields,
and their natural longing for grass is very str ong. You
inay tempt their appetites with the nicest delicacies, and
if you deprive them wholly otf grass, they will be uneasy.
In the winter months the case is different, and cattle ac-
cept the meal in lieu of all other food, with the most per-
fect quiet and content. Cattle accustomed to stall feed-
ing in summer (as in our large towns, villages and cities),
would doubtless accept the meal all the year round; but
if cows, giving milk, clear meal would be too heating in
warm weather. Diluted with bran, mill feed, buckwheat
bran, brewers’ grains or other condensed food, it could
be made the staple food with great profit. So also cows
or other cattle running in pasture, generally eat it with
avidity, and

A LARGER NUMBER

ean be pastured upon any given field, increasing and
rendering very rich the milk product. Where corn is |
cheap dairying should prosper. The western farmer will
learn, after many days, for he is slow at learning, that |
he can do better with his corn than to sell it from 15 to
20 cents per bushel; while the eastern dairyman will al-.
so find, unless he feeds less hay and more meal, that his
boasted profits are a myth. |
Animals which have never been fed meal, may, in|
some instances, require a short course of prepar ation be- -
fore placing them upon an exclusive meal diet. Feed
such animals a small allowance daily, in connection with
their accustomed food, for at least two weeks previous. .
When they manifest a preference for meal over hay, it!
will be safe to withdraw the hay altogether, in most ca-

See

Nr et i a

eee

:

. SOAS Or
bene Ee SLOT

A

IT Wat

ipa: wet.

59

ses: or the hay may be tapered off by degrees, if the ¢a-
pering is not too long.

It is the experience of the author that calves dropped
from meal ted mothers

MAKE SUPERIOR COWS.

As a rule the more the cow is domesticated the better
she is for milk, and the more you feed her meal, the
more gentle and docile she becomes.

The effect of climate in modifying the wants and _ re-
quirements of animals‘as it regards the amount of food
necessary to maintain one of given weight in store con-
dition, or while giving milk, has hitherto failed of recog-
nition; but it appears to be taken for granted that the
German experimen‘s in feeding have established fixed
rules; and that the German ration is THE ration for al]
times and under all conditions. This is claiming far too
much. If the temperature of the stabie is changed, the
amount of food must also be changed in order to produce
uniform results. The uniformity of nature holds only
under uniform conditions. Some cattle have a greater
digestive capacity than others; some assimilate a larger
proportion of certain food constituents, than others of the
same size: some take on more flesh and some give more
milk than others from the same food. Change the con-
ditions and the contrast is more marked still. All ani-
mal life is subject to the same general laws which com-
pel the consumption of large amounts of heat producing
tood in cold latitudes. The results then, in these German
experiments with the cow and the ox, would have varied
with any marked change of temperature: so also with
different cattle; for no two are precisely alike in their
capacity to assimilate food. Mr. John Adams, of Inger-
soll, Ontario, (Canada), wintered a herd of 50 cows upon
meal exclusively for many weeks, in 1874, which was
(he writes me), one of the coldest winters ever known in
that region; feeding an average of 4 quarts daily, with
no signs of overfeeding; while I, during the same months,
afew degrees south of him, was equally suecessful in

60

feeding only an average of 3 quarts. The reader will
understand from these ¥ remarks that a

FIXED RATION

answering for all latitudes, under all conditions, is an im-
possibility. The conditions govern the amount of food
required, independent of measure or scales; and the
judgment must be used, whether the food is hay or meal,
feeding a little less in warm weather than in ‘cold; and
if feeding meal exclusively, grading the amount by the
condition of the droppings accor ding to the rules hereto-
fore given. For an animal of about 900 lbs. live weight
—not giving milk—the mercury ranging from 15 to 20
degrees Fahrenheit, if the stable is 2s warm as it should
be, and as interest and humanity alike require,

3 QUARTS OF GOOD MEAL DAILY

is an ample ration for most animals; but if they can di-
gest more, the condition of the droppings will indicate
the fact with unerring certainty, and the ration should
be adapted to their requirements.

The wése men of this generation, since the agitation of
this meal question, have persistently claimed that meal
was too heating to be ted exclusively; and that it should
be diluted with hay or coarse food to counteract “the
heating tendency;” and yet they recognize the im-
por tance of keeping the stables warm, acknowledging
that thereby a large amount of food may be saved; and
that shelter and warmth are an equivalent for so much
food. The composition of corn is found by analysis (see
page 25th) to be exactly fitted to the animal’s wants in
cold weather, It is rich in carbon, starch and sugar. In
the process of digestion starch is decomposed, and its car-
bon made available, first to sustain respiration and the |
animal heat, and second to increase the store of fat, but
no fat can be made until three primary wants are sup-
plied. Good yellow corn generally contains about 4 per
cent. of oil; while hay seldom has one per cent; but the
richer the food in oil, the faster fat is laid up by the ani-

61

mal consuming it. This reiterated objection to meal, on
account of its heating properties, is founded then upon
prejudice, instead of science. No first-class scientific
man has ever, to the writer’s knowledge, raised this ob-
jection; neither have they set up the foolish claim that
the German experiments in feeding, are in any sense an-
tagonistic to my meal ration: or that they establish an

infallible rule for teeding under all conditions.
/FEEDING MEAL EXCLUSIVELY

during cold weather, is in perfect harmony with scientitic
principles; and the practice is to be condemned or ap-
proved trom actual results: and these, so tar, most hap-
_ pily for the world, and in spite of all the er oakers in it,
and their name is /egzon, have been highly satisfactory.
Feeding meal alone has proved (in every instance yet re-
ported, and they are numerous), where the rules laid
down in this pamphlet are observed, just as sarp, and far
more economical than feeding hay alone.

Many letters of inquiry from Dairymen have been re-
ceived, concerning the propriety of feeding meal during
the summer months, to cows running in the pasture; es-
pecially when the feed is short, and during seasons of
dronth. In reply, I most earnestly commend the prac-
tice to the favorable consideration of all Dairymen.
Whenever from any cause the pasture is short, meal,

bran, or concentrated food of some kind should certainly
be freely fed. No man can afford to let his cows shrink
in their milk production, for the want of food; for no
amount of after feeding can restore the flow of milk for
the remainder of the milking season. This is not all the
damage: it has a tendency to establish a habit in the an-
imal of shrinking her milk ever after, when the same pe-
riod arrives. If we dry a cow off at the end of 4 or 6
_ months milking, once, it fixes a habit extremely difficult
_ to overcome in after years. A natural shrinkage always

_ occurs after successful coupling with the male; as some
of the lacteal glands are diverted to the support and

62

ne nauvilnaneatt of the fetus. This diversion increases, from
necessity, as the fetus grows. No other shrinkage should
be allowed to occur during the milking season, which
should last from 9 to 10 months, Dair ying cannot prove
very successful where these natural laws are unheeded.

From a desire to thoroughly test the effects of exclu-
sive meal feeding on my herd, I have abstained from
feeding anything ‘put the grass of the pasture, during the
summer months, for the last three years; but my neigh-
bor, Mr. John Rhinehart, of this town, has practiced feed-
ing meal during the entire summer, for several years,
with marked success. He feeds 100 lbs. meal weekly,
to 4 cows, whether pastures are good or poor; and aver-
ages 800 ibs. butter yearly to the cow—has tried bran,
millteed, and other kinds of condensed food; and is sat-
isfied that corn meal alone yields the best. returns in

milk. He laughs at the popular idea that meal is of

“too heating a nature” to feed cows.

On the other hand, my triend, Mr. O. C. Blodgett, of —

Fredonia, feeds his herd of 24 cows each their six “quarts
of bran daily, both summer and winter; in milk or dry,
and claims that it pays him well; that his cows respond
to this treatinent better the second season than the first;
and the third season than the second; reaching their best
the third. Many of his herd are grade Jerseys, and he
averages about 250 lbs. of butter to the cow.
Many inquiries have also been received concerning

THE WINTERING OF SHEEP

under my system of feeding. I have had no experience
in feeding sheep; but the stomachs of this class of rumi-
nants are identical, physiologically, with those of the
cow; and I have no doubt as to the effect of an exclu-
sive meal diet upon them. One of the most successful

sheep raisers of Michigan, informs me that he has win- |
tered his flock of bearing ewes, almost exclusively upon
corn for several seasons; and that he invariably gets.

much finer lambs, and heavier fleeces of wool, with less _
casualities, under this treatment than any other. He»

63>

adds also, that his wethers when thus wintered, are fit
for the butcher very early in the spring. This corres-
ponds with the effects of exclusive meal feeding upon
STOCK CATTLE,
which fatten in an incredible short time (after a winter—
ora few weeks even ot exclusive meal feeding) when
turned to grass in the spring. Those who wish early and
cheap beet, will tind this system of feeding invaluable.
The author has the satisfaction of announcing also, that
he has recently demonstrated the practicability of

FATTENING ANIMALS

upon an exclusive meal diet. The experiment was made
upon a two-year-old heiier, at the request of Mr. J. F.
Elsom, Agricultural Editor of “The Chautauqua Farm-
er,” to satisfy that unbelieving gentleman, that meal,
passes through all the stomachs the same as coarse food;
and that these organs are in all respects as healthy under
a meal diet, as any other. (A description of the condi-
tion of the stomachs will be found upon another page).
The animal in question was somewhat thin in flesh when
placed upon an exclusive meal diet, the 25th of Dec.,
1876. Her rations for the first six weeks was a trifle
over two quarts per day—fed dry, which barely sufficed
to hold her in store condition. The meal was then scald-
ed, and the ration increased to 5 quarts per diem, and
continued without variation for six weeks longer when
she was butchered. [Her improvement in condition un-
der the new ration, was very marked and rapid; much
more so than any other stall-fed animal which it has been
my fortune to see, under a process of fattening, and ted
the most approved and liberal rations of coarse and fine
food. During this last period she was confined to her
stanchion, and strictly to the meal diet, and drank less
than an average of one gallon of water per diem. Du-
ring the last 3 weeks, in consequence of her long and
close confinement, she became very restless and uneasy;
and it was the opinion of those who had been in,the hab-
it of watching her closely during the whole period of fat-

64

tening, that her gains were made mostly during the first
3 weeks: and that she was not as fat when butchered, as
she was 8 weeks previous; nevertheless she was found to
be in as good condition as animals at that unfavorable |
age tor fattening usually are. Some who ate of the meat
fancied that it tasted of the meal; while others thought _
it unusually sweet and fine. From this linsited experi-
ence, I am not prepared to say whether the quality of
beet, thus fattened, is better or poorer, as food for the ta-
ble, than beef made i in the usual manner of stall-feeding;
further tests are needed, and will be duly made; but L
um prepared to affirm, that animals may be fattened un-
der this system, CHEAPER and quicker, than any other
known process of stall-feeding.

From this experiment in feeding, I can confidently re-
commend to those who have young cattle—or old—that
they wish to carry through the winter, without feeding
hay or other coarse tood, that the young cattle can be
kept growing very finely—and faster than by any other
known food—by scalding the meal; which obviates all
danger trom scouring; and that cattle 3 in years, may, in
this manner, and by this method, be carried thr ough the
winter, or from grass to grass, in just such condition as
to flesh as may be desir ed. I hold’ this new discover ‘y to
be of immense importance to the world. There would
be no necessity of keeping animals thus fed closely con-
fined; and an hour’s exercise in the yard when the
weather was fine would be unobjectionable.

It is the author’s intention to continue his experiments
in meal teeding, collecting and publishing all possible re-
liable infor mation and data upon the subject; making a
work that shall grow in future editions into a larger yol-
ume; and which shall be an invaluable text book to all
who teed ruminants. Any information of results from
those who follow this practice will be gratefully received
and duly credited.

TESTIMONIALS.

ad

The following letters are trom representative men who
are in every respect worthy of confidence:

MORE TESTIMONY IN FAVOR OF MEAL FEEDING.

It is a common remark that “experience teaches a dear
school.” Sometimes she does and sometimes she does
not. Having noticed in The Times the report of Mr. L.
W. Miller’s lecture on “Meal Feeding,” delivered betore
the Dairy Convention at Meadville, Pa., last January,
we concluded to try his plan on a small seale. We se
lected two cows, one five and the other eight years old—
both dry—and, without any pr eliminary preparation,
placed them in a comfortable stable, (where all cows
ought to be during these cold winters, meal or no meal),
and gave them e: ich three pints of good corn meal, dry,
morning and evening, allowing no salt: earried them we
ter twice a day, as they required but ‘little, and saldonti
let them out of the stable. And here we would remark,
as “A Pennsylvania Farmer” thinks they would not be
contented, that after the second or third day they seemed
pertectly contented and easy, as much so as those beside
them getting full “rations,” but giving milk.» We have
seen cattle, yes, and men too, with their bellies a little
too full for comfort. We continued this course for ten
weeks. when we gradually discontinued the meal, add-
ing a little hay, salt, and grass daily. They dropped
their calves, of good size and appearance, in due season.

Both cows and calves are doing admirably; m= fact, we

66

never had cows or calves do better. We propose pursu-
ing the same course during the coming winter, whether
hay is plenty or not. As we understand Mr. Miller, this
plan is not recommended for cows giving milk, but mere-
ly for wintering dry cows as economically as possible.
Cows giving inilk should be induced to eat and digest as
much as possible. We say digest, for we have often seen
cows fed more than they thoroughly digested, thus ma-
king thei feverish, lessening the secretion of milk, and
deteriorating its quality. W. Beanies.

Cadiz, Ohio.

MEAL FEEDING,

The following letter is sent to us for publication by
Mr. L. W. Miller, with the statement that “Ma. Gaylord
is a representative farmer of Cattaraugus county:”

L. W. Mirter—-Dear Sie: [ will answer your ques-
tions in the order in which you ask them.

1. I did feed seven cows according to your rules laid
down in pamphlet—varied only in this: one cow scoured
twice, and I gave her a single handful of hay and chaff
twice. I ted some five weeks and some ten weeks, ac-
cording to the times of their coming in.

2. They were, I think, a very little thinner than those
a and but a very little.

. Calves all full size and strong; better than from the
apne cows last spring, when all cows were fed on hay.
Milk products rather better than last year, but I
think the age of the cows produced the improvement—
ali the seven but one are six years old this spring, and
one five years old.

5. Meal feeding has more than answered my expecta-
tions, and is a success. ‘

6. None of my neighbors have tried it. When about
to commence the trial of your system, one of my neigh-
bors said to me: “Don’t try it on more than one cow—
you can’t afford to lose seven head, but losing one won't
burt you much.” I had in that barn just 14, and told

7 xe
0;

~ him I should not lose any. I was satistied of the fact of
your success, and should try it to the end. Then said
he, “you'll lose just seven head.”

Eike everybody else, I had to go from home to learn
what my success had been—and learned at the store two
miles from my house, that my cattle spent their time
lowing for something to eat, and that they were so poor
they had to be helped up. ‘At home I never should have
learned anything of the kind. The cattle seemed to be
contented—drank little, and were to all appearances
strong and healthy.

The time is coming when your system will be very ex-
tensively adopted by intelligent dairymen. Your rules
need no changes or amendments—ther y are right.

Perhaps I should have mentioned that one of the meal
fed cows retained the placenta, but it was from a cause -
wholly foreign to the feed. She did as well as cows do
under such circumstances, but seemed to regain her
strength sooner than those fed in the ordinary manner.

Versailles: ny PP Aime 25. H. C. Gaynor.

ANOTHER REPORT ON MEAL FEEDING.

Under date of Liberty, Sullivan Co., N. Y., July 10th,
George [ill writes Linus W. Miller as follows:

In reply to your questions, I will state that I did prac-
tice meal feeding according to the rules laid down in
your pamphlet, on 14 cows, from January 8th until
March 10th, 1876, only varying the ration in case of
looseness of the bowels, when I fed a less quantity with
satisfactory results.

2. The cows thus fed heid their own as to condition
fully while thus fed.

3. They came in all right.

4, So faras I have tested their milk produet, [ am
convinced that they have done better than the balance
of my herd, which were wintered on hay and grain and
were equally y as good in former years.

5. The calves dropped were large, fine and healthy.

68

6. Iam glad to say that exclusive meal feeding thus
tar, has been a suecess beyond my expectations.

I will state that a portion of my cows got lousy tow-
ards the last of my teeding, and as usual these did not
do as well as the others—which were in better condition
when I lett off, than when I commenced meal feeding.
You are at liberty to publish this, and I shall be glad to
bear testimony at any time in favor of your system ot
feeding.

To O. C. Blodgett, Sec. W. N. Y. D. Association:
Moon’s Srarion, Chaut. Co., N. Y., June 20, 1877,

In answer to your questions in your letter this day re-
ceived, concerning the advantages or disadvantages
which I have realized trom feeding meal on the “Miller
plan,” I will say that I fed 18 out of 44 head, (mostly
dairy cows) for a period of fifty days last winter. With
me this new plan has proved a decided success, and I
have substantial grounds every time I milk this portion
of my herd, for congratulating inyself tor having tested
it. For the first four weeks my meal was finely ground,
and my cows gained in flesh; but the last three weeks I
ted contrary to Mr. Miller's rules, meal that was coarse,
under which they lost fully as much as they had_previ-
ously gained, and I noticed a slight tendency towards
scouring; but when put back upon hay, no stranger
could pick out the meal ted cows from the herd. Some
of the 18 head were heifers, and young, and my judg-
ment is that the meal diet did not answer their wants as
well as it did those more advanced in years. They
calved all right; the calves were fine, and everything
about them was satisfactory. I paid $1.30 per ewt. for
the meal, and the cost of keeping was about one-half that
of hay at $10 per ton, while the labor of hauling and
feeding the meal was only nominal. Now, as to after
results: Iam getting much more milk from those meal-
fed cows than ‘T ever got betore—decidedly more than

69

from the rest of my herd, which were wintered in the
usual manner upon hay, the cows all running in the
same pasture, and treated alike. Of course I attribute
_ this increased milk production to the meal feeding. My
opinion is that this new system of feeding develops in
- some way—l will not pretend to say how—the milking
qualities of the cow, but those who practice it should fol-
Jow, as nearly as possible, Mr. Miller’s rules of feeding,
as laid down in his pamphlet.
H. T. Dunpar.

The Stomachs of Ruminants and
Their Functions.

The digestion of food is a process of the most varied
kind in different animals. In the sumple amoeba a mass
of homogenous protoplasm makes up the entire organic
structure, and performs at once the various functions of
digestion. As we ascend in the scale of being, we find
an increasing difference in these organs as well as those
which serve for other purposes with elaborations and sub-
divisions which bear a strict relation to the habits of the
animal and the conditions in which it lives. The differ-
ence in the digestive organs of the carnivora and herbi-
vora afford a remark able instance of this. The first pos-
sess a very capacious stomach, in which the highly ni-
trogenous food is long retained and digested by the se-
cretions of the or astric glands. The bowels are short and
of small capacity in accordance with the nature of the
food. In the herbivora, on the other hand, which subsist
on food rich in carbo-hydrates and comparatively poor
in albuminoids, the true digesting stomach is small and
the intestines long and capacious. The capacity of the
stomach of the dog i is three-fifths of that of the entire gas-
tro-intestinal canal, whereas that ot the horse is only
about two twenty-fifths of the abdominal part of the ali-
mentary tube.

At first sight the ruminant appears to be an exception
to this rule, as the gastric cavities amount to no less than
seven-tenths of the abdominal part of the digestive canal;
but the fourth or true digestive stomach, which alone
corresponds to that of the “horse or dog, is relatively as
small as in the solipede. The first three stomachs are

v1

mainly macerating and triturating cavities, in which the
coarse and imperfectly masticated. herbage is stored, trit-
urated and partially dissolved, while waiting for further
mastication, or for its propulsion into the fourth or true
stomach.

FIRST STOMACH.

Of the four compartinents or stomachs, the first
(paunch, rumen) is incomparably the largest. It has an
average capacity of 250 quarts in the ox, and makes up
about nine-tenths of the mass of the four stomachs. — It
occupies the entire left side of the abdomen, from the
short ribs in front to the hip bones behind, and is marked
externally by a deep notch at each end, and by two
grooves connecting these on the upper and lower surta-
ces respectively, together with sinaller grooves diverging
from these, on each side. These notches and grooves
correspond to internal folds supported by strong muscu-
lar bands, and partially dividing the cavity into a right
and left sac, and into interior, posterior and medium
compartments. The entire inner surface of this organ,
exeepting the muscular pillars, and a small portion of
the lett anterior sac bordering on the second stomach, is
thickly covered by papille, mostly flattened and leaf-
like, with am elongated ovate outline, but some are coni-
cal or fungitorm, especially in the left sac.

SECOND STOMACH.

The ‘second stomach, (vetzcudum), though spoken of as
a separate organ, is a simple prolongation forward of the
anterior left sac of the rumen. It is separated trom the
rumen by a prominent fold, and the communicating ope-
ning is so large that the semi-liquid contents pass freely
from one cavity to the other during the movements of the
stomachs. Its most prominent characteristic is the hon-
ey-comb-like arrangement of its mucous membrane.
These cells vary in size and depth, being largest at the
lower part of the organ and smaller at the upper, or
where it joins the paunch. They extend for a short dis-
tance on the surface of that organ as well. The larger

(2

cells are again subdivided by smaller partitions in their —
interior. The walls of these cells are covered throughout
by small, hard-pointed papillary eminences. These cells
usually entangle many small, hard and pointed bodies
which have been swallowed with the food, and it is trom
this point that such bodies often pass to perforate vital
organs.
(ESOPHAGEAN DEMI-CANAL.

Connecting these organs with the gullet on the one
hand and the third stomach on thé other, is the demi-ca-
nal, and may be described as the lower portion of the
gullet, extending trom right to left across the superior
surface of the anterior left sac of the paunch and the re-
ticulum, as far as the entrance of the third stomach. But
in place of its forming a perfect tube as elsewhere, the
lower half of its walls is removed so as to leave a large
opening of about six inches in length, communicating
with the rumen, reticulum and omasum. The margins
of this opening are formed of thick pillars, made up
largely of muscular tissue, in part forming loops around
the ends of the canal, and in part diverging on the walls
of the two first stomachs. This muscle encircles the en-
tire opening, and when contracted as those who advocate
a certain theory claim it may be and is brings its lips in
close opposition, shutting off all communication between
the gullet and first two atone and securing a contin-
nous, unbroken passage from the mouth to the third
stomach. When, on the other hand, the muscular pil-
lars of the demi-canal are relaxed, the canal remains
open and there is no barrier to communication between
the gullet and first two stomachs, or between these stom-
achs and the third.

THIRD STOMACH.

The third stomach, (manifolds, omaswm), a little larg-
er than the reticulum in the ox, les over that organ to
its right, and above the right anterior sac of the rumen.
Its main characteristic is the leaf-like arrangement of its
interior. From its walls on the convex aspect twelve or

:
2
:

13

fourteen folds extend quite to the opposite side of the vis-
cus. In the intervals between these are an equal num-
ber of folds of about half the length. On each side of
these are others still shorter, and so on until the smallest,
which appear as simple ridges on the mucous membrane.

In this way the flat surfaces of the folds are brought into
close relation at all points in place of leaving larger in-
tervals at the convex aspect of the organ, as would be the
case if all were of the same length. These leaves are not
simple folds of mucous membrane, but contain also mus-
cular tissue continued from the coat of the stomach, and
enabling the adjacent leaves to move on each other for

the trituration of the intervening food. Each leat’ is
studded on both sides with hard conical papillee hooked
upward, and especially prominent towards the free mar-
gins of the fold in the vicinity of the passage from the
demi-canal to the fourth stomach. Similar hooks with a
corresponding direction are found in the lower part of
the demi-canal, and all concur in drawing the food up-
ward between the folds and retaining it until sufticiently
fine to escape. This organ lies beneath the short ribs on
the right side. ;

FOURTH STOMACH.

The fourth or true digesting stomach (rennet, aboma-
sum) is pear-shaped, with the thick end forward, and
connected with the manifolds. It extends backward in
the right flank along the lower border of the rumen, and
terminates by a narrow opening in the small intestine.
It is considerably larger than either the second or third
stomach, but ineomparably smaller than the first. Its
outer surface shows a number of spiral markings running
around it longitudinally, and corresponding to extensive
loose folds of mucous membrane, as observed when it is
laid open. Its outer surface is redder and more vascu-
lar than that of the other stomachs, but its inner lining
or mucous membrane is especially soft, spongy and vas-
cular, forming a marked contrast with the pale, opaque,
thick and insensible mucous membrane lining the other

v4

stomachs. When magnified, this vascular surface pre-

sents throughout a close aggregation of small depressions
or alveoli ‘leading into the glandular follicles which se-

crete the gastric juice.
FUNCTIONS.

The progress of food through the different stomachs can
now be followed. It is a wide-spread belief that all food
taken by the ox passes first into the rumen, from which
it is propelled into the reticulum, is then sent back to the
mouth for the second mastication, and is finally swal-
lowed a second time, passing in this case into the third
and fourth stomachs. No such regular and invariable
course is pursued. After the first mastication of either
coarse or fine food—as meal—it is, in swallowing, passed
at onee into the rumen, which is the natural receptacle
ot all food ot whatever migisehirs The process of remasti-
cation or “chewing the cud,” is only performed upon
coarse food which is separated from the fine before be-
ing regurgitated to the mouth. When swallowed the
second time it undoubtedly passes into the rumen again
and after commingling again with the contents of that
organ such portions of it as are too coarse-for the grind-
ing process of the omasum, may be raised again and
again. Itis possible for very small portions of finely
divided food, to find its way when swallowed, directly
to the omasum; but the natural receptacle of all food, is
the first stomach; and the macerating processes therein
carried on, are as essential to perfect digestion, as rumi-
nation itself. The size of this receptacle and the large
amount which it contains, even after the animal has been
subjected to fasting for 24 hours, the act of rumination
being carried on during the period, is positive proof that
the popular theory of the direct passage of the food, af-
ter rumination, to the 3d and 4th stomachs, is an error.
The propulsion of liquids through the reticulum, by its
contractions, into the demi- canal directly into the oma-
sum, explains how the fine and macerated contents of
the rumen find their way into that organ. This, and the

Pe ae ee ee

|
;
:
.
|

formation of peilets (cuds for remastication) and their
propulsion into the gullet with a mass of liquid, for that
purpose, would seem. to be the essential oftices of the
second stomach. The large opening between it and the
rumen, and the muscular contractions of the iatter, by
which its contents, solid and liquid, are kept constantl y
intermingled and floating, show what the normal condi-
tion of this organ is; its contents of necessity being iden-
tical with those of the former: but trom the position in
which it lies the volume of contents is small.

The norma! condition of the rumen, when the animal
subsists upon coarse food, is the constant presence in
that receptacle of a mass of solid and liquids equaling at
least one-fourth of its live weight; the liquid, consisting
of the water drank, in part at least, and more especially
of a large amount of saliva secretions swallowed with
the food; and sufficient in volume to float the whole
mass of solids. When trom any cause, as eating a large
amount of very coarse, heavy, dry food, in cubnieubiion
with enforced fasting from water, the liquid contents of
this organ become insufficient to float the sclids, its con-
dition is abnormal, and the lite of the animal is in dan-
ger. When such is the case there can be no rumination.
What is popularly termed “the loss of the cud” is sim-
ply this, and unless rumination is restored inflammation
of a dangerous character ensues.

The use of the 3d stomach (omasum) is simply to trit-
urate and reduce still further the food that has already
been partially disintegrated, by rumination, and the
macerating processes of the first stomach. The muscu-
lar folds seize and retain the solid particles and keep up
the grinding process, until they become too fine to be
caught and retained by the barbed papille. The food,
compressed between its muscular folds loses a large por-
tion of its liquids, and becomes, normally, firm and par-
tially dry, though never quite so in health. When dried
so as to ‘adhere to the tolds and bring off the cuticle lay-

eron its surface, it is abnormal, and “impaction of the

manifolds” has commenced. .

76

The abomasum or 4th stomach is similar in most re-
spects to the true stomach in other animals, and per-
forms similar functions. Its gastric juices, acting on the
nitrogenous elements of the food, transforms them into
peptoms, a fine milky liquid, fitted to be absorbed by
and added to the vital fluids. The mucous folds in this
stomach, covered as they are by peptic glands, greatly
increase the gastric secretions, and enable the animal
promptly to digest the large inass of coarse food, so bean-
tifully elaborated by the act of rumination, and the ac-
tion of the other stomachs.

When the animal subsists upon coarse food the act of
rumination is essential to both health and life.

The conditions essential to rumination are, Ist, a sufh-
ciency of liquids in the rumen and reticulum to float the
solids; 2d, absence of all excitement; and, lastly, a fair
degree ot health.

When the animal subsists upon meal, or other food,
which, from its nature, does not require remastication,
rumination of necessity ceases altogether; and it becomes
a matter of profound interest to know just wherein the
process of the digestion of fine food differs from that of
coarse. We have traced the latter through all of its es-
sential stages, as far as the limited physiological knowl-
edge of the present age extends in that direction; and in
a closing article to this little treatise upon the digestion
of rininants, will briefly consider

THE DIGESTION OF MEAL.

Only three years ago the theory of the direct passage
of meal and all eround teed into the abomasum, when
fed alone, was almost univers ally acquiesced in by the
best agricultural authorities of this country. Its adoption
by me, without personal investigation, in the first edition
of “Meal Feeding and Animal Digestion,” was a grave
error, The evidence upon which the popular theory has
been rejected in the present edition, | herewith submit
to the intelligent reader.

ie

The following communication over iy signature, which
was widely published in 1875, explains itself:

“T am most happy to be able to announce a discovery
connected with meal teeding which, although of no great
practical importance in itself, will never theless create not
a little surprise with the great body of thinking men of
this country and perhaps of the world. It has been sup-
posed ever since Profs. L. B. Arnold and E. W. Stewart
made their discovery of meal lodged in the fourth stom-
ach immediately after feeding and slaughtering the ani-.
mal, that M. Flourens and M. Collin were both mistaken
in their conclusions about. its passage into the rumen,
notwithstanding the facilities which those gentlemen had
for their very interesting investigations. It will be re-
collected that each of these men established openings in
the side of ruminating. animals, by which they were ena-
bled to place the hand beneath the csophagean canal in
the first and second stomachs while the animal was eat-
ing, and thus, by the sense of touch alone, decided that
the meal passes into the rumen, the same as coarse food.
But when it was announced here by the gentlemen above
referred to that the meal fed immediately before slaugh-
tering was found in the abomasum, it was supposed that
the French gentlemen referred to were mistaken in their
dhdervations, and that the evidence of the sense of sight
was to be accepted as conclusive. At the suggestion of
Prof. Arnold, I have just slaughtered an exclusive meal
diet beef, and examined the contents of the several stom-
achs, feeding meal immediately betore killing. I found
none of the meal last fed in either the manifolds or fourth
stomach, but all, or nearly all, lodged in the rumen,
where I found an accumulation of several days’ diet—I
should judge from five to seven. In the fourth stomach
was a quantity of meal, 1 should judge about the amount
1 had been in the habit of feeding at one time, in an ad-
vanced stage of digestion. This is probably the first ani-
mal ever slaughter red upon an exclusive meal diet, and
the evidence is overwheiming as to the passage of the
meal into the rumen and its subjection there te the law

78

of rotation which governs that organ in the article of
coarse food. It remains to be discovered how, perhaps
in the bundreds of examinations made within a few
years past, and, with a single exception, the same result
obtained, the meal found its wa y into the abomasum. — I
see but one solution of the question. It will probably be
found upon further research that when the rumen is full,
or nearly so, of coarse food, the meal passes on to the
third stomach and into the fourth, while it takes the
place of coarse food with animals fed exclusively on
meal. The death struggles of the animal in question
were very violent; and if in any case the meal just swal-
lowed before killing could be forced by those struggles
from the first to the fourth stomach, I think it must have
produced that result in this instance.

In December ot the same year, | made another test,
slaughtering in this instance a two-year-old bull fattened
in the ordinary way, but placed upon an exclusive meal
diet two weeks before the killing.. Two quarts of meal
was fed immediately before death. The death struggles
in this case were very violent and protracted, manure
being voided freely at their termination. In cutting the
throat, the gullet was severed, and a large proportion of
the meal last fed was ejected. (This may serve to ex-
plain the difficulty which some have experienced, in find-
ing the meal fed under similar circumstances in any of
the stomachs). To prevent any commingling of the con-
tents of the different stomachs, the communication be-
tween them was secured by tying, and they were re-
moved before the carcass was raised for dr essing. In the
rumen were found only slight traces of the meal last fed,
but it contained, the same as the first animal slaughtered,
several days’ rations of meal, commingled with a small
quantity of hay, which had apparently been remastica-
ted once. The reticulum contained a few quarts, identi-
cal with the contents of the rumen. The omasum was
closely packed with meal, and abnormally dry; (proba-
bly owning to the animal’s not having any water for 60
hours before slaughtering). ‘Two days longer (perhaps

79

less) enforced abstinence from water, would probably, in
this case, have produced “impaction of the manifolds.”
The abomasum—4th stomach—was filled beyond its nor-
mal condition. with contents identical with those of the
rumen, (careful microscopic examinations of both being
made) which had been forced by the violent death strug
gles through the demi-canal, past the omasum (not
through it) into that organ. The normal contents of the
abomasum—tneal partially digested by the action of the
gastric juices—was found in the duodenum; and again,
the normal contents of the duodenum—chyme were
found in the adjoining intestines. The death struggles
doubtless occasioned this abnormal condition of the di-
gestive organs; and may serve to account for the contra-
dictory repor ts of others, who have ted meal betore
slaughtering, and made ‘examinations ot the several
stomachs.

In March, 1877, another animal (a two-year-old heif-
er) ted exclusively upon meal for 12 weeks previous, was
killed, having been fattened wpon scalded meal for 6
weeks (the first instance of the kind upon record). Ade-
quate measures were taken to prevent her eating anything
but her meal rations, during the last named period—mneal
was ted 30 minutes betore slaughter ing, none having been
fed for 24 hours previously. The killing i in this instance
was done without any manitestation of death struggles, but
the gullet was again severed, with the same results. as to
the meal last fed, as related in the previous experiment.
It was mostly ejected through the opening along with
other contents of the rumen, while the animal was dying.
The stomachs and duodenum of this animal were all
found in their normal condition under an exclusive meal
diet. Several days’ rations were in the rumen, contain-
ing no traces whatever of coarse food; the liquids bear-
ing apparently the same proportion to the solids, as are
found in this organ when the animal has been fattened
in the usual way upon coarse food; but with this differ-
ence, occasioned probably by the mie havens ot the meal
diet; after standing a few hours, it had the appearance

SO

of milk, was very sweet and strongly impregnated with
starch, showing the action of the saliva secretions, and
the effect of the macerating processes. As the meal last
fed had been ejected as before related, its presence was
scarcely distinguishable either in this or the reticulum,
none of it being found in the other stomachs. Upon
handling the stomachs, in their removal from the abdom-
inal cavity, the contents of the first passed freely into
the second, and vice versa; that this is their usual nor-
mal condition, under all kinds of diet, I am satisfied;
and think Prof. Arnold mistaken in his supposition of
any thing different, or that “meal fed alone stays in the
rumen much longer than coarse food.” When hay or
grass alone is fed, the rumen contains several days’ ra-
tions; and my observations confirm my conviction that
a cow will hold her rations under the macerating pro-
cesses of the rumen, just as long, with one kind of diet
as another; and that the principal office of the reticulum,
is the separation of the coarse food from the fine, send-
ing the former back for remastication, and the latter
downward, according to the demands of appetite. Nor
can I conceive that as a rule, anything is left to chance
in the complicated process of digestion. With these re-
marks I will add, that the stomachs of this animal, after
being carefully examined and their contents noted, were
forwarded to Prof. Arnold, for examination and report,
which was duly received by me, as tollows:

Rocursrer, N. Y., March 23d, 1877.
“Mr. L. W. Mirter—Dear Sir: Yours of the 16th

“inst. was duly received. The stomach came to hand
“in good order, and has been carefully examined. It
“ was in every respect healthy and sound. The course
‘“‘ of the meal was evidently through the rumen; and in
“general followed the same course as herbaceous food.
“ The chiet difference I notice between this and ordinary
“ stomachs lies in apparently blotting out the distinctive
‘“‘ functions of the first and second stomachs. They were
“ evidently, in this case, doing the same duty.

Sl

“Taking your :neasurement of the fluid removed trom
“the rumen before it came to me, it must have contained
‘when killed, about 65 Ibs. of liquid and solid matter,
““ which was s sufficient to give it a comfortable distension
‘that would prevent any feeling of uneasiness. There
“ was no need of analyzing contents of rumen: the liq-
‘uid is not different from that I have alw ays found, in
“ the stomachs of healthy animals, not filled with coarse
“ herbage. |

“The inferences I draw from the examination of this
* stomach and its contents are: |

“First—that the animal was healthy and comfortable.

“Second—that the meal took the course ot herbaceous
* food.

“Third—that meal ted alone st: ays in the ramen much
“ longer than coarse food.

“Fourth—that meal ted alone digests much more thor-
“oughly than when the energies of the stomach are di-
“ vided between meal and coarse herbage.

“Fitth—the animal did not ruminate.

“| have sent a statement to the Tribune*, which will
“probably appear about week after next, which see.
“ Many thanks for your kindness in sending the pack-
“ age. Respectfully,

Signed, LB. ARNGLD}

In conclusion, |. would further state, that duri ing the
season of 1876, T made careful inicroscopic examinations
of the Momachs of 15 different beeves, not meal fed, teed-
ing meal just before the killing and in every instance
finding the meal which did not escape through the gul-
let in “slaughtering, in the rumen, commingled with “the
coarse food in that receptacle. I found too that the nor-
mal contents of the abomasum, in a partially digested
state, the food being grass and hay, so closely resembled

3 ~ Lal

Lat

f * Nore. —The Tribune has published so many here. agaist
meal feeding and its author, that it could not afford to print
any thing favorable, even if it eame from the pen of Prof. Ar-
nold. It holds prejudice above TRUTH, speaking only under the
dictates of the former. His article never appeared.

82

meal, that it was difficult to distinguish the one > from the
other, with the unaided eye

It would appear then that the only difference between
digestion of coarse and tine food, is the continued remas-
tication of the former, until it becomes so tine, like the
meal, and is fit for the finishing process of the manifolds.

It would also appear that feeding meal alone insures
better digestion than mixing with coarse food; and that
all that has been written and said against my system of
feeding has had no foundation in scientific pr ‘inciples.
Its direct passage into the abomasum, when fed alone, is
2 myth, and the cutting q) steaming and micing process Mm
order to get the meal into the rumen, is a great loss of
both labor and caloric; as it finds its way into that re-
ceptacle no matter how fed. F inally, the established
fact that three quarts of meal, as I feed it, is Tully the
equivalent of 20 lbs. of good hay as ordinarily fed, sim-
plifies the whole subject; reducing it to dollars and
cents. The question is which costs. the most, the meal
or hay ?

Nore—In writing the closing article, “The Stomachs
of Ruminants and their Functions,” the author has cop-
ied in part Prof. Law’s article published in the June
(1875) number of Live Stock Journal.

LIBRARY OF CONGRES

en §

307 2
Design of Creation.

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The author, after years of thought and investigation on
the subject of “Creation,” has issued a pamphlet, with
the above title, containing his views and _ the conclusions

derived from those investigations.

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