ON THE COMPOSITION AND NUTRITIVE VALUE OF VEGETABLE FOODS.
SECTION I.
THE MONEY VALUE OF FOOD SUBSTANCES.
The flesh-forming principles of food are, as I have already stated, almost identical with the principal nitrogenous constituents of animals. Unlike the non-plastic substances, they are convertible into each other with little, if any, loss either of matter or of force. Not many years since it was the fashion to estimate the nutritive value of a food-substance by its proportion of nitrogen; but this method—not yet quite abandoned—was based on erroneous views, and yielded results very far from the truth. No doubt all the more concentrated and valuable kinds of food are rich in nitrogenous principles; but there are other varieties, the nutritive value of which is very low, and yet their proportion of nitrogen is very high. This point requires explanation. Both the plastic and the non-plastic materials of food exist in two distinct states—in one of which they are easily digestible, and in the other either altogether unassimilable or so nearly so as to be almost useless. Thus, for example, the cellular tissue of plants, when newly formed, is to a great extent digestible, whilst the old woody fibre is nearly, if not quite, incapable of assimilation. Gelatine, which in raw bones is easily digested in the stomachs of the carnivora, loses a large proportion of its nutritive value on being subjected to the action of steam. Again, a portion of the nitrogen of young succulent plants is in a form not sufficiently organic to admit of its being assimilated to the animal body. But, independently of these strong objections to the method of estimating the nutritive value of food by its per-centage of flesh-formers, there are many other reasons which as clearly prove the fallacy of this rule. If we were, for instance, to estimate the value of albumen according to the tables of food equivalents which were constructed some years ago by Boussingault and other chemists, we would find one pound weight of it to be equivalent to four pounds weight of oil-cake, or to twelve pounds weight of hay; yet, it is a fact that a horse would speedily die if confined to a purely albuminous diet, whereas hay is capable of supporting the animal's life for an indefinite period.
It is clear, then, from what I have stated, that neither the amount of flesh-formers, nor of fat-formers, contained in a given quantity of a substance is a measure of its nutritive value; nevertheless it would be incorrect to infer from this that the numerous analyses of feeding substances which have been made are valueless. On the contrary, I am disposed to believe that the composition of these substances, when correctly stated by the chemist, enables the physiologist to determine pretty accurately their relative alimentary value. Theory is certainly against the assumption that food is valuable in proportion to its content of nitrogen; nor has practice less strongly disproved its truth. An illustration drawn from the nutrition of plants will make this matter more apparent. Every intelligent agriculturist knows that guano contains nitrogen and phosphoric acid; both substances are indispensable to the development of plants, and therefore it would be incorrect to estimate the manurial value of the guano in proportion to the quantity of nitrogen it was capable of yielding. If the value of manures were determined only by their per-centage of nitrogen—a mode by which certain chemists still estimate the nutritive value of food—then woollen rags would be worth more than bones, and bones would be more valuable than superphosphate of lime. The truth is, that the analysis of feeding stuffs and manures is sometimes of little value if the condition in which the constituents of these substances exist be undetermined. For example, the analysis of one manure may show it to contain 40 per cent. of phosphate of lime, and three per cent. of ammonia, whilst, according to analysis, another fertiliser may include 20 per cent. of phosphate of lime, and two per cent. of ammonia. Viewed by this light solely, the first manure would be considered the more valuable of the two, whereas it might, in reality, be very much inferior. If the phosphate of lime in the manure, containing 40 per cent. of that body, were derived from coprolites or apatite, and its ammonia from horns, the former would be worth little or nothing, and the latter, by reason of its exceedingly slow evolution from the horns, would possess a very low value. If, on the contrary, the phosphate of lime, in the manure comparatively poor in phosphate, were a constituent of bones, and its ammonia ready formed (say as sulphate of ammonia), then, its value, both commercial and manurial, would be far greater than the other.
In estimating the money value of an article of food, we should omit such considerations as the relative adjustment of its flesh-formers and fat-formers, and its suitability to particular kinds of animals, as well as to animals in a certain stage of development. The manure supplied to plants contains several elements indispensable to vegetable nutrition; and, although the agriculturist most commonly purchases all these elements combined in the one article, still he frequently buys each ingredient separately. Ammonia is one of these principles, and, whether it be bought per se, or as a constituent of a compound manure, the price it commands is invariable. This principle should prevail in the purchase of food: each constituent of which should have a certain value placed upon it; and the sums of all the values of the constituents would then be the value of the article of food taken as a whole. There are, no doubt, practical difficulties in the way which prevent this method of valuation from giving more than approximatively correct results; but are there not precisely similar difficulties in the way of the correct estimation of the value of a manure according to its analysis? There are several constituents of food, the money value of which is easily determinable: these are sugar, starch, and fat. No matter what substance they are found in, the nutritive value of each varies only within very narrow limits. The value of cellulose and woody fibre is not so easily ascertained, as it varies with the age and nature of the vegetable structure in which these principles occur. There is little doubt but that the cellulose and fibre of young grass, clover, and other succulent plants, are, for the most part, digestible; and we should not be far astray if we were to assume that four pounds weight of soft fibre and cellulose are equivalent to three pounds weight of starch. As to old hard fibre, we are not in a position to say whether or not it possesses any nutrimental value worth taking into account. The estimation of the value of the flesh-forming materials is far more difficult than that of sugar, starch, pectine compounds, and fat. The nitrogenous constituents of food must be in a highly elaborated state before they are capable of being assimilated. In seeds—in which vegetable substances attain their highest degree of development—they probably exist in the most digestible form, whilst much of the nitrogen found in the stems and leaves of succulent plants, is either in a purely mineral state, or in so low a degree of elaboration as to be unavailable for the purpose of nutrition. But even plastic materials, in a high degree of organisation, present many points of difference, which greatly affect their relative alimental value; for example, many of them are naturally associated with substances possessing a disagreeable flavor: and as their separation from these substances is often practically impossible, the animal that consumes both will not assimilate the plastic matters so well as if they were endowed with a pleasant flavor. In seeds and other perfectly matured vegetable structures, the flesh-formers may exist in different degrees of availability. The nitrogen of the testa, or covering of the seeds, will hardly be so assimilable as that which exists in their cotyledons. The solubility of the flesh-formers—provided they be highly elaborated—is a very good criterion of their nutritive power. In linseed the muscle-forming substances are more soluble than in linseed-cake—the heat which is generally employed in the extraction of oil from linseed rendering the plastic materials of the resultant cake less soluble, and diminishing thereby their digestibility, as practice has proved.
From the considerations which I have now entered into, it is obvious that the chemical analysis of food substances as generally performed, though of great utility, does not afford strictly accurate information as to their commercial value, and still less reliable in relation to their nutritive power. At the same time, they as clearly establish the feasibility of analyses being made whereby the money value of feeding-stuffs may be estimated with tolerable exactitude. Let the chemist determine the presence and relative amounts of the ingredients of food-substances, and—if it be possible so to do with a degree of exactness that would render the results useful—place on each a money value. This done, let the physiologist and the feeder combine the food in such proportions as they may find best adapted to the nature, age, and condition of the animal to be fed.
It is to be regretted that the market price of feeding stuffs is not, in consequence of our defective knowledge, strictly determined by their nutritive value, for if such were the case, the feeder would merely have to adapt each to the nature and condition of his stock. Even amongst practical men there prevails, unfortunately, great diversity of opinion as to the relative nutritive value of the greater number of food substances; and I am quite certain that many of these command higher prices than others which in no respect are inferior. It would lead me too far from my immediate subject were I to enter minutely into the consideration of such questions as—whether an acre of grass yields more or less nutriment than an acre of turnips? I shall merely describe the composition and properties of grass and of turnips, and of the various other important food substances, and compare their nutritive power, so far as comparisons are admissible; but I shall say but little on the subject of the various economic and other conditions which affect the production of forage plants. When I shall have described the chemical nature and physical condition of the various articles of food, and the results of actual feeding experiments made with them, the feeder will then be in a position to determine which are the most economical to produce or to purchase.
SECTION II.
PROXIMATE CONSTITUENTS OF VEGETABLES.
The saccharine, or amylaceous substances constitute the most abundant of the proximate constituents of plants. They are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. I shall briefly describe the more important members of this group of substances, namely, starch, sugar, inulin, gum, pectin, and cellulose.
Starch, or fecula, occurs largely in dicotyledonous seeds, peas, &c., and still more abundantly in certain monocotyledonous seeds, such as wheat and barley. It constitutes the great bulk of many tubers and roots—for example, the potato and tapioca. It consists of flattened ovate granules, which vary in size according to the plant. In the beetroot they are 1⁄3500 of an inch in diameter, whilst in tous les mois they are nearly 1⁄200 of an inch in diameter. Most of the starch granules are marked by a series of concentric rings. Starch is heavier than water, and is insoluble in that fluid when cold; neither is it dissolved by alcohol or ether. When heated in water having a temperature of at least 140° Fahrenheit, it increases greatly in volume, and acquires a gelatinous consistence. When the water is allowed to cool, a portion of the starch becomes insoluble, whilst another portion remains in solution; the latter form of starch is sometimes termed amidin, from the French word for starch, amidon. When dry starch is heated to 400° Fahr., it is converted, without any change in its composition, into a soluble gum-like substance, termed dextrin, or British gum. On being boiled in diluted sulphuric acid it is converted into a kind of sugar; and the same effect is produced by fermentation—for example, in the germination of seeds. Fresh rice contains 82, wheat 60, and potatoes 20 per cent. of starch. This substance constitutes a nutritious and easily digestible food, but alone cannot support life. Arrowroot is only a pure form of starch.
Sugar occurs less abundantly in plants than starch. There are several varieties of this substance, of which the kinds termed cane sugar (sucrose) and grape sugar (glucose), are only of importance to agriculturists. The former enters largely into the composition of the sugar-cane, the beetroot, the sugar-maple, the sorgho grass, pumpkins, carrots, and a great variety of other plants. Grape sugar is found in fruits, especially when dried—raisins and figs—in malted corn, and in honey. In the sugar-cane there is 18 per cent., and in the beetroot 10 per cent. of sugar.
Cane sugar, when pure, consists of minute transparent crystals. It is 16⁄10 heavier than water, and is soluble in one-third of its weight of that fluid. By long-continued boiling in water it is changed into uncrystallizable sugar, or treacle, by which its flavor is altered, but its sweetening power increased.
Grape sugar crystallizes in very small cubes, of inferior color as compared with cane sugar crystals. It dissolves in its own weight of water, being three times less soluble than sucrose. In sweetening power one part of cane sugar is equal to 2½ parts of grape sugar; but there is probably little if any difference, between the nutritive power of the two substances.
Inulin is a substance somewhat resembling starch. It does not occur in large quantities. It is met with in the roots of the dandelion, chicory, and many other plants.
Gum is an abundant constituent of plants. The kind termed gum arabic, so largely employed in the arts, is a very pure variety of this substance. Common gums are said to be essentially composed of a very weak acid—gummic, or arabic acid—united with lime and potash. The solution of gum is very slightly acid, and has a mucilaginous, ropy consistence: it is almost tasteless. Mucilage, or bassorin, is simply a modified form of gum, which, though insoluble in water, forms a gelatinous mixture with that fluid. It exudes from certain trees—the cherry for example—and exists largely in linseed and other seeds. Gums are nutritious foods, but it is probable that they are not equal in alimental power to equal weights of starch or sugar.
Vegetable jelly, or pectin, is almost universally diffused throughout the vegetable kingdom. It is owing to its presence that the juices of many fruits and roots possess the property of gelatinizing. It is soluble in water, but prolonged boiling destroys its viscous property. Pectose is a modification of pectin; it is insoluble in water. According to Fremy, the hardness of green fruits is due to the presence of pectose; which is also found in the cellular tissue of turnips, carrots, and various other roots.
Cellulose is a fibrous or cellular tissue, allied in composition to starch. It is the most abundant constituent of plants, and forms the very ground-work of the vegetable mechanism. Linen, cotton, and the pith of the elder and other trees are nearly pure forms of cellulose. Ligneous, or woody tissue (lignin) is indurated cellulose, hardened by age. It is almost identical in composition with cellulose. Pure cellulose is white, colorless, tasteless, insoluble in water, oil, alcohol, or ether. It is heavier than water. Sulphuric acid is capable of converting it into grape, or starch sugar. In its fresh and succulent state cellulose is digestible and nutritious; but in the form of ligneous tissue it opposes a very great resistance to the action of the digestive fluids. Digestible cellulose is probably equal in nutritive power to starch.
Oils and fats occur abundantly in vegetables, more particularly in their seeds. In the seeds of many cruciferous plants the proportion of fat and oil exceeds 35 per cent. The oils and fats termed fixed are those which possess the greatest interest to agriculturists; the volatile oils being those which confer on certain plants their fragrant odour. There are a great variety of vegetable oils, but the proximate constituents of most of them are chiefly stearin, margarin, olein, and palmitin.
Stearin is a white crystalline substance, sparingly soluble in alcohol and ether, but insoluble in water. There are two or three modifications of this substance, but they do not essentially differ from each other. The melting point varies from 130° to 160° Fahr. Stearin is the most abundant of the fats.
Margarin presents the appearance of pearly scales. It is the solid fat present in olive oil, and it is also met with in a great variety of fats and oils. It melts at 116° Fahr.
Olein is the fluid constituent of oils and fatty substances. It resists an extreme degree of cold, without solidifying. There are several modifications of this body—the olein of olive oil being somewhat different from that of castor oil; the olein of linseed is sometimes termed linolien.
Palmitin.—This fat occurs in many plants, but as it makes up the great bulk of palm oil, it has been termed palmitin. It is white, and may be obtained in feathery-like masses. Its melting point varies from 114° to 145°, there being, according to Duffy, three modifications of this substance.
The fats and oils are lighter than water. They contain far more carbon and hydrogen, and less oxygen, than are found in the sugars and starches. They all consist of acids (stearic, palmitic, &c.) united with glycerine. On being boiled with potash or soda, the latter take the place of the glycerine, which is set free, and a soap is produced. The fatty acids strongly resemble the fats. In nutritive power, one part of fat is equal to 2½ parts of starch or sugar.
The Albuminous substances contain, in addition to the elements found in starch, nitrogen, sulphur, and phosphorus. Albumen, fibrin, and legumin constitute the three important members of the "Nitrogenous" constituents of plants.
Albumen is an uncrystallizable substance. It is soluble in water, unless when heated to 140 deg. Fahr., at which temperature it coagulates, i.e., becomes solid and insoluble. The gluten of wheat is composed chiefly of albumen, and of bodies closely allied to that substance.
Fibrin, when dried, is a hard, horny, yellow, solid body. It contains a little more oxygen than is found in albumen. This substance is best known as a constituent of animals, and it does not appear to be abundant in plants. The portion of the gluten of wheat-flour, which is insoluble in boiling alcohol, is considered by Liebig and Dumas to be coagulated fibrin.
In the seeds of leguminous and a few other kinds of plants large quantities of a substance termed legumin are found. It resembles the casein, or cheesy ingredient of milk; indeed, some chemists consider it to be identical in composition with that substance. When pure, it is pearly white, insoluble in boiling water, but soluble in cold water and in vinegar. The saline matters found in plants are always associated with the albuminous bodies; the latter, therefore, form the bones as well as the muscles of animals.
A great many substances are found in plants, such as wax, mannite, "extractive matter," citric, malic, and other acids, of the nutritive value of which very little is known. The substances described in this section constitute, however, at least 95 per cent. of the weight of the vegetable matters used as food by live stock.
SECTION III.
GREEN FOOD.
The Grasses.—More than one-half the area of Great Britain and Ireland is under pasture; the grasses, therefore, constitute the most important and abundant food used by live stock. The composition of the natural and artificial grasses is greatly influenced by the nature of the soil on which they are grown, and by the climatic conditions under which they are developed. Many of them are almost worthless, whilst others possess a high nutritive value. Amongst the most useful natural grasses may be enumerated Italian rye-grass, Meadow barley, Annual Meadow-grass, Crested dogstail-grass, Cocksfoot-grass, Timothy or Meadow catstail-grass, and Sweet vernal-grass. Amongst grasses of medium quality I may mention common Oatlike-grass, Meadow foxtail grass, Smooth and rough stalked Meadow-grass, and Waterwhorl-grass. There are very many grasses which are almost completely innutritious, and which ought, under no circumstances, to be tolerated, although too often they make up the great bulk of the herbage of badly-managed meadows and pastures. Such grasses are, the Meadow soft-grass, Creeping soft-grass, False brome-grass, and Upright brome-grass. The rough-stalked Meadow-grass, though spoken favorably of by some farmers, is hardly worthy of cultivation, and the same may be said of many of the grasses which have a place in our meadows and pastures. (See "Analyses of Natural Grasses in a Fresh State, by Dr. Voelcker," on next page.)
The Schræder brome is a perennial lately introduced into France. It is described as an exceedingly valuable forage crop, and one which is admirably adapted for the feeding of dairy cows. It would be desirable to give it a trial in these countries. The composition (which is very peculiar) of this plant is stated to be as follows, when dry:—
| ANALYSIS OF SCHRÆDER BROME HAY. | |
| Water | 16·281 |
| Nitrogenous matters | 23·443 |
| Fat | 3·338 |
| Starch gum, &c. | 22·549 |
| Cellulose (fibre) | 19·843 |
| Ashes | 14·546 |
| ———— | |
| Total | 100·000 |
| ANALYSES OF NATURAL GRASSES IN A FRESH STATE, BY DR. VOELCKER. | |||||||
| Water. | Albuminous or Flesh-forming Principles. | Fatty Matters. | Respiratory Principles: Starch, Gum, Sugar. | Woody Fibre. | Mineral Matter or Ash. | Date of Collection. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthoxanthum odoratum—Sweet-scented vernal grass | 80·35 | 2·00 | ·67 | 8·54 | 7·15 | 1·24 | May 25 |
| Alopecurus pratensis—Meadow foxtail grass | 80·20 | 2·44 | ·52 | 8·59 | 6·70 | 1·55 | June 1 |
| Arrhenatherum avenaceum—Common oat-like grass | 72·65 | 3·54 | ·87 | 11·21 | 9·37 | 2·36 | July 17 |
| Avena flavescens—Yellow oat-like grass | 60·40 | 2·96 | 1·04 | 18·66 | 14·22 | 2·72 | June 29 |
| Avena pubescens—Downy oat-grass | 61·50 | 3·07 | ·92 | 19·16 | 13·34 | 2·01 | July 11 |
| Briza media— Common quaking grass | 51·85 | 2·93 | 1·45 | 22·60 | 17·00 | 4·17 | June 29 |
| Bromus erectus—Upright brome grass | 59·57 | 3·78 | 1·35 | 33·19 | 2·11 | " 23 | |
| Bromus mollis—Soft brome grass | 76·62 | 4·05 | ·47 | 9·04 | 8·46 | 1·36 | May 8 |
| Cynosurus cristatus—Crested dogstail grass | 62·73 | 4·13 | 1·32 | 19·64 | 9·80 | 2·38 | June 21 |
| Dactylus glomerata—Cocksfoot grass | 70·00 | 4·06 | ·94 | 13·30 | 10·11 | 1·54 | " 13 |
| Ditto, seeds ripe | 52·57 | 10·93 | ·74 | 12·61 | 20·54 | 2·61 | July 19 |
| Festuca duriuscula—Hard fescue grass | 69·33 | 3·70 | 1·02 | 12·46 | 11·83 | 1·66 | June 13 |
| Holcus lanatus—Soft meadow grass | 69·70 | 3·49 | 1·02 | 11·92 | 11·94 | 1·93 | " 29 |
| Hordeum pratense—Meadow barley | 58·85 | 4·59 | ·94 | 20·05 | 13·03 | 2·54 | July 11 |
| Lolium perenne—Darnel grass | 71·43 | 3·37 | ·91 | 12·08 | 10·06 | 2·15 | June 8 |
| Lolium italicum—Italian rye-grass | 75·61 | 2·45 | ·80 | 14·11 | 4·82 | 2·21 | " 13 |
| Phleum pratense—Meadow catstail grass | 57·21 | 4·86 | 1·50 | 22·85 | 11·32 | 2·26 | |
| Poa annua—Annual meadow grass | 79·14 | 2·47 | ·71 | 10·79 | 6·30 | ·59 | May 28 |
| Poa pratensis—Smooth-stalked meadow grass | 67·14 | 3·41 | ·86 | 14·15 | 12·49 | 1·95 | June 11 |
| Poa trivialis—Rough-stalked ditto | 73·60 | 2·58 | ·97 | 10·54 | 10·11 | 2·20 | " 18 |
| Grass from water meadow | 87·58 | 3·22 | ·81 | 3·98 | 3·13 | 1·28 | Apr. 30 |
| Ditto, second crop | 74·53 | 2·78 | ·52 | 11·17 | 8·76 | 2·24 | June 26 |
| Annual rye-grass | 69·00 | 2·96 | ·69 | 12·89 | 12·47 | 1·99 | " 8 |
| Most of the grasses here mentioned were analysed when in flower. | |||||||
Tussac Grass (Dactylis cæspitus) is recommended as an excellent plant to grow on very poor, wet, or mossy soils.[!--25--][25] It is an evergreen grass, somewhat resembling coltsfoot. It is relished by cattle.
| ANALYSIS OF TUSSAC GRASS BY JOHNSTONE. | ||
| Lower part. | Upper part. | |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 86·09 | 75·17 |
| Flesh-formers | 2·47 | 4·79 |
| Sugar, gum, &c. | 4·62 | 6·81 |
| Woody fibre (with a little albumen) | 5·68 | 11·86 |
| Ash | 1·14 | 1·37 |
| ———— | ———— | |
| Total | 100·00 | 100·00 |
The "artificial grasses" embrace the clovers, vetches, lucerne, and a few other plants, some of which are seldom cultivated.
| ANALYSES OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF CLOVER, BY DR. ANDERSON. | ||||||
| Per-centage in the Fresh Clover. | Per-centage in Dry Clover. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water. | Dry Substances. | Ash. | Nitrogenised Substances. | Ash. | Nitrogenised Matters. | |
| Red clover—Trifolium pratense: | ||||||
| 1. From English seed | 85·30 | 14·70 | 1·30 | 2·31 | 8·90 | 15·87 |
| 2. From German seed (from the Rhine) | 81·68 | 18·32 | 1·49 | 2·81 | 8·15 | 15·50 |
| 3. From French seed | 83·51 | 16·49 | 1·95 | 2·25 | 11·82 | 13·56 |
| 4. From American seed | 79·98 | 21·02 | 1·58 | 2·87 | 8·05 | ... |
| 5. From Dutch seed | ... | ... | ... | ... | 8·82 | 12·43 |
| Cowgrass—Trifolium medium:[!--26--][26] | ||||||
| Variety, Duke of Norfolk | 77·39 | 22·61 | 2·73 | 2·25 | 12·09 | 10·19 |
| Variety, common | 81·76 | 18·24 | 1·92 | 3·19 | 10·53 | 14·37 |
| Crimson clover—Trifolium incarnatum: | ||||||
| From French seed | 82·56 | 17·44 | 1·88 | 3·25 | 10·81 | 18·56 |
| Yellow clover—Medicago lupulina: | ||||||
| From English seed | 77·38 | 22·62 | 2·02 | 3·50 | 8·95 | 15·44 |
| From French seed | 78·60 | 21·40 | 1·75 | 2·94 | 8·18 | 13·69 |
Clover is very rich in flesh-forming and heat-producing substances. There are several varieties of this plant, of which the Alsike Clover appears to be the most valuable, as it contains a high proportion of organic matter and gives the largest acreable produce. The nature of the soil influences, to a great extent, the composition of this plant: this no doubt accounts for the somewhat discrepant result of the analyses of it made by Way, Voelcker, and Anderson.
The composition of the Vetch, Sainfoin, and Lucerne, resembles very closely that of the Clover: indeed, it appears to me that all these leguminous plants are nearly equally valuable as green forage, but that the best adapted for hay is the Clover. In the following table the composition of these plants is shown:—
| ANALYSES OF CLOVER, BY DR. VOELCKER. | |||||
| I. Red Clover. | II. White Clover. | III. Yellow Clover. | IV. Alsike Clover. | V. Bokhara Clover. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 80·64 | 83·65 | 77·57 | 76·67 | 81·30 |
| Soluble in Water— | |||||
| a. Organic substances | 6·35 | 4·98 | 8·26 | 4·91 | 6·80 |
| b. Inorganic substances | 1·55 | 1·13 | 1·40 | 1·33 | 1·54 |
| Insoluble in water— | |||||
| a. Impure vegetable fibre | 11·04 | 9·80 | 12·17 | 16·36 | 10·01 |
| b. Inorganic matters (ash) | 0·42 | 0·44 | 0·60 | 0·73 | 0·35 |
| 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | |
| ANALYSES OF LUCERNE, SAINFOIN, AND VETCH. | |||||
| I. Lucerne. | II. Sainfoin. | III. Vetch. | |||
| Water | 73·41 | 77·32 | 82·16 | ||
| Soluble in Water | |||||
| a. Organic substances | 9·43 | 8·00 | 6·07 | ||
| b. Inorganic substances | 2·33 | 1·20 | 1·07 | ||
| Insoluble in water | |||||
| a. Impure vegetable fibre | 14·08 | 12·95 | 10·23 | ||
| b. Inorganic matters (ash) | 0·75 | 0·53 | 0·47 | ||
| 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | |||
The artificial grasses are, on the whole, more nutritious than the natural grasses; but I should explain that the analyses of the natural grasses which I have quoted refer to those plants in what may be almost termed their wild state: under the influence of good cultivation—when irrigated or top-dressed with abundance of appropriate manure—their analyses would indicate a higher nutritive value. The grasses, and more especially the so-called artificial grasses, are more nutritious and digestible when young. In old clover the proportion of insoluble woody fibre is often so considerable as to greatly detract from the alimental value of the plant.
The Lentils, the Birdsfoot, the Trefoil, and the Melilot are leguminous plants which occasionally are found as constituents of forage crops. Lentils are extensively cultivated on the Continent, and are the only kind of these plants the chemistry of which has been at all studied. The straw contains 7 per cent. of flesh-formers.
The Yellow Lupine is cultivated rather extensively in Germany, France, and Belgium, partly for feeding purposes, partly to furnish a green manure. Its seeds constitute a nutritious article of food for man, and its stems and leaves are given to cattle. An attempt was made a few years ago to introduce its cultivation, as a field crop, into England, and very satisfactory results attended the first trials made with it. Mr. Kimber, who has cultivated this crop, states that it is likely to prove valuable on light sandy soils, where the ordinary green fodder crops are not easily cultivated. The produce per acre obtained in Mr. Kimber's trial was about nineteen tons. Cattle and sheep relish the Yellow Lupine, but according to Mr. Kimber, pigs reject it. Professor Voelcker examined this plant, and found that it resembled in composition the ordinary artificial grasses, except in one respect, namely, a remarkable deficiency in sugar. Altogether, it is not so rich in nutriment as any of the commonly cultivated leguminous plants; but as it can be cultivated on a very poor soil, and gives a good return, it is probable that the Yellow Lupine will yet become a common crop in Britain. The following table exhibits the results of Dr. Voelcker's analysis.
| COMPOSITION OF YELLOW LUPINES (CUT DOWN IN A GREEN STATE). | ||
| In natural state. | Dried at 212°F. | |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 89·20 | |
| Oil | ·37 | 3·42 |
| * Soluble albuminous compounds | 1·37 | 12·68 |
| Soluble mineral (saline) substances | ·61 | 5·64 |
| † Insoluble albuminous compounds | 1·01 | 9·35 |
| Sugar, gum, bitter extractive matter, and digestible fibre | 3·96 | 36·68 |
| Indigestible woody fibre (cellulose) | 3·29 | 30·48 |
| Insoluble mineral matters | ·19 | 1·75 |
| ——— | ——— | |
| 100·00 | 100·00 | |
| * Containing nitrogen | ·22 | 2·03 |
| † Containing nitrogen | ·16 | 1·48 |
Rib grass plantain (Plantago lanceolata) is one of those plants, the value of which for forage purposes is questionable. Many persons believe it to be a useful food. Its composition, which looks favorable, is as follows:—
| Water | 84·78 |
| Albuminous matters | 2·18 |
| Fatty matters | 0·56 |
| Starch, gum, &c. | 6·08 |
| Woody fibre | 5·10 |
| Mineral matter | 1·30 |
The grasses, natural and artificial, are occasionally affected by a formidable and well-known fungus, the ergot. Italian rye-grass is the most liable to the ravages of this pest, and there are on record several cases in which ergotted rye-grass proved fatal to the animal fed upon it. Clover and the various leguminous plants appear more liable to the ergot disease than the natural grasses (except rye-grass), but I have on several occasions noticed this fungus on the spikelets of Hordeum pratense, Festuca pratense, and Bromus erectus. It has also been noticed that rye-grass rapidly developed under the influence of liquid manure is so rank that young animals fed upon it are poisonously affected. Alderman Mechi states that in July, 1864, ten out of his thirty Shorthorn calves died in consequence of eating the heads of Italian rye-grass, and that the survivors' health was seriously injured. He was also unfortunate with his lambs, which, during the same month, were folded on Italian rye-grass. "Four days ago," writes the Alderman, "it was sewaged, having been prior to the former growth also guanoed. In four days it had grown from four to five inches, was of an intense green, and pronounced to be, by sharp practical men, just the food for lambs. Well, we put on our lambs, taking care to do so in the evenings after they had been well fed. My bailiff accompanied them, and, within five minutes, turning accidentally round, he saw two of the lambs with their heads in the air staggering (stomach staggers it is called) and frothing at the mouth. He immediately saw the mischief, removed the lambs, and on their way back to a bare fold some of them vomited the Italian rye-grass that they had just eaten, accompanied by frothy slime; others brought it up during the night. Some of them trembled, gaped, and showed all the same symptoms that my calves had done, such as rapid pulse, &c. Two or three of them are rather queer to-day. I hope that Professor Simmonds or some capable person will tell us how this is? If we mow this grass, bring it home, and cut it into chaff, all which tends to heat or dry it, it becomes wholesome food. The same remarks apply in degree to very succulent tares. If the Italian grass is brought home and given long and quite fresh to the calves, it will kill them. It does not appear to injure old ewes as it does lambs or shearlings. The dry weather has something to do with it. In wet weather the evil is much diminished, or disappears."
It is probable that the juice of this poisonous herbage was extremely rich in matters only semi-organised, and perhaps abounded in the crude substances from which the vegetable tissues are elaborated. Such rank grass as this was should not be used until it has attained to a tolerably developed state: in mature plants the juices contain more highly organised matters than are found in young vegetables.
The Sorghuo, or Holcus Saccharatus.—This plant, introduced to the notice of the British farmer but a few years ago, is only grown in these countries in small quantities. It is very rich in sugar, and cattle relish it greatly. Its composition, according to Dr. Voelcker, is as follows:—
| Water | 81·80 |
| Albuminous matters | 1·53 |
| Insoluble ditto | 0·66 |
| Sugar | 5·85 |
| Wax and fatty matter | 2·55 |
| Mucilage, pectin, and digestible matters | 2·59 |
| Indigestible woody fibre | 4·03 |
| Mineral matter | 0·99 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
The plants referred to in the above analysis were cut in September. It is found that the composition of the plant is very different at different seasons.
Green Rye is employed as a forage crop, for which purpose it is well adapted. It is about equal in nutritive power to clover. According to Dr. Voelcker its composition is as follows:—
| Water | 75·423 |
| Flesh-formers | 2·705 |
| Fatty matter | 0·892 |
| Gum, pectin, sugar, &c. | 9·134 |
| Woody-fibre | 10·488 |
| Mineral matter | 1·358 |
| ——— | |
| 100·000 |
Buckwheat is occasionally cut in a green state and used as food for stock. Its composition, according to Einhof and Crome, is as follows:—
| Water | 82·5 |
| Nitrogenous compounds | 0·2 |
| Extractive matters | 2·6 |
| Starch, &c. | 4·7 |
| Cellulose | 10·0 |
| ——— | |
| 100·0 |
Rape is one of our most valuable plants for stock feeding. Two varieties are cultivated in these countries—the summer rape (Brassica Campestris oleifera) and winter rape (Brassica rapus). The great utility of rape arises from the circumstance of its being generally obtained as a stolen crop; for otherwise it is not quite equal to other plants that might be substituted for it—cabbages, &c. This plant is very rich in oily matters, and has been found well adapted both for the feeding of cattle and the fattening of sheep. Its composition, according to Voelcker, is shown in this table:—
| COMPOSITION OF GREEN RAPE. | |
| Water | 87·050 |
| Flesh-formers | 3·133 |
| Fatty matters | 0·649 |
| Other respiratory substances | 4·000 |
| Woody fibre | 3·560 |
| Mineral matter (ash) | 1·608 |
| ——— | |
| 100·000 | |
With respect to the value of rape for the feeding of stock in spring, Mr. Rham makes the following remarks:—
If the crop is very forward it may be slightly fed off, but in general it is best to let it remain untouched till spring. In the end of March and the beginning of April it will be a great help to the ewes and lambs. It will produce excellent food till it begins to be in flower, when it should immediately be ploughed up. The ground will be found greatly recruited by this crop, which has taken nothing from it, and has added much by the dung and urine of the sheep. Whatever be the succeeding crop, it cannot fail to be productive; and if the land is not clean, the farmer must have neglected the double opportunity of destroying weeds in the preceding summer, and in the early part of spring. If the rape is fed off in time, it may be succeeded by barley or oats, with clover or grass seeds, or potatoes, if the soil is not too wet. Thus no crop will be lost, and the rape will have been a clear addition to the produce of the land. Any crop which is taken off the land in a green state, especially if it be fed off with sheep, may be repeated without risk of failure, provided the land be properly tilled; but where cole or rape have produced seed, they cannot be profitably sown in less than five or six years after on the same land. The cultivation of rape or cole for spring food cannot be too strongly recommended to the farmers of heavy clay soils.
The Mustard Plant is occasionally used as food for sheep, for which purpose its composition shows it to be well adapted. Voelcker's analysis proves it to be very rich, relatively, in muscle-forming elements and in mineral matters; it might, therefore be with advantage combined with food relatively deficient in these principles.
| COMPOSITION OF FRESH MUSTARD. | |
| Water | 86·30 |
| Albuminous matters | 2·87 |
| Non-nitrogenous matters (gum, sugar, oil, &c.) | 4·40 |
| Woody fibre | 4·39 |
| Ash | 2·04 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 | |
The Prickly Comfrey has been recommended as a good forage plant. It yields an abundant crop—or rather crops, for it may be cut several times in the year. The plant is a handsome one, and it might combine the useful with the ornamental if it were cultivated on demesne or villa farms. Dr. Voelcker states its composition to be as follows:—
| Water | 88·400 |
| Flesh-forming substances | 2·712 |
| Heat and fat-producing matters | 6·898 |
| Ash | 1·990 |
| ——— | |
| 100·000 |
Chicory is used as a forage crop on the Continent, and Professor John Wilson surmises that it may yet be generally cultivated for this purpose in Great Britain. At present it is rarely grown except for the sake of its roots, which are used as partial substitutes for, or adulterants of, coffee.
| COMPOSITION OF CHICORY, ACCORDING TO ANDERSON. | ||
| Fresh roots. | Fresh leaves. | |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 80·58 | 90·94 |
| Nitrogenous matters | 1·72 | 1·01 |
| Non-nitrogenous substances | 16·39 | 6·63 |
| Ash | 1·31 | 1·42 |
| ——— | ——— | |
| 100·00 | 100·00 | |
Yarrow (Achillæa millefolium) is usually regarded as a weed, but sheep are very fond of it, and when they can get it, never fail to eat it greedily. It possesses astringent properties. Some writers have recommended it as a good crop for warrens and sands. Its composition, according to Way, is as follows:—
| DRIED YARROW. | |
| Albuminous matter | 10·34 |
| Fatty matters | 2·51 |
| Starch, gum, &c. | 45·46 |
| Woody fibre | 32·69 |
| Mineral matter | 9·00 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 | |
Melons and Marrows have been used, but to a very limited extent, as food for stock. Mr. Blundell advocates their use in seasons of drought. He states that he has obtained more than forty tons per acre of both melons and marrows. They are relished by horses, oxen, sheep, and pigs. Mr. Blundell's advocacy has not been attended with much success, but it would be desirable to give these vegetables a further trial.
Dr. Voelcker's analysis of the cattle melon shows that it contains:—
| Water | 92·98 |
| Albuminous matters | 1·53 |
| Oil | ·73 |
| Sugar, gum, &c. | 2·51 |
| Fibre | 1·65 |
| Ash | ·60 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
The Cabbage.—The composition of the Drumhead Cabbage has been studied by Dr. Anderson. He found a larger proportion of nutriment in the outer leaves than in the "heart," and ascertained that the young plants were richer in nutriment than those more advanced in age. His results show the desirability of cultivating the open-leaved, rather than the compact varieties of this plant.
| ANALYSIS OF THE CABBAGE.—BY DR. ANDERSON. | ||
| Outer leaves. | Heart leaves. | |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 91·08 | 94·48 |
| Compounds containing nitrogen | 1·63 | 0·94 |
| Compounds destitute of nitrogen, such as gum, sugar, fibre, &c. | 5·06 | 4·08 |
| Ash (mineral matter) | 2·23 | 0·50 |
| ——— | ——— | |
| 100·00 | 100·00 | |
According to Fromberg, the composition of the whole plant is as follows:—
| Water | 93·40 |
| Nitrogenous, or flesh-forming compounds | 1·75 |
| Non-nitrogenous substances such as gum, sugar, &c. | 4·05 |
| Mineral matter | 0·80 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
Dr. Voelcker, who has more recently analysed the cattle cabbage, furnishes us with the following details of its composition:—
| COMPOSITION OF CABBAGE LEAVES (OUTSIDE GREEN LEAVES). | |
| Water | 83·72 |
| Dry matter | 16·28 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 | |
The fresh and the dry matter consisted of:—
| Fresh Matter. | Dry matter. Per cent. | |
|---|---|---|
| * Protein compounds | 1·65 | 10·19 |
| Non-nitrogenous matter | 13·38 | 82·10 |
| Mineral matter | 1·25 | 7·71 |
| ——— | ——— | |
| 16·28 | 100·00 | |
| * Containing nitrogen | ·26 | 1·63 |
In the following table the results of a more elaborate analysis of the heart and inner leaves are shown:—
| COMPOSITION OF HEART AND INNER LEAVES. | |||
| In natural state. | Dry. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 89·42 | ||
| Oil | ·08 | ·75 | |
| * Soluble protein compounds | 1·19 | 11·24 | |
| Sugar, digestible fibres, &c. | 7·01 | 66·25 | |
| Soluble mineral matter | ·73 | 6·89 | |
| † Insoluble protein compounds | ·31 | 2·93 | |
| Woody fibre | 1·14 | 10·77 | |
| Insoluble mineral matter | ·12 | 1·17 | |
| ——— | ——— | ||
| 100·00 | 100·00 | ||
| * Containing nitrogen | ·19 | 1·79 | |
| † Containing nitrogen | ·05 | ·47 | |
If I were asked what plant I considered the most valuable for forage, I certainly should pronounce an opinion in favor of cabbage. This crop yields a much greater return than that afforded by the Swedish turnip, and it is richer in nutritive matter. Cabbages are greedily eaten by sheep and cattle, and the butter of cows fed upon them is quite free from the disagreeable flavor which it so often possesses when the food of the animal is chiefly composed of turnips. If the cabbage admitted of storing, no more valuable crop could be cultivated as food for stock.
Mr. John M'Laren, of Inchture, Scotland, gives in the "Transactions of the Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland for 1857," a report on the feeding value of cabbage, which is highly favorable to that plant:—
On the 1st December, 1855 (says the reporter), two lots of Leicester wethers, bred on the farm, and previously fed alike, each lot containing ten sheep, were selected for the trial by competent judges, and weighed. Both lots were put into a field of well-sheltered old lea, having a division between them. All the food was cut and given them in troughs, three times a day. They had also a constant supply of hay in racks.
At the end of the trial, on the 1st of March, 1856, the sheep were all re-weighed, sent to the Edinburgh market, and sold same day, but in their separate lots. As I had no opportunity of getting the dead weights, I requested Mr. Swan, the salesman, to give his opinion on their respective qualities. This was to the effect that no difference existed in their market value, but that the sheep fed on turnips would turn out the best quality of mutton, with most profit for the butcher. Both lots were sold at the same price, viz., 52s. 6d. During the three months of trial, we found that each lot consumed about the same weight of food—viz., 8 tons 13 cwt. 47 lb. of cabbage, being at the rate of 211⁄3 lbs. per day for each sheep, and 8 tons 10 cwt. 7 lb. Swedes, being at the rate of 209⁄10 lb. per day.
It will be seen, by referring to the table (see next page), that in this trial the Swede has proved of higher value for feeding purposes than the cabbage, making 11 st. 4 lb. of gain in weight, whilst the cabbage made 10 st. 9 lb. At the same time, 3 cwt. 40 lb. less food were consumed; and taking the mutton gained at 6d. per lb., the Swedes consumed become worth 9s. 3¼d. per ton, while the gain on the cabbage, at the same rate, makes them worth 8s. 7d. per ton. But from the great additional weight of the one crop grown over the other, the balance, at the prices, c., mentioned, is in favor of the cabbage by £1 15s. 11¾d. per acre.
These results certainly speak strongly in favor of the cabbage; but the weight of the acreable crop of cabbages stated in the table appears to be unusually great. So heavy a crop is rarely obtained.
Furze (Gorse, or Whins).—Notwithstanding the natural historical knowledge of Goldsmith, his poetical description of the furze is far from accurate. This plant, instead of being "unprofitably gay," deserves to rank amongst the most valuable vegetables cultivated for the use of the domestic animals. It grows and flourishes under conditions which most injuriously affect almost every other kind of fodder and green crop. Prolonged drought in spring and early summer not unfrequently renders the hay crop a scanty one; while autumn and winter frosts change the nutriment of the mangels and turnips into decaying and unwholesome matter. Under such circumstances as these, the maintenance of cattle in good condition is very expensive, unless in places where a supply of furze is available. This plant is rather improved than otherwise by exposure to a temperature which would speedily destroy a mangel or a turnip; and, although it thrives best when abundantly supplied with rain, it can survive an exceedingly prolonged drought without sustaining much injury.
| TABLE Showing the Difference of Weight grown on an Acre of Cabbage and an Acre of Swedes, and the Value of each for Feeding. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. Of Sheep In Each Lot. | Kinds of Food. | Weight of Ten Sheep, 1st Dec., 1855. | Weight of Ten Sheep, 1st Mar., 1856. | Gain. | Value of Gain taking Mutton at 6d. per lb. | Total Weight of Food consumed in Three Months by each lot. | Value of Food consumed per Ton. | Total Weight per Acre of each Crop. | Value of each Crop per Acre. | Extra Cost on each Crop per Acre. | Free Value of each Crop per Acre. | Balance in favor of Cabbage per Acre. | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| st. | lb. | st. | lb. | st. | lb. | £ | s. | d. | tons. | cwt. | lb. | s. | d. | tons. | cwt. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | ||
| 10 | Cabbage | 90 | 10 | 101 | 5 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 47 | 8 | 7 | 42 | 14 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 15 | 11¾ |
| 10 | Swedes | 89 | 3 | 100 | 7 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 3¼ | 26 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 7¼ | 0 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 19 | 7¼ | |||
The furze is a member of the family Leguminosæ, which includes so many useful plants, such as, for example, the pea, the bean, and the clovers. There are three varieties of it met with in this country—namely, the common furze, Ulex europæus, the dwarf furze, Ulex nanus, and the Irish, or upright furze, Ulex strictus.
The common furze is a hardy shrub, and grows luxuriantly at an elevation far higher than the limits of cereal cultivation. It flourishes on any kind of soil which is moderately dry, and heavy crops may easily be raised on uplands almost incapable of producing grass. The dwarf furze is never cultivated, but as it grows at a still greater elevation, and on a poorer soil than the larger varieties, it might be profitably cultivated on very high uplands. The Irish furze yields a softer and less prickly food than the other kinds, but as it does not usually bear seed, and must therefore be propagated by cuttings, its cultivation has hitherto been limited to but a few localities.
The produce of an acre of furze appears to be at least equal to that of an acre of good meadow. The Rev. Mr. Townsend of Aghada, county of Cork—the most zealous and successful advocate for the cultivation of this plant—informed me that he had obtained so much as 14 tons per acre; a fact which proves that the furze is a plant which is well deserving of the attention of the farmer.
Furze is an excellent food for every kind of stock. Cattle, although they may at first appear not to relish its prickly shoots, soon acquire a fondness for it. I have known several instances of herds being fed almost if not entirely on the bruised plant, and to keep in good condition. The late Professor Murphy, of Cork, stated that on the farm of Mr. Boulger, near Mallow, thirty-five cows were fed on crushed furze, which they "devoured voraciously." Each animal received daily from four to six stones of the crushed plant, to which were added a little turnip pulp and a small quantity of oats. The milk and butter yielded by these cows were considered excellent. In a letter addressed to me by a very intelligent feeder, Mr. John Walsh,[!--27--][27] of Stedalt, county of Dublin, the following remarks in relation to this subject are made:—
I had lately an opportunity of seeing a herd of cattle of about sixty head, of which twenty had been fed with furze prepared with my machine for about six weeks before being put out to grass. The condition of these was so superior that I pointed out every one of them, one after the other, out of the herd. The owner of the cattle had made the same observation; it was new to him but not to me.
Furze is seldom given to sheep or pigs, but I believe that it might with advantage enter into the dietary of those animals. Some of my friends who have lately tried it with pigs report favorably as to its effects. Horses partly fed upon this plant keep in good condition; it is usually given to them cut merely into lengths of half an inch or an inch, but it would be better to give it to them finely bruised. A horse during the night will eat a much larger quantity of coarsely cut furze than of the well bruised article, because he is obliged to expend a great deal of muscular power in bruising the furze, and must, consequently, use an additional quantity of the food to make up for the corresponding waste of tissue.
Until quite recently, the chemistry of the furze was very little studied. The analysis of this plant made many years ago by Sprengel gave results which, in the present advanced condition of agricultural chemistry, are quite valueless. The late Professor Johnston merely determined its amount of water, organic matter, and ash. I believe I was the first to make a complete investigation into the composition of this plant according to the methods of modern chemical analysis. I made two examinations. The first was of shoots cut on the 25th April, 1860, on the lands of Mr. Walsh of Stedalt, near Balbriggan, in the county of Dublin. The shoots were, in great part, composed of that year's growth, with a small proportion of the shoots of the previous year. They were very moist, and their spines, or thorns, were rather soft. Their centesimal composition was as follows:—
| Water | 78·05 |
| Nitrogenous, or flesh-forming principles | 2·18 |
| Fat-forming principles (oil, starch, sugar, gum, &c.) | 8·20 |
| Woody fibre | 10·17 |
| Mineral matter (ash) | 1·40 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
The second analysis was made of furze cut on the 15th August, 1862. The following were the results obtained:—
| Water | 72·00 |
| Nitrogenous, or flesh-forming principles | 3·21 |
| Oil | 1·18 |
| Other fat-forming principles (starch, gum, &c.) | 8·20 |
| Woody fibre | 13·33 |
| Mineral matter | 2·08 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
The specimen was allowed to lie for a few days in a dry room, so that it lost a little water whilst in my possession, before it was subjected to analysis.
The sample cut in August contained a larger amount of nutriment than the specimen analysed in the spring; but its constituents appeared to be much less soluble in water, and therefore, less digestible.
Professor Blyth, of the Queen's College, Cork, has more recently made a very elaborate analysis of furze, grown in the county of Cork, which gave results still more favorable to the plant than those arrived at by me—probably because the specimens furnished to him were drier than mine.
| ANALYSIS OF FRESH FURZE, BY DR. BLYTH. | ||
| 100 parts contain:— | ||
| Matters readily soluble in water and easily digested. | ||
| * Albuminous, or flesh-forming compounds | 1·68 | |
| Fat and heat-producing, or respiratory elements, viz., sugar, gum, &c. &c. | 7·83 | |
| Ash | 0·83 | |
| ——— | ||
| Total matters soluble in water | 10·34 | |
| * Containing nitrogen | 0·265 | |
| Matters insoluble in water. | ||
| Oil | 2·14 | |
| † Albuminous, or flesh-producing compounds | 2·83 | |
| Fat and heat-producing, or respiratory elements | 1·00 | |
| Woody fibre | 28·80 | |
| Ash | 3·23 | |
| ——— | ||
| Total matters insoluble in water | 38·00 | |
| Water, expelled at 212 | 51·50 | |
| ——— | ||
| 99·48 | ||
| Total nitrogen in plant | 0·71 | |
| Total albuminous, or flesh-producing compounds | 4·51 | |
| Total respiratory, or heat and fat-producing compounds | 8·83 | |
| Total ash | 4·06 | |
| The ash contains in 100 parts:— | ||
| Potash | 20·00 | |
| Phosphoric acid | 8·72 | |
| † Containing nitrogen | 0·445 | |
If the large per-centage of water be deducted, the dry, nutritive matters can then be more readily compared with the amount of the same substances in other feeding articles:—
The results of these analyses show that dry furze contains an amount of nutriment equal to that found in dry grass. The nature of its composition resembles, as might be expected, that of its allied plants, vetches, &c., and therefore it exceeds the grasses in its amount of ready formed fatty matter.
SECTION IV.
STRAW AND HAY.
Straw.—At the present time, when the attention of the farmer is becoming more and more devoted to the production of meat, it is very desirable that his knowledge of the exact nutritive value of the various feeding substances should be more extensive than it is. No doubt, most feeders are practically acquainted with the relative value of corn and oil-cake—of Swedish turnips and white turnips; but their knowledge of the food equivalents of many other substances is still very defective. For example, every farmer is not aware that Indian corn is a more economical food than beans for fattening cattle, and less so for beasts of burthen. Locust-beans, oat-dust, malt-combings, and many other articles, occasionally consumed by stock, have not, as yet, determinate places assigned to them in the feeder's scale of food equivalents.
The points involved in the economic feeding of stock are not quite so simple as some farmers, more especially those of the amateur class, appear to believe. There are many feeders who sell their half-finished cattle at a profit, and yet they cannot, without loss, convert their stock into those obese monsters which are so much admired at agricultural shows. The complete fattening of cattle is a losing business with some feeders, and a profitable one with others. Stall-feeding is a branch of rural economy which, perhaps more than any other, requires the combination of "science with practice;" yet how few feeders are there who have the slightest knowledge of the composition of food substances, or who are agreed as to the feeding value, absolute or relative, of even such well-known materials as oil-cake, straw, or oats! "It is thus seen how inexact are the equivalents which are understood to be established for the different foods used for the maintenance of the animals. It is equally plain, when we reflect on the different methods pursued for the preservation of the animals, that we are still far from having attained that perfection towards which our efforts tend. Visit one hundred farms, taken by chance in different parts of the country, and you will find in each, methods directly opposite—a totally peculiar manner of managing the stalls; you will see, in short, that the conditions of food, of treatment, and of hygiene, remain not understood in seven-eighths of rural farms."[!--28--][28]
The straws of the cereal and leguminous plants are a striking illustration of the erroneous opinions and practices which prevail amongst agriculturists with respect to particular branches of their calling. The German farmers regard straw as the most valuable constituent of home-made fertilisers, and their leases in general prohibit their selling off the straw produced on their farms. Yet chemical analysis has clearly proved that the manurial value of straw is perfectly insignificant, and that, as a constituent of stable manure, it is chiefly useful as an absorbent of the liquid egesta of the animals littered upon it. As food for stock, straw was at one time regarded by our farmers as almost perfectly innutritious; some even went so far as to declare that it possessed no nutriment whatever, and even those who used it, did so more with the view of correcting the too watery nature of turnips, than with the expectation of its being assimilated to the animal body. Within the last few years, however, straw has been largely employed by several of the most intelligent and successful feeders in England, who report so favorably upon it as an economical feeding stuff, that it has risen considerably in the estimation of a large section of the agricultural public. Now, even without adopting the very high opinion which Mechi and Horsfall entertain relative to the nutritive power of straw, I am altogether disposed to disagree with those who affirm that its application should be restricted to manurial purposes. Unless under circumstances where there is an urgent demand for straw as litter, that article should be used as food for stock, for which purpose it will be found, if of good quality, and given in a proper state, a most economical kind of dry fodder—equal, if not superior to hay, when the prices of both articles are considered.
The composition of straw is very different from that of grain. The former contains no starch, but it includes an exceedingly high proportion of woody fibre; the latter is in great part composed of starch, and contains but an insignificant amount of woody fibre. Dr. Voelcker, the consulting chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and Dr. Anderson, chemist to the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, have made a large number of analyses of the straws of the cereal and leguminous plants, the results of which are of the highest interest to the agriculturist. In the following tables the more important results of these investigations are given:—
| ANALYSES OF STRAW, BY DR. VOELCKER. | ||||||||||
| No. 1. | No. 2. | No. 3. | No. 4. | No. 5. | No. 6. | No. 7. | No. 8. | No. 9. | No. 10. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheat, just ripe and well harvested. | Wheat, over ripe. | Barley, dead ripe. | Barley, not too ripe. | Oat, cut green. | Oat, cut when fairly ripe. | Oat, over ripe. | Bean. | Pea. | Flax Chaff. | |
| Water | 13·33 | 9·17 | 15·20 | 17·50 | 16·00 | 16·00 | 16·00 | 19·40 | 16·02 | 14·60 |
| Albumen, and other protein compounds:— | ||||||||||
| a. Soluble in water | 1·28 | 0·06 | 0·68 | }5·73 | 5·51 | 2·62 | 1·29 | 1·51 | 3·96 | }4·75 |
| b. Insoluble in water | 1·65 | 2·06 | 3·75 | 2·98 | 1·46 | 2·36 | 1·85 | 5·90 | ||
| Oil | 1·74 | 0·65 | 1·36 | 1·17 | 1·57 | 1·05 | 1·25 | 1·02 | 2·34 | 2·82 |
| Sugar, mucilage, extractive matters, &c. (soluble in water) | 4·26 | 3·46 | 2·24 | }71·44 | 16·04 | 10·57 | 3·19 | 4·18 | 8·32 | 8·72 |
| Digestible woody fibre and cellulose | 19·40 | }82·26 | 5·97 | 26·34 | 30·17 | 27·75 | 2·75 | 17·74 | 18·56 | |
| Indigestible fibre &c. | 54·13 | 66·54 | 24·86 | 31·78 | 41·82 | 65·58 | 42·79 | 43·12 | ||
| Inorganic matter:— | ||||||||||
| a. Soluble | 1·13 | 1·29 | 2·88 | }4·52 | 5·76 | 3·64 | 2·26 | 2·31 | 2·72 | 4·07 |
| b. Insoluble | 3·08 | 1·05 | 0·38 | 0·94 | 2·71 | 4·08 | 1·40 | 2·21 | 3·36 | |
| 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | |
⁂ This table contains in a condensed form all theresults of Voelcker's analyses of the straws which are given in his paperpublished in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England,vol. xxii., part 2. 1862. | ||||||||||
Nos. 5, 6, and 7 were analysed shortly after being cut, when theycontained a high proportion of water. They have, therefore, beencalculated to contain 16 per cent. of moisture so as to arrive ataccurate relative results. | ||||||||||
| ANALYSES OF STRAW, BY DR. ANDERSON. | ||||||||||||
| Wheat from East Lothian. | Wheat from Kent. | Barley from East Lothian. | Barley from Kent. | Sandy Oat from Kent. | Oat from Sea level, East Lothian. | Oat from 850 feet above Sea level, East Lothian. | Oat from Mellhill, Inchture, Scotland. | Oat from Kent (White one side.) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 10·62 | 10·93 | 11·15 | 11·44 | 11·15 | 11·10 | 11·70 | 10·95 | 12·60 | 11·28 | 11·70 | 10·55 |
| Flesh-formers— | ||||||||||||
| Soluble | 0·86 | 0·37 | 1·37 | 1·42 | 0·39 | 0·66 | 0·40 | 1·03 | 0·67 | 0·92 | 0·95 | 0·33 |
| Insoluble | 0·51 | 1·12 | 1·00 | 1·54 | 1·12 | 1·98 | 0·93 | 0·43 | 0·38 | 0·39 | 1·21 | 0·33 |
| Oil | 0·80 | 1·00 | 1·50 | 0·97 | 0·88 | 1·05 | 1·45 | 0·77 | 1·25 | 1·36 | 1·60 | 1·00 |
| Respiratory elements— | ||||||||||||
| Soluble | 2·68 | 6·68 | 5·26 | 3·22 | 6·11 | 4·56 | 10·12 | 6·90 | 7·16 | 7·42 | 12·01 | 6·23 |
| Insoluble | 44·88 | 36·43 | 38·79 | 35·56 | 38·38 | 27·95 | 33·52 | 34·77 | 24·28 | 29·55 | 23·35 | 30·95 |
| Woody fibre | 32·88 | 34·78 | 35·01 | 41·34 | 36·62 | 47·53 | 35·36 | 38·73 | 48·49 | 44·40 | 45·27 | 47·40 |
| Ash | 6·20 | 8·04 | 6·32 | 4·21 | 5·62 | 4·85 | 6·36 | 6·28 | 5·11 | 5·07 | 3·95 | 3·62 |
| 99·43 | 99·35 | 100·40 | 99·70 | 100·27 | 99·68 | 99·84 | 99·86 | 99·94 | 100·39 | 100·14 | 100·41 | |
⁂ This table is compiled from Dr. Anderson's paper inthe Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotlandfor March, 1862. | ||||||||||||
Many very important conclusions are deducible from the facts recorded in these valuable tables. We learn from them that straw is more nutritious when it is cut in the ripe state than when it is permitted to over-ripen, and that green straw contains a far greater amount of nutriment than is found even in the ripe article. It appears also that the least nutritious kind of straw equals the best variety of turnips in its amount of flesh-forming principles, and greatly exceeds them in its proportion of fat-forming elements. We further learn that in general the different kinds of straw will be found to stand in the following order, the most nutritious occupying the highest, and the least nutritious the lowest place:—
- 1. Pea-haulm.
- 2. Oat-straw.
- 3. Bean-straw with the pods.
- 4. Barley-straw.
- 5. Wheat-straw.
- 6. Bean-stalks without the pods.
It is a matter to be regretted that we possess so little accurate knowledge of the chemical composition of the plants cultivated in Ireland. No doubt the analyses of English grown wheat, beans, mangels, and other plants, serve to give us a general idea of the nature of those vegetables when produced in this country. But this kind of information, though very important, must necessarily be defective, as differences in climate modify—often to a considerable extent—the composition of almost every vegetable. Thus, the results of Anderson's analyses prove Scotch oats to be superior, as a feeding stuff, to Scotch barley, whilst, according to Voelcker and the experience of most English feeders, the barley of parts of England is superior to its oats. It follows, then, that whilst the results of the analyses of straw, made by Voelcker and Anderson are of great interest to the Irish farmer, they would be still more important to him had the straw to which they relate been the produce of Irish soil. In order, therefore, to enable the Irish farmer to form a correct estimate of the value of his straw, we should put him in possession of a more perfect knowledge of its composition than that which is derivable from the investigations to which I have referred. The straws of the cereals—which alone are used here to any extent—should be analysed as carefully and as frequently as those of Great Britain have been; and if such were done, I have no doubt but that the results would indicate a decided difference in composition between the produce of the two countries. Some time ago I entered upon what, at the time, I had intended should be a complete investigation into the composition of Irish straws; but which want of time prevented me from making more than a partial one. The results are given in the following tables:—
| ANALYSES OF IRISH OAT-STRAW. | ||||
| No. 1. | Obtained in the Dublin Market. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| From Co. Wicklow. | No. 2. | No. 3. | No. 4. | |
| Water | 14·00 | 14·00 | 14·00 | 14·00 |
| Flesh-forming principles— | ||||
| a. Soluble in water | 4·08 | 2·02 | 2·04 | 1·46 |
| b. Insoluble in water | 2·09 | 3·16 | 3·00 | 2·23 |
| Oil | 1·84 | 1·40 | 1·26 | 1·00 |
| Sugar, gum, and other fat-forming matters | 13·79 | 12·67 | 10·18 | 11·16 |
| Woody fibre | 59·96 | 61·79 | 65·45 | 65·29 |
| Mineral matter | 4·24 | 4·96 | 4·07 | 4·86 |
| ——— | ——— | ——— | ——— | |
| 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | |
All the specimens of oats, the analyses of which are given in the preceding table, are assumed to contain 14 per cent. of water, in order the more correctly to compare their nutritive value. No. 1 contained 18·23 per cent. of water; No. 2, 12·90; No. 3, 12·74; and No. 4, 12·08. Oat straw, before its removal from the field, often contains nearly half its weight of water; but after being for some time stacked, the proportion of moisture rarely exceeds 14 per cent.
| ANALYSES OF IRISH WHEAT-STRAW. | ||||||
| No. 1. | No. 2. | No. 3. | Obtained in the Dublin Markets. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green, changing to yellow. County Kildare. | Ripe. County Dublin. | Over Ripe. County Dublin. | No. 4. | No. 5. | No. 6. | |
| Water | 13·00 | 13·15 | 12·14 | 10·88 | 11·22 | 12·12 |
| Flesh-forming principles— | ||||||
| a. Soluble in water | 1·25 | 0·98 | 0·44 | 0·06 | 0·42 | 0·30 |
| b. Insoluble in water | 1·26 | 1·40 | 1·41 | 1·90 | 1·00 | 1·76 |
| Oil | 1·22 | 1·13 | 1·14 | 0·90 | 1·17 | 1·08 |
| Sugar, gum, and other fat-forming matters | 4·18 | 3·98 | 3·88 | 4·08 | 3·89 | 4·30 |
| Woody fibre | 75·84 | 76·17 | 77·76 | 78·67 | 79·18 | 77·15 |
| Mineral matter (ash) | 3·25 | 3·19 | 3·23 | 3·51 | 3·12 | 3·29 |
| ——— | ——— | ——— | ——— | ——— | ——— | |
| 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | |
The results of these analyses are somewhat different from those arrived at by Voelcker and Anderson. They show that properly harvested Irish oat and wheat straws are far more valuable than those of Scotland, and somewhat less nutritive than those produced in England. They also show that wheat-straw is allowed to over-ripen, by which a very large proportion of its nutritive principles is eliminated and altogether lost, and a considerable part of the remainder converted into an insoluble, and therefore less easily digestible state. Nor is there any advantage to the grain gained by allowing it to remain uncut after the upper portion of the stem has changed from a green to a yellowish color; on the contrary, it also loses a portion—often a very considerable one—of its nitrogenous, or flesh-forming constituents. It has been clearly proved that wheat cut when green, yields a greater amount of grain, and of a better quality too, than when it is allowed to ripen fully; yet, how often do we not see fields of wheat in this country allowed to remain unreaped for many days, and even weeks, after the crop has attained to its full development!
The oat-straw obtained in the Dublin Market proved less valuable than the green straw which I selected myself from a field of oats; but the discrepancy between them was far less than between the nearly ripe wheat-straw and the straw of that plant purchased in Dublin. During visits which I have paid in harvest-time to the North of Ireland, I noticed that the oats were generally cut whilst green, whereas wheat was almost invariably left standing for at least a week after its perfect maturation, probably for the following reasons:—Firstly, because oats are more liable to shed their seed; secondly, because there is a greater breadth of that crop to be reaped, which necessitates an early beginning; and, lastly, because most farmers know that over-ripe oat-straw is worth but little for feeding purposes, as compared with the greenish-yellow article.
As compared with white turnips, the nutritive value of oat-straw stands very high, for whilst the former contains but little more than 1 per cent. of flesh-formers, and less than 5 per cent. of fat-formers, the latter includes about 4 per cent. of flesh-formers, and 13 per cent. of fat-formers. Again, whilst the amount of woody fibre in turnips is only about 3 per cent., that substance constitutes no less than 60 per cent. of oat-straw. In comparison with hay—taking into consideration the prices of both articles—oat-straw also stands high, as will be seen by comparing the following analyses of common meadow hay with that of properly harvested straw:—
| Meadow Hay. | Oat Straw. | |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 14·61 | 14·00 |
| Flesh-forming constituents | 8·44 | 6·17 |
| Respiratory and fatty matters | 43·63 | 15·63 |
| Woody fibre | 27·16 | 59·96 |
| Mineral matter (ash) | 6·16 | 4·24 |
| ——— | ——— | |
| 100·00 | 100·00 |
Woody fibre is as abundant a constituent of the straw of the cereals as starch is of their seeds, and if the two substances were equally digestible, straw would be a very valuable food—superior even to the potato. At one time it was the general belief that woody fibre was incapable of contributing in the slightest degree to the nutrition of animals, but the results of recent investigations prove that it is, to a certain extent, digestible. In the summer of 1859 two German chemists, Stöckhardt and Sussdorf, made a series of experiments, with the view of ascertaining whether or not the cellulose[!--29--][29] of the food of the sheep is assimilated by that animal. The results of this inquiry are of importance, seeing that they clearly prove that even the hardest kind of cellulose—sclerogen, in fact—is capable of being assimilated by the Ruminants. The animals selected were two wethers, aged respectively five and six years. They were fed—firstly, upon hay alone; secondly, upon hay and rye-straw; thirdly upon hay and the sawdust of poplar wood, which had been exhausted with lye (to induce the sheep to eat the sawdust, it was found necessary to mix through it some rye-bran and a little salt); fourthly, hay and pine-wood sawdust, to which was added bran and salt; fifthly, spruce sawdust, bran and salt; sixthly, hay, pulp of linen rags (from the paper-maker), and bran. The experiments were carried on from July till November, excepting a short time, during which the animals were turned out on pasture-land, to recover from the injurious effects of the fifth series of experiments—produced probably by the resin of the spruce. The animals, together with their food, drink, and egesta, were weighed daily. The amount of cellulose in the food was determined, and the proportion of that substance in the egesta was also ascertained; and as there was a considerable discrepancy between the two amounts, it was evident that the difference represented the weight of the cellulose assimilated by the animals. In this way it was ascertained that from 60 to 70 per cent. of the cellulose of hay, 40 to 60 per cent. of the cellulose of straw, 45 to 50 per cent. of the cellulose of the poplar wood, 30 to 40 per cent. of the cellulose of the pine, and 80 per cent. of the cellulose of the paper pulp was digested.
In stating the results of his analyses of the straws, Professor Voelcker sets down as "digestible" that portion of the cellulose which he found to be soluble in dilute acids and alkaline solutions; but he admits that the solvents in the stomach might dissolve a larger amount. The results of the experiments of Stöckhardt and Sussdorf prove that 80 per cent. of the cellulose of paper (the altered fibre of flax) is assimilable, and it is, therefore, not unreasonable to infer that the cellulose of a more palatable substance than paper might be altogether digestible.
The facts which I have adduced clearly prove that the straws of the cereals possess a far higher nutritive power than is commonly ascribed to them; that when properly harvested they contain from 20 to 40 per cent. of undoubted nutriment; and lastly, that it is highly probable that their so-called indigestible woody fibre is to a great extent assimilable.
The composition of cellulose is nearly, if not quite, identical with that of starch, and it may therefore be assumed to be equal in nutritive power to that substance—that is, it will, if assimilated, be converted into four-tenths of its weight of fat. Now as cellulose forms from six-tenths to eight-tenths of the weight of straws, it is evident that if the whole of this substance were digestible, straws would be an exceedingly valuable fattening food. When straw in an unprepared state is consumed, there is no doubt but that a large proportion of its cellulose remains unappropriated—nay more, it is equally certain that the hard woody fibre protects, by enveloping them, the soluble and easily digestible constituents of the straw from the action of the gastric juice. I would, therefore, recommend that straw should be either cooked or fermented before being made use of; in either of these states its constituents are far more digestible than when the straw is merely cut, or even when it is in the form of chaff. An excellent mode of treating straw is to reduce it to chaff, subject it to the action of steam, and mix it with roots and oil-cake or corn. Mr. Lawrence, of Cirencester, one of the most intelligent agriculturists in England, cooks his chaff, which he largely employs, in the following manner:—"We find that, taking a score of bullocks together fattening, they consume, per head per diem, 3 bushels of chaff mixed with just half a hundred-weight of pulped roots, exclusive of cake or corn; that is to say, rather more than 2 bushels of chaff are mixed with the roots, and given at two feeds, morning and evening, and the remainder is given with the cake, &c., at the middle day feed, thus:—We use the steaming apparatus of Stanley, of Peterborough, consisting of a boiler in the centre, in which the steam is generated, and which is connected by a pipe on the left hand with a large galvanised iron receptacle for steaming food for pigs, and on the right with a large wooden tub lined with copper, in which the cake, mixed with water, is made into a thick soup. Adjoining this is a slate tank of sufficient size to contain one feed for the entire lot of bullocks feeding. Into this tank is laid chaff, about one foot deep, upon which a few ladles of soup are thrown in a boiling state; this is thoroughly mixed with the chaff with a three-grained fork, and pressed down firm; and this process is repeated until the slate tank is full, when it is covered down for an hour or two before feeding time. The soup is then found entirely absorbed by the chaff, which has become softened, and prepared for ready digestion." A cheap plan is to mix the straw with sliced roots, moisten the mass with water, and allow it to remain until a slight fermentation has set in. This process effectually softens and disintegrates, so to speak, the woody fibre, and sets free the stores of nutritious matters which it envelopes. Some farmers who hold straw in high estimation, prefer giving it just as it comes from the field; they base this practice on the belief that Ruminants require a bulky and solid food, and that their digestive powers are quite sufficient to effect the solution of all the useful constituents of the straw. It may be quite true that cattle, as asserted, can extract more nutriment out of straw than horses can, but that merely proves the greater power of their digestive organs. No doubt the food of the Ruminants should be bulky; but I am quite sure that cooked or fermented straw is sufficiently so to satisfy the desire of those animals for quantity in their food.
So far as I can learn, all the carefully conducted feeding experiments to test the value of straw which have been made, have yielded results highly favorable to that article. Mr. Blundell, in a paper on "The Use and Abuse of Straw," read before the Botley (Hampshire) Farmer's Club, states that in his experience he found straw to be more economical than its equivalent of roots or oil-cake, in the feeding of all kinds of cattle:—
I find (says Mr. Blundell) that dairy cows, in the winter months, if fed on large quantities of roots, particularly mangels and carrots, will refuse to eat straw almost entirely, and become very lean; but they will always eat a full portion of sweet, well-harvested straw, when they get a small and moderate allowance of roots, say, for an ordinary-sized cow, 15 lbs. of mangel three times per day, the roots being given whole, just in the state they come from the store heap. Again, calves and yearlings being fed with roots in the same way, will eat a large quantity of straw, and when they have been kept under cover I have had them in first-rate condition for many years past. Also, in fattening beasts, when they get a fair allowance of roots, say 65 to 70 lbs. per day, with from 3 to 4 lbs. of cake or meal in admixture, they will eat straw with great avidity, and do well upon it, and make a profit. It is, however, often the case that bullocks receive 100 lbs., or upwards, of roots per day, with a large quantity of cake or meal, often 10 or 12 lbs. per day; they will not then look at straw, and are obliged to be fed with hay. The cost price of these quantities and kinds of food stands so high that the animals do not yield a profit; for although they may make meat a little faster, yet the proportionate increase is nothing compared to the increased cost of the feeding materials used.
Mr. Blundell gives us also the tabulated results of one of his experiments, which prove that by the use of straw there is to be obtained something more than manure by the feeding of stock:—
| COST OF FEEDING AN OX PER WEEK WITH STRAW, ETC., ACCORDING TO MR. BLUNDELL. | |||
| s. | d. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | lbs. of oil-cake per day, or 38 lbs. per week, at £10 per ton | 2 | 6 |
| 64 | lbs. of roots ditto, or 4 cwt. ditto, at 13s. 4d. ditto | 2 | 8 |
| 20 | lbs. of straw feeding, or 1¼ cwt. ditto, at 30s. ditto | 1 | 10½ |
| 20 | lbs. of straw litter, or 1¼ cwt. ditto, at 15s. ditto | 0 | 11 |
| Attendance, &c., per week | 0 | 1 | |
| ———— | |||
| 8 | 0½ | ||
| Deduct value of manure, per week | 1 | 3½ | |
| ———— | |||
| 6 | 9 | ||
| Increased value of ox per week | 10 | 0 | |
| Deduct cost of feeding | 6 | 9 | |
| ———— | |||
| 3 | 3 | ||
If we now turn to the study of the composition of straw regarded from an economic point of view, we shall find that the theoretical deductions therefrom harmonise with the results of actual feeding experiments. Let us assume that 100 parts of oat-straw contain on an average—
- 1 part of oil,
- 4 parts of flesh-formers,
- 10 parts of sugar, gum, and other fat-formers, and
- 30 parts of digestible fibre;
and if the price of the straw be 30s. per ton, we shall have at that cost the following quantities of digestible substances:—
| ONE TON OF OAT-STRAW, AT 30s., CONTAINS:— | |
| lbs. | |
|---|---|
| [!--30--][30] Oil | 22·4 |
| Flesh-forming principles | 89·6 |
| Sugar, gum, and other fat-forming substances | 224·0 |
| Digestible fibre | 672·0 |
| ——— | |
| 1,008·0 | |
| [!--31--][31] Total amount of fat-formers, calculated as starch | 952·0 |
| Add flesh-formers | 89·6 |
| ——— | |
| Total amount of nutritive matter | 1,041·6 |
We shall now compare this table with a similar one in relation to the composition of linseed cake, which will place the greater comparative value of straw in a clearer light.
A fair sample of linseed-cake contains, centesimally—
| Flesh-formers | 26 |
| Oil | 12 |
| Gum, mucilage, sugar, &c. | 34 |
| Woody fibre | 6 |
| ONE TON OF LINSEED CAKE, AT £11, CONTAINS:— | |
| lbs. | |
|---|---|
| Flesh-forming principles | 582·4 |
| Oil | 268·8 |
| Gum, sugar, and other fat-formers | 761·6 |
| Woody fibre | 74·4 |
| ———— | |
| 1,687·2 | |
| Total amount of fat-formers, calculated as starch | 1,508·0 |
| Add flesh-formers | 582·4 |
| ———— | |
| Total amount of nutriment | 2,090·4 |
These comparisons are very instructive and important. We learn from them that we pay £11 for 2,000 lbs. of nutriment, when we purchase a ton of linseed-cake, whereas, when we invest 30s. in a ton of straw, we receive 1,000 lbs. of digestible aliment. It cannot be said that I have strained any points in favour of the straw; on the contrary, I believe that when that article is cut in proper season and well harvested, its composition will be found far superior to that detailed in the comparative analysis. It must be borne in mind, too, that I take no account of the 30 per cent. of the so-called indigestible woody fibre which straw contains, and which, I believe, is partly assimilable under ordinary circumstances, and could be rendered nearly altogether digestible by proper treatment; on the other hand, I have assumed that the woody fibre of the oil-cake is completely digestible, although I believe it is in reality less so than the fibre of straw.
It is an important point in the composition of oil-cakes, that they contain a large proportion of ready-formed fatty matters which can, with but little alteration, be at once transmuted into animal fat. There are some individuals of the genus Homo to whose stomachs fat, per se, is intolerable; nevertheless, as a general rule, fatty substances exercise a favorable influence in the process of digestion, and, either in a separate state, or intimately commingled with other aliments, constitute a large proportion of the food of man. Digestion in the lower animals is, no doubt, similarly promoted by mixing with the aliments which are to be subjected to that process, a due proportion of oily or fatty matter. Straw is relatively deficient in the flesh-forming principles, and abounds in the fat-forming elements—of which, however, the most valuable, oil, is the least abundant. Now, if we add to straw a due proportion of some substance very rich in flesh-formers and oil, the compound will possess in nicely adjusted proportions all the elements of nutrition. Perhaps the best kind of food which we could employ for this purpose is linseed meal. It contains about 24 per cent. of flesh-formers, 35 per cent. of a very bland oil, and 24 per cent. of gum, sugar, and mucilage. Linseed-cake may be substituted for linseed-meal; but the meal, though its cost is 15 per cent. greater, is, I believe, rather the better article of the two. Its flesh-formers are more soluble, and its oil thrice more abundant and far more palatable than the same principles in most samples of oil-cake. An important point, too, is, that linseed, unlike linseed-cake, is not liable to adulteration. As linseed possesses laxative properties it cannot be largely employed; the addition, however, of bean-meal—the binding tendency of which is well known—to a diet partly composed of linseed will neutralise, so to speak, the relaxing influence of the oily seed. If oil-cakes be used as an adjunct to straw, rape-cake will be found more economical than linseed-cake. If it be free from mustard, well steamed, and flavored with a little treacle, or a small quantity of locust-beans, it will be readily consumed, and even relished, by dairy and fattening stock.
Hay.—There is no food substance more variable or more complex than hay, for under that term are included, not only mixtures of grasses, but also of leguminous plants—clover, for example. The herbage of no two meadows is exactly alike; and the composition of the meadow plants is so greatly modified by differences of climate, soil, and mode of culture, that we have nothing to excite our wonder in the extreme variability of hay.
The composition of the hay made from clover, lucerne, and various other kinds of artificial grasses, is shown in the table—which is based on the results of Way's analyses:—
| COMPOSITION OF THE HAY OF ARTIFICIAL GRASSES. | ||||||
| Flesh-forming Substances. | Fatty Matters. | Respiratory Substances. | Woody Fiber. | Ash. | Water. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trifolium pratense—Red clover | 18·79 | 3·06 | 37·06 | 16·46 | 7·97 | 16·6 |
| Trifolium pratense perenne—Purple clover | 15·98 | 3·41 | 35·35 | 21·63 | 6·96 | " |
| Trifolium incarnatum—Crimson clover | 13·83 | 3·11 | 31·25 | 26·99 | 8·15 | " |
| Trifolium medium—Cowgrass | 20·27 | 2·97 | 30·30 | 20·12 | 9·67 | " |
| Do., second specimen | 15·64 | 3·98 | 41·38 | 15·70 | 6·64 | " |
| Trifolium procumbens—Hop trefoil | 17·07 | 3·89 | 36·55 | 18·88 | 6·94 | " |
| Trifolium repens—White trefoil | 15·63 | 3·65 | 33·37 | 22·11 | 8·57 | " |
| Vicia sativa—Common Vetch | 19·68 | 2·55 | 32·87 | 22·82 | 5·42 | " |
| Vicia sepium—Bush vetch | 19·23 | 2·40 | 27·62 | 25·87 | 8·21 | " |
| Onobrychis sativa—Sainfoin | 15·38 | 2·51 | 38·30 | 20·59 | 6·56 | " |
| Medicago sativa—Lucerne | 10·63 | 2·30 | 33·47 | 28·51 | 8·42 | " |
| Medicago lupulina—Yellow clover | 20·50 | 3·38 | 27·76 | 22·66 | 9·03 | " |
| Plantago lanceolata—Rib grass | 11·91 | 3·06 | 33·58 | 27·56 | 7·23 | " |
| Poterium sanguisorba—Burnet | 13·96 | 3·34 | 39·50 | 19·89 | 6·64 | " |
| Achillea millefolium—Millefoil | 8·62 | 2·09 | 37·88 | 27·24 | 7·50 | " |
| Mean | 15·81 | 3·18 | 34·42 | 22·47 | 7·59 | 16·6 |
Very many analyses of hay have been made by British and Continental chemists, the results of which are of great interest to the agriculturist. The composition of the natural and artificial grasses, which is shown in the tables given in pages 158-9 will, if we reduce their per-centage of water to 16, give us an approximation to the composition of hay. If the herbage, too, be sown in the proper time, and the hay-making process be skilfully conducted, there will be but little difference, except in the amount of water, between the plants in their fresh and dry state; but owing to inopportune wet weather, and carelessness in manipulation, excellent herbage is not unfrequently converted into inferior hay.
According to Dr. Voelcker, the average composition of meadow-hay, as deduced from the results of twenty-five analyses, is as follows:—
| Water | 14·61 |
| Flesh-forming constituents | 8·44 |
| Respiratory and fatty matters | 43·63 |
| Woody fibre | 27·16 |
| Mineral matter (ash) | 6·16 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
Dr. Anderson's analysis of meadow-hay, one year old, and of inferior quality, gave the following results:—
| Water | 13·13 |
| Flesh-forming matters | 4·00 |
| Non-nitrogenous substances | 77·61 |
| Mineral matter | 5·26 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
The results of the investigations of Way prove that the herbage of water-grass meadows is more nutritious than that of dry meadows—results perfectly harmonious with the experience of practical men.
It is a somewhat general belief, that the aftermath, or second cutting, is less nutritious than the first cutting; but there appears to be no chemical difference between the two crops, provided they be saved under equally favorable conditions. According to Dr. Anderson, the composition of clover-hay of the second cutting is as follows:—
| Water | 16·84 |
| Flesh-forming principles | 13·52 |
| Non-nitrogenous matters | 64·43 |
| Mineral matter (ash) | 5·21 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
I have already shown the importance of reaping in proper season—not less necessary is it to mow before the plants ripen fully, and even before they flower. The results of the experiments of Stöckhardt, Hellreigel, and Wolff, in relation to this point, are very interesting, and are well worthy of reproduction here.
| RESULTS OF STÖCKHARDT'S AND HELLREIGEL'S EXPERIMENTS. | ||||||
| Stem. | Leaves. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water in Fresh Plant. | Hay. | Water in Fresh Plant. | Hay. | |||
| Flesh-forming Matters. | Ash. | Flesh-forming Matters. | Ash. | |||
| Clover cut on the 4th June, quite young | 82·80 | 13·16 | 9·71 | 83·50 | 27·17 | 9·42 |
| 23rd " ready for cutting | 81·72 | 12·72 | 9·00 | 82·68 | 27·69 | 9·00 |
| 9th July, beginning to flower | 82·41 | 12·40 | 6·12 | 77·77 | 15·83 | 10·46 |
| 29th July, full flower | 78·30 | 9·28 | 4·63 | 70·80 | 19·20 | 9·58 |
| 21st August, ripe | 69·40 | 6·75 | 4·82 | 65·70 | 18·94 | 12·33 |
| RESULTS OF WOLFF'S EXPERIMENT. | ||||||||
| Red Clover. | Alsike Clover. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beginning to flower, 11th June. | Full flower, 25th June. | Beginning to flower, 23rd June. | Full flower, 29th June. | |||||
| Fresh. | Hay. | Fresh. | Hay. | Fresh. | Hay. | Fresh. | Hay. | |
| per cent. | per cent. | per cent. | per cent. | per cent. | per cent. | per cent. | per cent. | |
| Water | 83·07 | 16·66 | 76·41 | 10·66 | 86·98 | 16·66 | 82·60 | 16·66 |
| Ash | 1·43 | 7·04 | 1·67 | 5·90 | 1·12 | 7·17 | 1·45 | 6·94 |
| Woody fibre | 4·24 | 20·87 | 8·88 | 37·37 | 3·79 | 24·26 | 5·11 | 24·47 |
| Nutritive substances | 11·26 | 55·43 | 13·04 | 46·07 | 8·11 | 51·91 | 10·84 | 51·93 |
During the operation of converting the grass—"natural" or "artificial"—into hay, there is more or less loss of nutritive matter sustained by fermentation, the dispersion of the smaller leaves by the wind, and other agencies. But this unavoidable loss is trivial when compared with the prodigious waste sustained, in Ireland at least, by allowing the hay to remain too long in cocks in the field. "Within the last three or four years," says Mr. Baldwin, of the Glasnevin Albert Model Farm, "we have made agricultural tours through twenty-five of the thirty-two counties of Ireland; and from careful consideration of the subject, and having in some instances used a tape-line and weighing-machine to assist our judgment, we have come to the conclusion that one-twentieth of the hay-crop of Ireland is permitted to rot in field-cocks. The portion on the ground, as well as that on the outside of the cocks, is too often only fit for manure. And the loss of aftermath, and of the subsequent year's crop (if hay or pasture), suffers to the extent of from sixpence to one shilling per acre. If we unite all these sources, the loss sustained annually in this country is something serious to contemplate. On an average, for all Ireland, it is not under 20 per cent., or a fifth of the actual value of the crop." This is a startling statement; but I do not believe it to be an exaggeration of the actual state of things.
Damaged Hay and Straw.—Damaged corn and potatoes, so much injured as to be unfit for human food, are generally given, and with apparently good results, to the inferior animals. The "meat manufacturing machines," as the edible varieties of the domesticated animals are now generally termed, are not very dainty in their choice of food; and vegetable substances which would excite the disgust of the lords of the creation are rendered nutritious and agreeable by being reorganised in the mechanisms of oxen, sheep, and pigs.
Now, although it is pretty generally known that musty corn and diseased potatoes form good feeding stuffs, it is not so patent whether or not the natural food of stock, such as hay and straw in a diseased state, is proper food for those animals. This question is worthy of consideration. Firstly, I shall describe the nature of the diseases which most frequently affect fodder; these are, "mildew" and "mould." These diseases are produced by the ravages of minute and very low forms of vegetable life, termed by the botanists epiphytical fungi. The mildew (Puccinia graminis) generally attacks the grasses when they are growing, and is more frequently met with on rich and heavily manured soils. In localities where heavy night-fogs and dews are of common occurrence, this pest often destroys whole crops. On the other hand, in light, sandy, and well-drained soils, and in warm and dry districts, the mildew is a rare visitant. The "blue mould" (Aspergillis glaucus) attacks hay and straw in the stack or rick, and without any regard to their origin—no matter whether they were the produce of the wettest or the dryest, the warmest or the coldest of soils. The chief condition in the existence of the blue mould is excessive moisture. If the hay or straw be too green and succulent when put up, or if rain get at them in the rick, the mould is very likely to make its appearance, and the well-known odor termed musty will speedily be developed.
Neither the mildew nor the mould can, strictly speaking, be regarded as parasites, such as, for example, the flax-dodder, which feeds upon the healthy juices of the plant to which it is attached. It appears to me that the tissues and juices of the fodder-plants decay first, and then the mould or the mildew appears and feeds upon the decomposing matter. Now, as these vegetables belong to a poisonous class of fungi, it is more than probable that they convert the decomposing substance of the straw or hay into unwholesome, if not poisonous matter; and it is not unlikely but that the disagreeable odor which they evolve is designed by nature as a sign to the lower animals not to partake of mouldy food. There is no doubt but that most animals will instinctively reject fodder in this state; and the question arises, ought this odour to be destroyed or disguised, in order to induce the animals to eat the damaged stuff? The experience of most feeders who have largely consumed mouldy provender is, that although cattle may be induced to eat it, they never thrive upon such stuff if it form a heavy item in their diet. The reason of this is obvious. The nitrogenous portion of the straw is that which is chiefly assimilated by the fungi. And as this constituent is the one which contributes to the formation of muscle, and is naturally extremely deficient in straw and hay—more particularly the former—it follows that the animals fed upon mouldy fodder cannot elaborate it into lean flesh (muscle).
In the case of young stock, mouldy fodder is altogether inadmissible, for these animals require abundance of flesh-forming materials—precisely those which the fungi almost completely remove from the diseased fodder.
As large quantities of mouldy or mildewed provender are at the present moment to be found in many farmsteads, and as they are unsaleable, and must therefore be made use of in some way at home, it is well to consider the best way to dispose of them. In the case of straw, the greater portion will be required for litter, and if the whole of the damaged article can be disposed of in this way so much the better. If, however, there is more than is necessary for the bedding of the stock, it may be used in conjunction with sound fodder, but always in a cooked state. The greater part, if not the whole, of the diseased nitrogenous part of the straw is soluble in warm water, so that if the fodder be well steamed the poisonous matter will be eliminated to such an extent as to leave the article almost as wholesome as good straw, but not so nutritious. The straw cleansed in this way will be very deficient in flesh-forming, though not in fat-forming power, and this fact should be duly considered when the other items of the animal's food are being weighed out. Beans, malt-combs, and linseed-cake are rich in muscle-forming principles, and are consequently suitable adjuncts to damaged fodder; but the latter should never constitute the staple food, or be given unmixed with some sweet provender.
When the fodder is considerably damaged it becomes, after steaming, nearly as tasteless as sawdust. To this kind of stuff the addition of a small amount of some flavorous material is very useful. For damaged hay, Mr. Bowick recommends the following mixture:—
| Fenugreek (powdered) | 112 | parts. |
| Pimento | 4 | " |
| Aniseed | 4 | " |
| Caraways | 4 | " |
| Cummin | 2 | " |
A pinch of this compound will render agreeably-flavored the most insipid kinds of fodder.
Mr. Bowick states that he had fed large numbers of bullocks on damaged hay, flavored with this compound, and that their health was not thereby injured in the slightest degree.
SECTION V.
ROOTS AND TUBERS.
The important part which the so-called root crops play in the modern systems of agriculture, has secured for them a large share of the attention of the chemist, so that our knowledge of their composition and relative nutritive value is very extensive. As compared with most other articles of food, the roots, as they are popularly called, of potatoes, turnips, mangels, carrots, and such like plants, contain a high proportion of water, and are not very nutritious; indeed, with the exception of the potato, none of them contain 20 per cent. of solid matter, and some not more than five per cent. They are, however, easily produced in great quantities, which compensates for their low nutritive value. I shall consider each of the more important roots separately.
The Turnip.—There are numerous varieties of this plant, which differ from each other in the relative proportions and total amount of their constituents, and even in different individuals of the same variety there is considerable variation in composition; hence the difficulty which has been felt by those who have endeavored to assign to this plant its relative nutritive value. From the average results of a great number of experiments, conducted both in the laboratory and the feeding-house, it is concluded that turnips are the most inferior roots produced in the field. The Swedish turnips are the most valuable kind: they contain a higher proportion of solid matter than the other varieties, and they are firmer and store better. The average composition of five varieties of turnips, as deduced from the results of the analyses of Anderson and Voelcker, is shown in the following table:—
| ANALYSES OF TURNIPS. | |||||
| Swedish Turnip. | White Globe. | Aberdeen Yellows. | Purpletop Yellows. | Norfolk Bell. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 89·460 | 90·430 | 90·578 | 91·200 | 92·280 |
| Albuminous, or flesh-forming substances | 1·443 | 1·143 | 1·802 | 1·117 | 1·737 |
| Non-nitrogenous, or fat-forming substances (fat, gum, sugar, &c.) | 5·932 | 5·457 | 4·622 | 4·436 | 2·962 |
| Woody fibre | 2·542 | 2·342 | 2·349 | 2·607 | 2·000 |
| Mineral matter (ash) | 0·623 | 0·628 | 0·649 | 0·640 | 1·021 |
| 100·000 | 100·000 | 100·000 | 100·000 | 100·000 | |
The Greystone Turnip is a variety which has only quite recently been introduced. It is stated to be an uncommonly productive crop, usually yielding returns from 30 to 50 per cent. greater than those obtained from other varieties of the turnip. The composition of the Greystone turnip appears to be inferior, so that probably it is not, after all, a more economical plant than the ordinary kinds of turnips.
| DR. ANDERSON'S ANALYSIS OF THE GREYSTONE TURNIP. | ||
| No. 1. Grown on Clay. | No. 2. Grown on Sand. | |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 93·84 | 94·12 |
| Oil | 0·26 | 0·34 |
| Soluble albuminous matters | 0·35 | 0·56 |
| Insoluble ditto | 0·20 | 0·18 |
| Soluble respiratory matters | 2·99 | 2·32 |
| Insoluble ditto (chiefly fibre) | 1·73 | 1·85 |
| Ash | 0·63 | 0·63 |
| ——— | ——— | |
| 100·00 | 100·00 | |
It was at one time the fashion—not yet become quite obsolete—to regard the proportion of nitrogen in the turnip as the measure of the nutritive value of the bulb; but the fallacy of this opinion has been shown by several late investigators, and more particularly by the results of one of the numerous series of feeding experiments conducted by Mr. Lawes. Many bulbs exceedingly rich in nitrogen are very deficient in nutritive power—partly from a deficiency in the other elements of nutrition—partly because most of their nitrogen is in so low a degree of elaboration as to be incapable of assimilation by animals. The value of a food-substance does not merely depend upon the amount and the relative proportion of its constituents, but also, and to a very great extent, upon their easy assimilability. There is but little doubt that the nutritive matters contained in the Swedish turnip when the bulb is fresh are very crude. By storing, certain chemical changes take place in the bulb, which render it more nutritious and palatable. A large proportion of the non-nitrogenous matters exist in the fresh root as pectin; but this substance, if the bulb be preserved for a couple of months, becomes in great part converted into sugar, which is one of the most palatable and fattening ingredients of cattle-food. By storing, too, the bulbs lose a portion of their excessive amount of water, and become less bulky, which is unquestionably a desideratum. These facts suggest the necessity for cultivating the earlier varieties of the turnip, for it may be fairly doubted if a late-grown crop, left for consumption in the field, ever, even under the most favorable circumstances, attains its perfect development. At the same time it must not be forgotten that turnips fully matured in the field rather deteriorate than otherwise after a few weeks' storage.
Many agriculturists consider that there is a strict relation between the specific gravity, or comparative weight of the bulb, and its nutritive value; others believe that a very large turnip must necessarily be inferior in feeding qualities to a small one; whilst not a few maintain that neither its size nor its specific gravity is an indication of its feeding qualities. Dr. Anderson, who has specially investigated a portion of this subject, states that "the specific gravity of the whole turnip cannot be accepted as indicating its real nutritive value, the proportion of air in the cells being the determining element in such results; that there is no constant relation between the specific gravity of, and the nitrogen compounds in, the bulb; and that such relation does exist between the specific gravity of the expressed juice and the nitrogen compounds and solid constituents." Dr. Anderson allows, however, that the best varieties of the turnip have the highest specific gravity; which admission—coupled with the fact admitted by all experimenters that the heavy roots store best—lead me to adopt the opinions of those who consider great specific gravity as one of the favorable indications of its nutritive value. With respect to size, I prefer bulbs of moderate dimensions; the monsters that win the prizes at our agricultural shows—and which, in general, are forced—are inferior in feeding qualities, are always spongy, and almost invariably rot when stored.
The composition of the turnip is influenced not only by the nature of the soil on which it is grown, but also by that of the manure applied to it. The most reliable authorities are agreed that turnips raised on Peruvian guano are watery, and do not keep well; but that with a mixture of Peruvian guano and superphosphate of lime, with phospho-guano, or with farmyard manure supplemented with a moderate amount of guano, the most nutritious and firm bulbs are produced.
Turnip-tops have been analysed by Voelcker, with the following results:—
| ONE HUNDRED PARTS CONTAIN— | ||
| White. | Swedish. | |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 91·284 | 88·367 |
| Nitrogen compounds | 2·456 | 2·087 |
| Non-nitrogenous matters (gum, sugar, &c.) | 0·648 | 1·612 |
| Ditto, as woody fibre | 4·092 | 5·638 |
| Mineral matter | 1·520 | 2·296 |
| ——— | ——— | |
| 100·000 | 100·000 | |
These figures apparently show that the tops of turnips are more valuable than their bulbs; but, in the absence of any feeding experiments made to determine the point, we believe they are less so, as a very large proportion of the solid matter in the tops of turnips is in too low a degree of elaboration to be assimilable. Their high proportions of nitrogen and mineral matter constitute them, however, a very useful manure—nearly twice as valuable as the bulbs; this fact should be borne in mind when turnips are sold off the land.
The Mangel-wurtzel is one of the most valuable of our green crops. Its root is more nutritious than the turnip, occupying a position in the scale of food equivalents midway between that bulb and the parsnip. Mangels, when fresh, possess a somewhat acrid taste, and act as a laxative when given to stock; but after a few months' storing they become sweet and palatable, and their scouring property completely disappears.
Although the mangel is one of the most nutritious articles of food which can be given to cattle, yet it is stated on the best authority that sheep do not thrive upon it. Voelcker, who has investigated this subject, informs us that a lot of sheep which he fed on a limited quantity of hay and an unlimited quantity of mangels, did not, during a period of four months, increase in weight, whilst another lot of sheep supplied with a small quantity of hay, and Swedish turnips ad libitum increased on an average 2½ lbs. weekly. I believe the experience of the greater number of feeders agrees with the results of Dr. Voelcker's experiment.
The chemistry of the mangel-wurtzel has been thoroughly studied by Way and Ogston, Fromberg, Wolff, Anderson, and Voelcker. According to the last-named chemist, its average composition is as follows:—
| Water | 87·78 |
| Flesh-forming matters | 1·54 |
| Sugar | 6·10 |
| Gum, pectin, &c. | 2·50 |
| Woody fibre | 1·12 |
| Mineral matter (ash) | 0·96 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
It is difficult to accurately determine by a comparative trial the relative feeding properties of mangels and turnips, for the former are only in a fit state to be given to the animals when the latter are deteriorating. However, by comparing the composition of the two substances, and the results obtained from numerous feeding experiments, it would appear, that on the average 75 lbs. weight of mangels are equal to 100 lbs. weight of turnips. Of the different varieties of the mangel the long yellow appears to be the most nutritious, and the long red the least so.
The leaves of the mangel—some of which are occasionally pulled and used for feeding purposes, during the growth of the bulb—are an excellent feeding substance: their composition indicates a nutritive value but little inferior to that of the root; but as their constituents cannot be in a highly elaborated condition, it is probable they are not more than equal to half their weight of the bulbs.
One questio vexata of the many which at present occupy the attention of the agricultural world is, whether or not the leaves of mangels may be removed with advantage during the latter part of the development of the plants. This practice prevailed rather extensively a few years since, but latterly it has fallen somewhat into disuse.
Those who adopt this plan urge, as its advantages, that a large quantity of food is obtained at a time when it is urgently needed, and that instead of the removal of the leaves exercising an injurious influence on the development of the roots, the latter are actually increased in size.
In 1859 an experimental investigation was carried out at the Glasnevin Model Farm, with the view of throwing new light on the question. The outside leaves were very gradually removed on different occasions—from the 12th August to the 15th October. In this way five tons of leaves per statute acre were removed, and subsequently made use of for feeding purposes. The experiment was conducted on a field of four acres, of which the produce of 12 drills, each 200 yards in length, was left untouched. The result was that the produce of the roots of the untouched plants was only 40 tons 8 cwt. 6 qrs. per acre, whilst the roots of the plants which had been partly denuded of their leaves weighed at the rate of 45 tons 1 cwt. This experiment afforded results which are apparently favorable to the practice of stripping the leaves; but it is to be regretted that it was not rendered more complete by an analysis of the roots, as a great bulk of roots does not necessarily imply a great weight of dry food, and it is just possible, though not very probable, that the roots of the stripped mangels contained a larger proportion of water than those of the untouched plants.
The results of the experiments of Buckman, and of Professor Wolff, of the Royal Agricultural College at Hohenheim, are at direct variance with those obtained at Glasnevin. Both of these experimenters found that the removal of the leaves occasioned a diminution in the produce of the roots to the amount of 20 per cent. Nor was this the only loss, for it was found by the German professor that the roots of the untouched plants possessed a far higher nutritive value than those of the stripped mangels.
When doctors differ, who is to decide? Here we have high authorities in the agricultural world at direct variance on a matter of fact. The names of Buckman and Wolff are a sufficient guarantee that the experimental results which they announce are trustworthy, and I can testify, from observation, that no field experiments could be more carefully conducted than those carried out at the Albert Model Farm. We can only, then, under the circumstances, admit that both Mr. Boyle, on the one side, and Professors Buckman and Wolff on the other, are correct in their statements of fact; but as it is evident both cannot be right in the general inferences therefrom, it is desirable that the subject should be still further investigated, and the truth be placed beyond doubt. It is a question which appears so simple that one is at a loss to account for the discrepant opinions in relation to it which prevail. "Let nothing induce the growers," says Mr. Paget, in a paper on the cultivation of the mangel, "to strip the leaves from the plant before taking up the root. A series of careful experiments has convinced me that by so doing we borrow food at a most usurious interest." "Although," says Mr. Boyle, "the practice of stripping has been followed for many years on the farm without any perceptible injury to the crop, these results, showing so considerable an addition to the crop from taking off the leaves, were hardly anticipated." It certainly does appear somewhat at variance with our notion of the functions of the leaves of plants, that their partial removal could possibly cause an increase in the weight of the roots; but granting such to be the fact, it is not altogether theoretically inexplicable. We know that highly nitrogenous manure has a tendency to increase the development of the leaves of turnips at the expense of the roots. Gardeners, too, not unfrequently remove some of the buds from their fruit trees, lest the excessive development of foliage should retard or check the growth of the fruit. Theoretically an excessive development of the leaves of the mangel may be inimical to the growth of the root. Probably, too, it may be urged, the outer leaves, which soon become partially disorganised and incapable of elaborating mineral matter into vegetable products, prevent the access of light to the more vigorous inner leaves. In conclusion, I may say of this subject that it is worthy of further elucidation; and I would suggest to my readers, and more especially to the managers of the various model farms, the desirability of fully testing the matter.
The White Beet is a congener of the mangel. It is largely grown on the continent as a sugar-producing plant, but is seldom cultivated in these countries. It produces about 15 tons of roots per acre, and its roots on the average contain—
| Water | 83·0 |
| Sugar | 10·0 |
| Flesh-formers | 2·5 |
| Fat-formers | 1·5 |
| Fibre | 2·0 |
| Ash | 1·0 |
| ——— | |
| 100·0 |
This plant is deserving of more extensive growth in Great Britain.
The Parsnip is, after the potato, the most valuable of roots. It differs from the turnip and the mangel in containing a high proportion of starch, and but little sugar; and its flesh-forming constituents are largely made up of casein, instead of, as in the case of the turnip, albumen.
The average composition of the parsnip is as follows:—
| Water | 82·00 |
| Flesh-forming principles | 1·30 |
| Fat-formers (starch, sugar, &c.) | 7·75 |
| Woody fibre | 8·00 |
| Mineral matter (ash) | 0·95 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
The parsnip is extensively grown in many foreign countries, on account of its valuable feeding properties. As a field-crop it is but little cultivated in Great Britain, and its use is—if we except the table—almost restricted to pigs. Its food equivalent is about double that of the turnip; that is, one pound of parsnips is equal to two pounds of turnips.
The Carrot bears a close resemblance to the parsnip, from which, however, it differs, containing no starch, and being somewhat inferior in nutritive value. According to Voelcker, its average composition is as follows:—
| Water | 88·50 |
| Flesh-formers | 0·60 |
| Fat-formers (including woody fibre) | 10·18 |
| Mineral matter (ash) | 0·72 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
As carrots contain a high proportion of fat-forming matters, and a low per-centage of flesh-forming substances, they are better adapted for fattening purposes. Dairy stock greedily eat them; and they are given with great advantage to horses out of condition.
Kohl-Rabi.—This plant, though early introduced into the agriculture of these countries, has made but little progress in the estimation of the farmer. It belongs to the order and genus which include the turnip, but differs widely from that plant in its mode of growth. Its bulb—which is formed by an enormous development of the overground stem—is, according to some authorities, less liable than the turnip to injury from frost. It is subject to no diseases, save anbury and clubbing; and, owing to its position above the soil, it can be readily eaten off by sheep. The bulbs store better than Swedes, and, according to some farmers, keep even better than mangels. With respect to the flavor of this bulb, there is some difference of opinion. Professor Wilson, of Edinburgh, quotes several eminent feeders to prove that "whether in the fold for sheep, in the yard for cattle, or in the stables for horses, it will generally be preferred to the other descriptions of homegrown keep." Mr. Baldwin, on the contrary, states that although good food for sheep, it is too hard-fleshed for old ewes, and that carrots are better food for horses, and Swedish turnips for cattle.
An accurately conducted comparative trial to test the nutritive value of the Kohl-rabi, was conducted at the Glasnevin Model Farm, under the direction of Mr. Baldwin. The experiment was commenced in January, 1863. Four oxen were selected, and divided into two lots. Nos. 1 and 2 (Lot 1) were fed on Kohl-rabi, oil-cake, and hay, and Nos. 3 and 4 (Lot 2) on Swedish turnips, oil-cake, and hay. As the animals supplied with the Kohl-rabi did not appear to relish it, and as it was desirable to gradually accustom them to the change of food, the experiment did not really commence till the 12th January. On that date the weights of the animals were as follows:—
| cwt. | st. | cwt. | st. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lot 1. { | No. 1. | 10 | 1 | Lot 2. { | No. 3. | 7 | 5 |
| No. 2. | 7 | 4 | No. 4. | 10 | 2 | ||
| ——— | ——— | ||||||
| 17 | 5 | 17 | 7 | ||||
The lots, therefore, counterpoised each other pretty fairly. From the 12th to the 28th January they received the following quantities of food per diem:—
| 1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roots | stones | 7½ | 6 | 6 | 7½ |
| Oil cake | pounds | 4½ | 3 | 3 | 4½ |
| Hay | pounds | 10½ | 10½ | 10½ | 10½ |
The animals fed upon the Kohl-rabi evinced from the first a disinclination to it, but they nevertheless ate it before their meal of oil-cake was supplied to them. On the morning of the 28th January they were put upon the dietary shown in the table, and which induced them to eat the Kohl-rabi more quickly.
| 1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At 6.30 a.m. | { | Roots, Stones | 3 | 2½ | 2½ | 3½2 |
| Cake, lbs. | 1½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| At 12.30 a.m. | { | Roots, Stones | 3 | 2½ | 2½ | 3½ |
| Cake, lbs. | 1½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| At 6.30 p.m. | { | Roots, Stones | 3 | 2½ | 2½ | 3½ |
| Cake, lbs. | 1½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| At 9.30 p.m. | Hay, lbs. | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | |
On the 11th February the cattle were again weighed, when their increase was found to be as follows:—
| Weight on Jan. 12. | Weight on Feb. 11. | Increase in 30 days. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cwt. | st. | cwt. | st. | st. | ||
| 1 | } Lot 1, fed on Kohl-rabi, &c. } | 10 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 3 |
| 2 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 2 | |
| ——— | ||||||
| Total | 5 | |||||
| ——— | ||||||
| 3 | } Lot 2, fed on Swedes, &c. } | 7 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 7¼ | 5½ | |
| ——— | ||||||
| Total | 11½ | |||||
The results of this experiment show that the animals fed upon Swedish turnips, hay, and oil-cake, increased in weight at a rate more than 100 per cent. greater than the lot supplied with equal quantities of Kohl-rabi, hay, and oil-cake. The superiority of the Swedish turnips was rendered more evident by the results of subsequent experiments. Nos. 1 and 4 were not tried after the 11th February; but Nos. 2 and 3 were kept under experiment. No. 2 was put on Swedes, and No. 3 on mangel-wurtzel, and after an interval of a fortnight No. 2 had increased much more than they had done on Kohl-rabi.
Specimens of the Kohl-rabi and Swedish turnips employed in this experiment were submitted to me for analysis by Mr. Baldwin, and yielded the following results:—
| Kohl-rabi. | Swedish Turnip. | |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 87·62 | 88·84 |
| Nitrogenous, or flesh-forming principles | 2·24 | 1·66 |
| Non-nitrogenous, or fat-forming principles | 7·78 | 6·07 |
| Woody fibre | 1·34 | 2·73 |
| Mineral matter (ash) | 1·22 | 0·70 |
| ——— | ——— | |
| 100·00 | 100·00 |
These results show a slight superiority of the Kohl-rabi over the Swedish turnip; the great difference in their nutritive power, as shown by Mr. Baldwin's experimental results, must therefore be due to the superior flavor and digestibility of the turnip.
Dr. Anderson's analysis of Kohl-rabi afforded results more favorable to the highly nutritive character assigned by some feeders to that bulb than those arrived at by me. The bulbs, it should however be remarked, were grown, no doubt with great care, by Messrs. Lawson and Son, the well-known seedsmen:—
| ANALYSIS OF KOHL-RABI, BY DR. ANDERSON. | ||
| Bulbs. | Tops. | |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 86·74 | 86·68 |
| Flesh-forming principles | 2·75 | 2·37 |
| Fat-forming principles | 8·62 | 8·29 |
| Woody fibre | 0·77 | 1·21 |
| Mineral matter | 1·12 | 1·45 |
| ——— | ——— | |
| 100·00 | 100·00 | |
The Radish is a plant which deserves a place amongst our field crops, though hitherto its cultivation has been restricted to the garden. At one time its leaves were boiled and eaten, but in these latter days they are subjected to neither of these processes. The root, however, in its raw state, is, as every one is aware, considered one of the dainties of the table.
Many of those who devote themselves to the important study of dietetics, consider the use of raw vegetables to be objectionable; but be their objections groundless, or the reverse, it is certain that a vegetable which, like the radish, may be eaten raw with apparently good results, cannot be otherwise than a good article of food when cooked. I once tried the experiment of eating matured radishes, not as a salad, but cooked like any other boiled vegetable, and I must say that I found their flavor rather agreeable than otherwise. Boiled radishes—roots and tops—form excellent feeding for pigs. How could it be otherwise? for what is good for the family of man must surely be a luxury to the swine tribe. I have known horses to eat radishes greedily, and I am certain that they would prove acceptable to all the animals of the farm. But it may be asked, why it is that I recommend the use of radishes as food for stock, when there are already so many more nutritious roots at our disposal—turnips, mangels, and potatoes. Simply for this reason:—Between the departure of the roots and the advent of the grasses, there is a kind of interregnum.[!--32--][32] Now we want a good tuberous, bulbous, or tap-rooted plant to fill up this interregnum. Such a plant we have in the radish. The root is certainly a small one, but then it grows so rapidly that a good supply can be had within thirty days from the sowing of the seed, and a crop can be matured before the time for sowing turnips. Two crops may be easily obtained from land under potatoes—one before the tops cover the ground, the other after the tubers have been dug out. The yield of radishes, judging from the produce in the garden, would be at least six tons of roots and three tons of tops. I would suggest, then, that the radish should at once get a fair chance as a stolen crop. If it succeed as such, it will not be the first gift of the gardener to the husbandman. Was not the mangel-wurtzel once known only as the produce of the garden?
The composition of the radish indicates a nutritive value less than that of the white turnip. I have analysed both the root and the tops, and obtained the following results:—
| ANALYSIS OF THE RADISH. | ||
| Root. | Tops. | |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 95·09 | 94·30 |
| Flesh-forming principles | 0·52 | 0·75 |
| Fat-formers (starch, gum, fat, &c.) | 1·06 | 1·16 |
| Woody fibre | 2·22 | 2·36 |
| Mineral matter (ash) | 1·11 | 1·43 |
| ——— | ——— | |
| 100·00 | 100·00 | |
The Jerusalem Artichoke has long been cultivated as a field-crop on the Continent, and in certain localities the breadth occupied by it is very considerable. The French term the tuberous root of this plant poitre de terre, or topin ambour; and although they expose it for sale in the markets, it is not much relished by our lively neighbours, who are so remarkable for their cuisiniere. As food for cattle, however, the French agricultural writers state it to be excellent. It is much relished by horses, dairy cows, and pigs; store horned-stock also eat it when seasoned with a little salt, and appear to enjoy it amazingly when permitted to pull up the roots from the soil. The green tops are also given to sheep and cattle, and, it is stated, are readily eaten by those animals.
The Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus Tuberoses) differs from its half namesake, the common artichoke, and resembles the potato in being valuable chiefly for its tubers. It is perennial, and attains on the Continent a height varying from 7 to 10 feet. In this country its dimensions are less. The stem is erect, thick, coarse, and covered with hairs. It is a native of Mexico, and although introduced 200 years ago into Europe, it can hardly be said to be acclimatised, since it very seldom flowers, and never develops seed. The plant is therefore propagated by cuttings from its tubers, each containing one or two eyes; or if the tubers be very small, which is often the case, a whole one is planted. The tubers possess great vitality, and remain in the ground during the most severe frosts, without sustaining the slightest injury. For this reason it is usual to devote a corner of the garden to the cultivation of the Jerusalem artichoke; for, no matter how completely the crop may appear to have been removed from the soil, portions of the tubers will remain and shoot up into plants during the following season. This peculiarity of the plant it is likely may prove an obstacle to its having a place assigned to it in the rotation system.
The question now presents itself—What are the peculiar advantages which the crop possesses which should commend it to the notice of the British farmer? I shall try to answer the question.
1st. No green crop (except furze) can be grown in so great a variety of soils; except marshy or wet lands, there is no soil in which it refuses to grow.
2nd. It does not suffer from disease, is very little affected by the ravages of insects, is completely beyond the influence of cold, and may remain either above or below ground for a long time without undergoing any injurious changes in composition.
3rd. It gives a good return, when we consider that it requires very little manure, and but little labor in its management.
At Bechelbronn, the farm of the celebrated Boussingault, the average yield is nearly eleven tons per acre, but occasionally over fourteen tons is obtained. Donoil, a farmer of Bailiere, in the department of Haut-loire, states that he fed sheep exclusively on the tops and tubers of this plant, and that he estimated his profits at £23 per hectare (£9 3s. 4d. per acre). The soil was very inferior. Donoil terms it third-rate, and it does not appear to have been manured even once during the fifteen years it was under Jerusalem artichoke. I fear our artificial manure manufacturers will hardly look with a favorable eye on the advent of a crop into our agriculture which can get on so well without the intervention of any fertilising agents. Indeed, several of the French writers state that little or no manure is necessary for this plant. But this can hardly be the case; for it is evident that a crop which, according to Way and Ogston, removes 35 lbs. of mineral matter per ton from the soil, or three times as much potash as turnips do, must certainly be greatly benefited by the application of manure. And I have no doubt but that the Jerusalem artichoke, if well manured and grown in moderately fertile soil, would produce a much heavier crop than our Continental neighbors appear to get from it.
4th. The Jerusalem artichoke may be cultivated with advantage in places where ordinary root-crops either fail or thrive badly. In such cases the ground should be permanently devoted to this crop. Kade gives an instance where a piece of indifferent ground had for thirty-three years produced heavy crops of this plant, although during that time neither manure nor labor had been applied to it. In Ireland the potato has been grown under similar circumstances.
The nutritive constituents of tubers of the Jerusalem artichoke bear a close resemblance in every respect, save one, to those of the potato. Both contain about 75 per cent. of water, about 2 per cent. of flesh-forming substances, and 20 per cent. of non-nitrogenous, or fat-forming and heat-giving elements. In one respect there is a great difference—namely, that sugar makes up from 8 to 12 per cent. of the Jerusalem artichoke, whilst there is but a small proportion of that substance in the potato.
The large quantity of sugar contained in this root is no doubt the cause of its remarkable keeping properties in winter, and it also readily accounts for the avidity with which most of the domesticated animals eat it.
On the whole, then, I think that the facts I have brought forward relative to the advantages which the Jerusalem artichoke presents as a farm crop, justify the recommendation that it should get a fair trial from the British farmer, who is now so much interested in the production of suitable forage for stock.
| COMPOSITION OF (DRY) JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE | |
| Albuminous matters | 4·6 |
| Fatty matters | 0·4 |
| Starch, gum, &c. | 19·8 |
| Sugar | 69·5 |
| Fibre and ash | 5·7 |
| ——— | |
| 100·0 | |
The Potato, regarded from every point of view, is by far the most important of the plants which are cultivated for the sake of their roots. Its tubers form the chief—almost sole—pabulum of many millions of men, enter more or less into the dietary of most civilised peoples, and constitute a large proportion of the food of the domesticated animals. The great importance of this plant, arising from its enormous consumption, has caused its composition to be very minutely studied by many British, Continental, and American chemists. With respect to its nutritive properties, the least favorable results were obtained by the American chemists, Hardy and Henry, and the most by the European chemists.
The flesh-forming principles vary from 1 per cent., as found by Hardy, to 2·41 per cent., the mean results of the analyses of Krocker and Horsford. The proportion of starch in different varieties of the potato also varies, but not to the same degree as the nitrogenous principles. In new potatoes, only 5 per cent. has been found; in ash-leaved kidneys, 9·50 per cent.; and in different kinds of cups, from 15 to 24 per cent. The amount of starch is also influenced by the soil, the manure, the climate, and the various other conditions under which the plant is developed. The proportion of starch increases during the growth, and diminishes during the storage of the tubers.
Dr. Anderson is the most recent investigator into the composition of the potato; the chief results of his inquiries are given in the following table:—
| ANALYSIS OF THE POTATO BY DR. ANDERSON. | ||||||
| Regents. | Dalmahoys. | Skerry-blues. | White Rocks. | Orkney Reds. | Flukes. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 76·32 | 75·91 | 76·60 | 75·93 | 78·57 | 74·41 |
| Starch | 12·21 | 12·58 | 11·79 | 12·77 | 10·85 | 12·55 |
| Sugar, &c. | 2·75 | 2·93 | 3·09 | 2·17 | 2·78 | 2·89 |
| Flesh-formers | ||||||
| soluble | 2·16 | 2·10 | 1·90 | 1·88 | 1·48 | 1·98 |
| insoluble | 0·21 | 0·15 | 0·16 | 0·24 | 0·21 | 0·20 |
| Fibre | 5·53 | 5·21 | 5·41 | 5·55 | 5·93 | 6·71 |
| Ash | 0·88 | 0·81 | 0·94 | 1·04 | 0·98 | 0·98 |
| 100·06 | 99·69 | 99·89 | 99·58 | 100·80 | 99·72 | |
The potato is relatively deficient in flesh-forming matters, and contains the respiratory elements in exceedingly high proportions; hence it is well adapted for fattening purposes, and in this respect is equal to double its weight of the best kind of turnips. When used as food for man, it should be supplemented by some more fatty or nitrogenous substance—such, for example, as flesh, oatmeal, or peas. Buttermilk, a fluid which is rich in nitrogen, is an excellent supplement to potatoes, and compensates to a great extent for the deficiency of those tubers in muscle-forming matters. If, then, the potato is destined to retain its place as the "national esculent" of the Irish, I trust their national beverage may be—so far at least as the masses of the people are concerned—buttermilk, and not whiskey.
Potatoes so far diseased as to be unsuited for use as food for man, may be given with advantage to stock. They may be used either in a raw or uncooked state, but the latter is the preferable form. Sheep do not like them at first, but on being deprived of turnips they acquire a taste for them; on a daily allowance, composed of 1 lb. of oil-cake or corn, and an unlimited quantity of potatoes, they fatten rapidly. Cattle thrive well on a diet composed of equal parts of turnips and diseased potatoes, and do not require oil-cake. The evening feed of horses may advantageously be composed of potatoes and turnips. If raw, the potatoes should be given in a very limited quantity—four or five pounds; in the cooked state, however, they may be given in abundance, but the animals should not, after their meal, be permitted to drink water for some hours. As a feeding substance, diseased potatoes, unless they be very much injured, are equal to twice their weight of white turnips; it is certain that they do not injure the health or impair the condition of the animals which feed upon them.
SECTION VI.
SEEDS.
In seeds the elements of nutrition exist not only in the most highly elaborated, but also in the most concentrated state; hence their nutritive value is greater than that of any other class of food substances.
Wheat Grain is the most valuable of seeds, as it contains, in admirably adjusted proportions, the bone, the fat, and the muscle-forming principles. In the form of bread, it has been, not inaptly, termed the "staff of life," for no other grain is so well adapted, per se, for the sustenance of man; and many millions of human beings subsist almost exclusively on it. The lower animals are in general fed upon the grain of oats, of barley, and of the leguminous plants, and the use of wheat is almost completely restricted to the human family.
Wheat grain, by the processes of grinding and sifting, is resolvable into two distinct parts—bran and flour. In twenty-four analyses made by Boussingault, the proportion of the bran was from 13·2 to 38·5 per cent. and that of the flour from 61·5 to 86·8 per cent. The floury part is of very complex structure; it includes starch, gluten, albumen, oil, gum, gummo-gelatinous matter, sugar,[!--33--][33] and various saline matters. The gluten and albumen constitute the nitrogenous, or flesh-forming principles of flour, and make up from 16 to 20 per cent. of that substance; the non-nitrogenous, or fat-forming elements, such as starch and gum, form from 74 to 82 per cent. According to Payen, the proportion of gluten diminishes towards the centre of the seed, from which it follows that the part of the grain nearest the husk is the most nutritious—so far at least as muscle-making is concerned. The desire on the part of the public for very white bread has led to the fine dressing of Wheat-grain, and consequently to the separation from that substance of a very large proportion of one of its most nutritious constituents. Crude gluten may be obtained by kneading the dough of flour in a muslin bag under a small current of water; the starch, or fecula, and the gum, are carried away by the water, and the gluten in an impure form remains as an elastic viscous substance, which on drying becomes hard and brittle. It is to the gluten of flour that its property of panification, or bread-making, is due. On the addition of a ferment, a portion of the starch is converted into sugar and carbonic acid gas, and the latter causes the gluten to expand into the little cells, or vesicles, which confer upon baked bread its light, spongy texture.
| ANALYSES OF WHEAT. | ||||
| 1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole Grain. | Flour. | Bran. | Husk. | |
| Water | 15·00 | 14·0 | 13 | 13·9 |
| Flesh-formers | 12·00 | 11·0 | 14 | 14·9 |
| Fat-formers | 68·50 | 73·5 | 55 | 55·8 |
| Woody fibre | 2·75 | 0·7 | 12 | 9·7 |
| Mineral matter | 1·75 | 0·8 | 6 | 5·7 |
| ——— | ——— | ——— | ——— | |
| 100·00 | 100·0 | 100 | 100·0 | |
| Nos. 1, 2, and 3.—The mean results of a great number of analyses. | ||||
| No. 4.—By Millon. | ||||
Over-ripening of Grain.—The final act of vegetation is the production of seed, after the performance of which function many plants, having accomplished their destined purpose, perish. The grasses (which include the cereals) are annuals, or plants which have but a year's existence, consequently their development ceases so soon as they have produced their seed. When wheat, oats, and the other cereals, attain to this final point in their growth, the circulation of their sap ceases, their color changes from green to yellow, and they undergo certain changes which destroy their power of assimilating mineral matter, and consequently render them no longer capable of increasing their weight.
The proper time for cutting wheat and the other cereals is immediately after their grain has been fully matured. When the green color of the straw just below the ears changes to yellow, the grain, be it ripe or unripe at the time, cannot afterwards be more fully developed. This is rendered impossible in consequence of the disorganisation of the upper part of the stem—indicated by, but not the result of, its altered hue—which cuts off the supply of sap to the ears, and the latter do not possess the power of absorbing nutriment from the air.
When the vital processes which are incessantly going on in the growing plants are brought to a close, the purely chemical forces come into operation. If the seed be perfectly matured and allowed to remain ungathered, it is attacked in wet weather by the oxygen of the air, a portion of its carbon is burned off, some of its starch is converted into sugar, and in extreme cases it germinates and becomes malty. But not only is the seed liable to injury from the elements; it is also exposed to the ravages of the feathered tribe, and no matter how well a field of corn may be watched, or how great the number of scarecrows erected in it, there is always a certain diurnal loss, occasioned by the ravages of birds.
It is not only necessary that ripe corn should be cut as soon as possible, but it is sometimes desirable to reap it before it becomes fully matured. When the grain is intended for consumption as food, the less bran it contains the better. Now the bran, as is well known, forms the integument, or covering of the vital constituents of the seed; and it is the last part of the organ to be perfected. The growth of the seed for several days before its perfect development, is confined to the testa or covering. Now as this is the least valuable part of the article, its increase is matter of but little moment; and when it is excessive it renders the grain less valuable in the eyes of the miller. That the cutting of the grain before it is perfectly ripe is attended with a good result, is clearly proved by the results of an experiment recorded in Johnston's "Agricultural Chemistry." A crop of wheat was selected; one-third was cut twenty days before it was ripe; another third ten days afterwards; and the remaining portion when its grain had been fully matured. The relative produce in grain of the three portions taken, as stated above, was as 1, 1·325, and 1·260. The following table exhibits the relative proportions of their constituents:—
| In 100 parts of the grain cut at | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 days. | 10 days. | Dead ripe. | |
| Flour | 74·7 | 79·1 | 72·2 |
| Sharps | 7·2 | 5·5 | 11·0 |
| Bran | 17·5 | 13·2 | 16·0 |
| ——— | ——— | ——— | |
| 99·4 | 97·8 | 99·2 | |
| The flour contained gluten | 9·3 | 9·9 | 9·6 |
The results of this experiment, and of the general experience of intelligent growers, show that grain cut a week or ten days before it is perfectly ripe contains more flour, and of a better quality, too, than is found in either ripe or very unripe seed. But this is not the only advantage, for the straw of the green, or rather of the greenish-yellow corn, is fully twice as valuable for feeding purposes as that of the over-ripe cereals. There is an extraordinary decrease in the amount of the albuminous constituents of the stems of the cereals during the last two or three weeks of their maturation, and as there is not a corresponding increase of those materials in the seed, they must be evolved in some form or other from the plants.
There can be only one object attained by allowing the seed to fully ripen itself, and that is the insurance of its more perfect adaptability to the purpose of reproduction. When the testa is thick it best protects the germ of the future plant enclosed in it from the ordinary atmospheric influences until it is placed under the proper conditions for its germination.
Wheat, a costly food.—It occasionally happens that the wheat harvest is so abundant, that many feeders give large quantities of this grain to their stock. Now, as Indian corn is at least 25 per cent. cheaper than wheat, even when the price of the latter is at its minimum, I believe that it is always more economical to sell the wheat raised on the farm, and to purchase with the proceeds of its sale an equivalent of Indian corn, which is a more fattening kind of food.
Bran is, with perhaps the exception of malt-dust, the most nutritious of the refuse portions of grains. It is usually given to horses, and owing to its high proportion of nitrogen, is, perhaps, better expended in the bodies of those hard-working animals, than in those of pigs and cows—animals that occasionally come in for a share of this valuable feeding-stuff. It should be borne in mind that bran commonly acts as a slight laxative, and that it is less digestible than flour, a large portion of it usually passing through the animal's body unchanged. This drawback to the use of bran may be obviated by either cooking or fermenting the article, or by combining it with beans or some other kind of binding food.
| AVERAGE ANALYSES OF GRAIN. | ||||||||
| Barley. | Bere. | Oats. | Oatmeal. | Indian Corn. | Rice. | Rye (Irish). | Buckwheat. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 16·0 | 14·25 | 14·0 | 13·00 | 14·5 | 14·0 | 16·0 | 14·19 |
| Flesh-formers | 10·5 | 10·10 | 11·5 | 16·00 | 10·0 | 5·3 | 9·0 | 8·58 |
| Fat-formers | 67·0 | 64·60 | 64·5 | 68·00 | 69·0 | 78·5 | 66·0 | 51·91 |
| Woody fibre | 3·5 | 9·03 | 7·0 | 1·75 | 5·0 | 2·5 | 8·0 | 23·12 |
| Mineral matter | 3·0 | 2·02 | 3·0 | 1·25 | 1·5 | 0·7 | 1·0 | 2·20 |
| 100·0 | 100·00 | 100·0 | 100·00 | 100·0 | 100·0 | 100·0 | 100·00 | |
Barley is inferior in composition to wheat. As a feeding stuff, the English farmers assign to it a higher, and the Scotch farmers a lower, place than oats, which, perhaps, merely proves that in Scotland the oat thrives better than the barley, and in England the barley better than the oat. Barley-meal is extensively used by the English feeders, and with excellent results. Where barley-dust can be obtained it is a far cheaper feeding stuff than the meal. Barley husks should never be given to animals unless in a cooked or fermented state.
Oat Grain is, perhaps, the most valuable of the concentrated foods which are given to fattening stock. When it is cheap it will be found a more economical feeding stuff than linseed-cake, and, unlike that substance, can be used without the fear of adulteration. Oats are equal to wheat in their amount of flesh-forming matters; but their very high proportion of indigestible woody fibre detracts from their nutritive value. Oat-meal is more nutritious than wheat-meal; and oat-flour, especially if finely dressed, greatly excels wheat-flour in its nutrimental properties, because, unlike the latter, the finer it is the greater is its amount of flesh-formers. Bread made of oat-flour is very heavy, and is far less palatable than the bread of wheat. Oat-meal has been found to contain nearly 20 per cent. of nitrogenous matters. The white oat is more nutritious than the black, and the greatest amount of aliment is found in the grain which has not been allowed to over-ripen in the field. Oat husk is very inferior to the bran of wheat. Toppings are seldom worth the price at which they are sold.
Indian Corn has been highly extolled as a fattening food for stock, and its chemical composition would seem to justify the high opinion which practical men have formed of its relative nutritive value. In the United States, the feeding of horses on Indian corn and hay has been found very successful; but in these countries oats will be found a more economical food. For fattening purposes Indian corn appears exceedingly well adapted, as it contains more ready-formed fat—4·5 per cent.—than is found in most of the other grains, and, on an average, 70 per cent. of starch. Pigs thrive well on this grain. The Galatz round yellow grain is somewhat superior to the American flat yellow seed.
Rye is not extensively cultivated in this country, but on the Continent it is raised in large quantities. In the north of Europe it forms a considerable proportion of the food of both man and the domesticated animals. In Holland it is commonly consumed by horses, but in England there has always been a prejudice against the use of this grain as food for the equine tribe. It has been highly recommended for dairy stock, five pounds of rye-meal, with a sufficiency of cut straw, constituting, it is stated, a dietary on which cows yield a maximum supply of milk. Irish-grown rye contains less starch, and more flesh-formers and oil, than the Black Sea grain.
Rice, although it forms the chief pabulum of nearly one-third of the human family, is the least nutritious of the common food grains. Rice-dust, an article obtained in cleaning rice for European consumption, is said to promote the flow of milk when given to cows. It is sold in large quantities in Liverpool, where, according to Voelcker, it often commands a higher price than it is worth.
Buckwheat is chiefly used as a food for game and poultry.
Malted Corn.—During a late session of Parliament a Bill was passed to exempt from duty malt intended to be used as food for cattle. As feeders may now become their own maltsters, it may be of some use to them to have here a résumé of this Bill:—
1. Any person giving security and taking out a licence may make malt in a malt-house approved by the Excise for the purpose; and all malt so made and mixed with linseed-cake or linseed-meal as directed, shall be free from duty.
2. The security required is a bond to Her Majesty, with sureties to the satisfaction of the Excise, not to take from any such malt-house any malt except duly mixed with material prescribed by the Act.
3. The malt-house must be properly named upon its door.
4. All malt made in it shall be deposited in a store-room, and shall be conveyed to and from the room upon such notice as the officer of Excise shall appoint.
5. The maltster shall provide secure rooms in his malt-house, to be approved in writing by the supervisor, for grinding the malt made by him in such malt-house, and mixing and storing the same when mixed; and all such rooms shall be properly secured and kept locked by the proper officer of Excise.
6. All malt before removal from the malt-house shall be ground and thoroughly mixed with one-tenth part at least of its weight of ground linseed-cake or linseed-meal, and ground to such a degree of fineness and in such manner as the commissioners shall approve, and mixed together in a quantity not less than forty bushels at a time in the presence of an officer of Excise.
7. The maltster shall keep account of the quantity of all malt mixed as aforesaid which he shall from time to time send out or deliver from his malt-house, with the dates and addresses of the person for whom such mixed malt shall be so sent or delivered.
8. If any person shall attempt to separate any malt from any material with which the same shall have been mixed as aforesaid, or shall use this malt for the brewing of beer or distilling of spirits, he shall forfeit the sum of £200.
9 and 10. The penalties of existing Acts are recited.
11. This Act shall continue and be in force for five years.
Some samples of malt and barley examined in May, 1865, by Dr. Voelcker for the Central Anti-Malt Tax Association, afforded the following results:—
| Barley marked No. 1 | Malt marked | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 5. | No. 7. | No. 9. | No. 14. | No. 16. | ||
| Moisture | 11·76 | 8·72 | 7·43 | 7·76 | 8·35 | 7·06 |
| Sugar | 3·75 | 4·29 | 5·48 | 7·85 | 9·46 | 9·86 |
| Starch and dextrine | 70·40 | 71·03 | 69·70 | 67·57 | 67·53 | 67·67 |
| * Albuminous compounds (flesh-forming matters) | 7·75 | 8·44 | 8·81 | 9·37 | 8·60 | 8·31 |
| Woody fibre (cellular) | 4·46 | 5·22 | 6·38 | 5·38 | 4·14 | 5·11 |
| Mineral matter (ash) | 1·88 | 2·30 | 2·20 | 2·07 | 1·92 | 1·99 |
| 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | |
| * Containing nitrogen | 1·24 | 1·35 | 1·41 | 1·50 | 1·38 | 1·33 |
A great deal has been said and written in favor of malt as a feeding stuff, but I greatly doubt its alleged decided superiority over barley; and until the results of accurately conducted comparative experiments made with those articles incontestably prove that superiority, I think it is somewhat a waste of nutriment to convert barley into malt for feeding purposes. The gentlemen who verbally, or in writing, refer so favorably to malt, acknowledge, with one or two exceptions, that their experience of the article is limited. Mr. John Hudson, of Brandon, states that he made a comparative experiment, the results of which proved the superiority of malt. But, in fact, the only properly-conducted experiments to determine the relative values of malt and barley were those made some years ago by Dr. Thompson, of Glasgow, by the direction of the Government, and those recently performed by Mr. Lawes, both producing results unfavorable to the malt. The issue of Dr. Thompson's investigations proved that milch cows fed on barley yielded more milk and butter than when supplied with an equal weight of malt.
I do not deny the probability that malt, owing to its agreeable flavor and easy solubility, may be a somewhat better feeding stuff than barley; and that, weight for weight, it may produce a somewhat greater increase in the weight of the animals fed upon it: but although a pound-weight of malt may be better than a pound-weight of barley, I am quite satisfied that a pound's worth of barley will put up more flesh than a pound's worth of malt. Barley-seeds consist of water, starch, nitrogenous substances—such as gluten and albumen—fatty substances, and saline matter. The amount of starch is considerable, being sometimes about 70 per cent. In the process of malting (which is simply the germination of the seed under peculiar conditions), a portion of the starch is converted into sugar and gum, the grain increases in size and becomes friable when dried, and the internal structure of the seed is completely broken up. During these changes a partial decomposition of the solid matter of the seeds takes place, and a large amount of nutriment is dissipated, chiefly in the form of carbonic acid gas. From the results of the experience of the maltster, and of special experiments made by scientific men, it would appear that a ton of barley will produce only 16 cwt. of malt. Allowance must, however, be made for the difference between the amount of water contained in barley and in malt, the latter being much drier. According to Mr. E. Holden, the centesimal loss sustained in malting may be stated thus:—
| Water | 6·00 |
| Organic matter | 12·52 |
| Saline matter | 0·48 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
Dr. Thompson[!--34--][34] sets down the loss of nutriment (exclusive of that occasioned by kiln-drying), as follows:—
| Carried off by the steep | 1·5 |
| Dissipated on the floor | 3·0 |
| Roots separated by cleaning | 3·0 |
| Waste | 0·5 |
| ——— | |
| 8·0 |
We may say, then, that by the malting of barley we lose at least 2½ cwt. of solid nutriment out of every ton of the article, and this loss falls heaviest on the nitrogenous, or flesh-forming constituents of the grain. When there are added to this loss the expense of carting the grain to and from the malt-house, and the maltster's charge for operating upon it (I presume in this case that the feeder is not his own maltster), it will be found that two tons of malt will cost the farmer nearly as much as three tons of barley; and he will then have to solve the problem—Whether or not malt is 40 or 50 per cent. more valuable as a feeding-stuff than barley.
The difference in value between barley and malt is generally 14s. per barrel; but it is sometimes more or less, according to the supply and demand. Barley, well malted, will lose on the average 25 per cent. of its weight, the loss depending, to some extent, upon the degree to which the process is carried, and on the germinating properties of the barley. Barley malted for roasters ought not to lose more than 21 per cent. of its original weight—53 lbs. to the barrel. The heavier the barley the less it loses in malting; a barrel of 224 lbs., and value from 15s. to 16s., ought to produce a barrel of malt of 196 lbs., value 29s. to 30s.
If we deduct from the cost of a barrel of malt the amount of duty at present levyable upon it, the price of the article will be still nearly 50 per cent. greater than that of an equal weight of barley. The cheaper barley is the greater will be the relative cost of malt. The maltster's charge for converting a barrel of barley into malt is about 4s.; so that if the price of the grain be so low as 12s. per barrel, which it sometimes is, the cost of malting it would amount to 33 per cent. of its price. Then, the diminution in the weight of, and the cost of carting the grain, must be taken into account; and when the whole expense attendant upon the process of malting is ascertained, it will be found that I have not exaggerated in stating that a ton of malt costs as much as a ton and a half of barley.
If the consumer of malt germinate the seeds himself, he may probably, if he require large quantities of the article, produce it at a somewhat cheaper rate than if he bought it from the maltster; but few persons who have the slightest knowledge of the vexatious restrictions of the Inland Revenue authorities would be likely to place his premises under the espionage of an excise officer.
As the superiority of malt over barley (if such be really the case) must be chiefly due to the looseness of its texture, which allows the juices of the stomach to act readily upon it, barley in a cooked state might be found quite as nutritious: It would not be fair to institute comparisons between dense hard barley-seeds and the easily soluble malted grains. During the cooking of barley a portion of the starch is changed into sugar, but in this case with only an inappreciable waste of nutriment. When the cooking process is continued for a few hours, a considerable amount of sugar is formed, and the barley acquires a very sweet flavor.
When the malt for cattle question was under discussion, I made a little experiment in relation to it, the results of which are perhaps of sufficient interest to mention:—Two pounds weight of barley-meal were moistened with warm water; after standing for three hours more water was added, and sufficient heat applied to cause the fluid to boil. After fifteen minutes' ebullition, a few ounces of the pasty-like mass which was produced were removed, thoroughly dried, and on being submitted to analysis yielded six per cent. of sugar. The addition of a small quantity of malt to barley undergoing the process of cooking will rapidly convert the starch into sugar.
Barley is naturally a well-flavored grain, and all kinds of stock eat it with avidity. It may be rendered still more agreeable if properly cooked, and this process will, by disintegrating its hard, fibrous structure, set free its stores of nutriment. I incline strongly to the opinion that barley, when well boiled, is almost, if not quite, as digestible as malt.
A serious disadvantage in the use of malt is, that it must be consumed, it is said, in combination with 10 per cent. of its weight of linseed-meal or cake. Now, malt is a very laxative food, and so is linseed; and if the diet of stock were largely made up of these articles the animals would, sooner or later, suffer from diarrhœa. In such case, then, the addition of bean-meal, or of some other binding food, would become necessary, and the compound of malt, linseed, and bean-meal thereby formed would certainly prove anything but an economical diet.
Malt Combs.—I should mention that a portion of the nutriment which the barley loses in malting passes into the radicles, or young roots, which project from the seeds, and are technically known by the term "combs," "combings," or "dust." At present these combs are separated from the malt, but if the latter be intended for feeding purposes this separation is unnecessary, and in such case the barley will not be so much deteriorated. The combs, which constitute about 4 per cent. of the weight of the malt, are sometimes employed as a feeding stuff. I have made an analysis of malt-combings for the County of Kildare Agricultural Society, and have obtained the following results:—
| 100 PARTS CONTAINED— | |
| Water | 8·42 |
| * Flesh-forming (albuminous) substances | 21·50 |
| Digestible fat-forming substances (starch, sugar, gum, &c.) | 53·47 |
| Indigestible woody fibre | 8·57 |
| † Saline matter (ash) | 8·04 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 | |
| * Yielding nitrogen | 3·44 |
| † Containing potash | 1·35 |
| Containing phosphoric acid | 1·74 |
This article was sold as a manure at £3 6s. per ton—a sum for which it was not good value; but as a feeding substance it was probably worth £4 or £5 per ton. Its composition indicates a high nutritive power; but it is probable that its nitrogenous matters are partly in a low degree of elaboration, which greatly detracts from its alimental value.
In conclusion, then, I would urge the following points upon the attention of the farmer:—
1st. Before using malt for feeding purposes, wait until you learn the general results of the experience of other farmers with that article. The manufacture of malt for feeding purposes is rapidly on the decline, instead of, as had been anticipated, on the increase.
2nd. Should you experiment with barley and malt, use equal money's worth of each, and employ the barley in a cooked state.
3rd. Use malt-combings as a feeding stuff, and not as a manure. They are good value for at least £3 10s. per ton.
4th. Bear in mind that a ton of barley contains more saline matter than an equal weight of malt; consequently, that stock fed upon barley will produce a manure richer in potash and phosphates than those supplied with malt.
Leguminous Seeds.—The seeds of the bean, of the pea, and of several other leguminous plants, are largely made use of as food for both man and the domesticated animals. They all closely resemble each other in composition, but in that respect differ considerably from the grains of the Cerealiæ, for whilst the latter contain on an average 12 per cent. of flesh-formers, beans and peas contain 24 per cent. The flesh-forming constituent of the leguminous seeds is not gluten, as in the grain of the cereals, but a substance termed legumin, which so closely resembles the cheesy matter of milk that it has also received the name of vegetable casein. Indeed, the Chinese make a factitious cheese out of peas, which it is difficult to discriminate from the article of animal origin.
Beans are used as fattening food for cattle, for which purpose they should be ground into meal, as otherwise a large proportion of their substance would pass through the animal's body unchanged. It is not good economy to give a fattening bullock more than 3 or 4 lbs. weight per diem; a larger proportion is apt to induce constipation. The very small proportion of ready-formed fat, the moderate amount of starch, and the exceedingly high per-centage of flesh-formers which beans contain, prove that they are better adapted as food for beasts of burthen than for the fattening of stock. Oats, Indian corn, or oil-cake, will be found to produce a greater increase of meat than equal money's worth of beans or peas, and I would therefore recommend the restriction of leguminous seeds, under ordinary circumstances, to horses and bulls. It has been stated, on good authority, that when oats are given whole to horses, a large proportion passes unchanged through the animal's body, but that on the addition of beans, the oats are thoroughly digested.
| COMPOSITION OF LEGUMINOUS SEEDS. | |||||
| Common Beans. | Foreign Beans. | Peas. | Lentils. | Winter Tares (foreign). | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 13·0 | 14·5 | 14·0 | 13·0 | 15·5 |
| Flesh-formers | 25·5 | 23·0 | 23·5 | 24·0 | 26·5 |
| Fat-formers | 48·5 | 48·7 | 50·0 | 50·5 | 47·5 |
| Woody fibre | 10·0 | 10·0 | 10·0 | 10·0 | 9·0 |
| Mineral matter | 3·0 | 3·8 | 2·5 | 2·5 | 1·5 |
| 100·0 | 100·0 | 100·0 | 100·0 | 100·0 | |
Oil Seeds.—The seeds of a great variety of plants, such as the flax, hemp, rape, mustard, cotton, and sunflower, are exceedingly rich in oil, some of them containing nearly half their weight of that substance. Of these oil-seeds there are many which might with advantage be employed as fattening, food, although one only—linseed—has come into general use for that purpose.
Rape-seeds closely resemble linseeds in composition, but they are considerably cheaper. They contain an acrid substance, but the large proportion of oil with which it is associated almost completely disguises its unpleasant flavor.
Linseed is one of the most valuable kinds of food which could be given to fattening animals. Its exceedingly high proportion of ready-formed fatty matter, the great comparative solubility of its constituents, and its mild and agreeable flavor, constitute it an article superior to linseed cake. The laxative properties of linseed are very decided; it should therefore be given only in moderate quantities. As peas and beans exercise, as I have already stated, a relaxing influence upon the bowels, a mixture of linseed and peas or beans would be an excellent compound, the laxative influence of the one being corrected by the binding tendency of the other. Linseed being one of the most concentrated feeding stuffs in use, it will be found an excellent addition to bulky food, such as chaff and turnips. Linseed oil has been used as a fattening food, but there is nothing to be gained by expressing seeds for the purpose of using their oil as a feeding material. When hay is scarce, and straw abundant, the latter may be made almost as nutritious as the former by mixing it with linseed, and steaming the compound. A stone of linseed and two cwt. of oat-straw chaff, when properly cooked, constitute a most economical and nutritious food.
Mr. Horne, who experimented with linseed two or three years ago, obtained results highly favorable to the nutritive value of that article. Six bullocks were selected, and each animal placed in a separate box. They were fed with cut roots—at first Swedes, then mangels and Swedes, and lastly, mangels alone: in addition, there were supplied to each 6 lbs. rough meadow-hay reduced to chaff, and 5 lbs. oil-cake, or value to that amount. They were divided into three lots, two in each. Lot 1 had 5 lbs. oil-cake for each animal; lot 2, barley and wheat-meal, equal in value to the 5 lbs. oil-cake; and lot 3, an equal money's worth of bruised linseed. The oil-cake cost £10 16s. per ton, the mixture of barley and wheat £8 15s. per ton, and the bruised linseed £13 per ton. The experiment lasted 112 days, and at its close the results, which proved very favorable to the bruised linseed, were as follows:—
| Increase in live weight. | |
|---|---|
| Lot 1. Oil-cake | 637 lbs. |
| Lot 2. Wheat and barley meal | 667 lbs. |
| Lot 3. Bruised linseed | 718 lbs. |
During the 112 days each bullock consumed 5 cwt. oil-cake (or an equivalent amount of linseed or wheat and barley), 6 cwt. hay, and 90 cwt. of roots. The average increase in each animal's weight was 337 lbs. = 224 lbs. dead weight. The economic features of this experiment are best shown in the following figures:—
| FOOD CONSUMED. | |||
| £ | s. | d. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 cwt. oil-cake, at 10s. 6d. per cwt. | 2 | 12 | 6 |
| 6 cwt. hay, at 3s. per cwt. | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| 16 weeks' attendance, at 6d. per week | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| ———————— | |||
| £3 | 18 | 6 | |
| ———————— | |||
| Gained 16 stones per week, at 8s. per stone | 6 | 8 | 0 |
| ———————— | |||
| Balance to pay for 90 cwt. of roots | 2 | 9 | 6 |
The manure obtained afforded a good profit.
The seed-pods, or, as they are termed, the bolls of the flax, have been recommended as an excellent feeding stuff. They are not so nutritious as linseed, but they are cheaper, and when produced on the farm must be an economical food. Mr. Charley, an intelligent stock-feeder in the county of Antrim, and an eminent authority in every subject in relation to flax, strongly recommends the use of flax-bolls. He says:—
The cost of rippling is considerable; but I believe, for every £1 expended, on an average a return is realised of £2, particularly on a farmstead where many horses and cattle are regularly kept. The flax-bolls contain much more nourishment than the linseed-cake from which the oil has, of course, been expressed, and they form a most valuable addition to the warm food prepared during winter for the animals just named. I believe they have also a highly beneficial effect in warding off internal disease, owing, no doubt, to the soothing and slightly purgative properties of the oil contained in the seed. The change made in the appearance of the animals receiving some of the bolls in their steamed food is very apparent after a few weeks' trial; and the smoothness and sleekness of their shining coats plainly show the benefit derived. Is it not surprising, with this fact before our eyes, that many agriculturists—indeed, I fear the majority—persist in the old-fashioned system of taking the flax to a watering-place with its valuable freight of seed unremoved, and plunge the sheaves under water, losing thereby, in the most wanton manner, rich feeding materials, worth from £1 to £3 per statute acre?
In the following table, the composition of all the more important oil-seeds is given:—
| COMPOSITION OF OIL-SEEDS, ACCORDING TO DR. ANDERSON. | ||||
| Linseed. | Rape-seed. | Hemp-seed. | Cotton-seed (decorticated). | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 7·50 | 7·13 | 6·47 | 6·57 |
| Oil | 34·00 | 36·81 | 31·84 | 31·24 |
| Albuminous compounds (Flesh-formers) | 24·44 | 21·50 | 22·60 | 31·86 |
| Gum, mucilage, sugar, &c. | }30·73 | 18·73 | }32·72 | 14·12 |
| Woody-fibre | 6·86 | 7·30 | ||
| Mineral matter (ash) | 3·33 | 8·97 | 6·37 | 8·91 |
| 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | |
Fenugreek-seed is used very extensively in the preparation of "Condimental food." It is often given to horses out of condition. Sheep have been liberally supplied with this food, which, however, it is stated, communicates a disagreeable flavor to the mutton. It contains, according to Voelcker, the following:—
| Water | 11·994 |
| Flesh-formers | 26·665 |
| Starch, gum, and pectin | 37·111 |
| Sugar | 2·220 |
| Fatty and oily matters | 8·320 |
| Woody fibre | 10·820 |
| Inorganic matter | 2·870 |
| ——— | |
| 100·000 |
SECTION VII.
OIL-CAKES, AND OTHER ARTIFICIAL FOODS.
Oil-seeds, on being subjected to considerable pressure, part with a large proportion of their oil, the remaining part of that fluid, together with the various other ingredients of the seeds, constitute the substances so well known to agriculturists under the name of oil-cakes. These cakes contain a larger proportion of ready-formed fatty matter than is found in any other feeding stuff, and an amount of flesh-forming principles far greater than that yielded by corn, or even by beans; the manure, too, which is produced by the cattle fed upon some of them, is often good value for nearly half the sum expended on the food.
The principal kinds of oil-cake employed for feeding purposes are the following:—Linseed-cake, Rape-cake, and cotton-seed cake. Poppy cake is not much in use. Their average composition, deduced from the results of numerous analyses made by Voelcker, Anderson, and myself, are shown in the following table:—
| AVERAGE COMPOSITION OF OIL-CAKES. | ||||
| Linseed Cake, English. | Rape Cake. | Decorticated Cottonseed Cake. | Poppy Cake. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 12 | 11 | 9 | 12 |
| Flesh-forming principles | 28 | 30 | 38 | 32 |
| Oil | 10 | 11 | 13 | 6 |
| Gum, mucilage, &c. | 34 | 30 | 23 | 30 |
| Woody fibre | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 |
| Mineral matter (ash) | 6 | 8 | 8 | 1 |
| 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | |
Linseed Cake.—Within the last quarter of a century great attention has been given to the feeding of stock, and the effects are observable in the improved quality and greatly increased weight of the animals. In the year 1839 the average weight of the horned beasts from Ireland sold in the London market was only 650 lbs., whereas at the present time their average weight is about 740 lbs. This remarkable advance in the production of meat is in great part due to the cattle being more liberally supplied with food, and that, too, of a more concentrated nature. The practice of feeding animals destined for the shambles exclusively on roots containing 90 and even 95 per cent. of water, which once prevailed so generally in this country, is now limited to the farmsteads of a few old-fashioned feeders; and the necessity for the admixture of highly-nutritious aliment with the bulky substances which form the staple food of stock is almost universally recognised.
Of concentrated foods used for fattening stock, none stands higher in the estimation of the farmer than linseed-cake, although it appears to me that the price of the article is somewhat too high in relation to its amount of nutriment, and that corn, if its price be moderate, is a more economical food. Straw, turnips, and mangels form the bone and sinew of the animals, and enable them to carry on the vital operations which are essential to their existence. Oil-cake and similar foods are supplemental, and contribute directly to the animal's increase, so that their nutritive value appears to be greater than it really is. If an animal were fed exclusively upon oil-cake, the greater part of it would be appropriated to the reparation of the waste of the body, and the rest would be converted into permanent flesh—the animal's "increase." The addition of straw would produce a still further increase in the animal's weight—an increase which would be directly proportionate to the amount of straw consumed. Thus it will be seen that, whatever the staple food may be, it will have to sustain the life of the animal, and will be principally expended for that purpose, whereas the supplemental food will be chiefly, if not entirely, made use of in increasing the weight of flesh. To me it appears manifestly incorrect to consider, as feeders practically do, the value of linseed-cake to be seven or eight times greater than that of oat-straw, and twenty times greater than that of roots. Let us assume the case of an animal fed upon roots, straw, and oil-cake. Seventy-five per cent. of its food, say, is expended in repairing the waste of its body, and 25 per cent. is stored up in its increase. Now, if the three kinds of food contributed proportionately to the reparation of the body and to its increase, the roots and straw would be found to possess a far higher nutritive value, in relation to the oil-cake, than is usually ascribed to them.
But it may be asked why straw, if it be relatively a much more economical feeding stuff than oil-cake, is not employed to the complete exclusion of the latter. I have already given an answer to such a question, namely, that animals thrive better on a diet composed partly of bulky, partly of concentrated aliments. This much, however, is certain, that animals can be profitably fed upon roots and straw, whilst it is equally certain that to feed them upon oil-cake alone (assuming them to thrive upon such a diet) would entail a very heavy loss upon the feeder. At the same time it must be admitted that the oil of the linseed-cake exercises in all probability a beneficial influence on the digestion of the animal, so that the nutritive value of the article may be somewhat higher than its mere composition would indicate.
The quantity of oil-cake given to fattening stock varies from 2 lbs. to 14 lbs. per diem. I believe there is no greater mistake made by feeders than that of giving excessive quantities of this substance to stock. If their object in so doing be to enrich their manure-heap, they would find it far more economical to add the cake directly to the manure—or rather of adding rape-cake to it, for this variety of cake is fully as valuable for manurial purposes as the linseed-cake, and is nearly 50 per cent. cheaper. A larger quantity of oil-cake than 7 lbs. daily should not be given to even the largest-sized milch cows or fattening bullocks. If a larger amount be employed, it will pass unchanged through the animal's body. Young cattle may with advantage be supplied with from 1 to 3 lbs., according to their size, and from ½ to 1 lb. will be a sufficient quantity for sheep. Intelligent feeders have remarked, that cattle which had been always supplied with a moderate allowance of this food fattened more readily upon it, during their finishing stage, than did stock which had not been accustomed to its use.
Adulteration of Linseed Cake.—The great drawback to the use of linseed-cake is the liability of the article to be adulterated. The sophistication is sometimes of a harmless nature, if we except its injurious effect on the farmer's pocket; but not unfrequently the substances added to the cakes possess properties which completely unfit them to be used as food. Amongst the injurious substances found in linseed and linseed-cake I may mention the seeds of the purging-flax, darnel, spurry, corn-cockle, curcus-beans, and castor-oil beans. Several of these seeds are highly drastic purgatives, and they have been known to cause intense inflammation of the bowels of animals fed upon oil-cake, of which they composed but a small proportion. Amongst the adulterations of linseed-cake, which lower its nutritive value without imparting to it any injurious properties, are the seeds of the cereals and the grasses, bran, and flax-straw. Little black seeds belonging to various species of Polygonum, are very often present in even good cakes; they are very indigestible, but otherwise are not injurious. Rape-cake is stated to be occasionally used as adulterant of the more costly linseed, but I have never met with an admixture of the two articles.
The only way in which a correct estimate of the value of linseed-cake can be arrived at is by a combined microscopical and chemical analysis; but as the feeder is not always disposed to incur the cost of this process, he should make himself acquainted with the characteristic of the genuine cake, in order to be able to discriminate, as far as possible, between it and the sophisticated article. I will indicate a few of the more prominent features of cake of excellent quality, and point out a few simple and easily-performed tests, which may serve to detect the existence of gross adulteration. Good cake is hard, of a reddish-brown color, uniform in appearance, and possesses a rather pleasant flavor and odour. The adulterated cake is commonly of a greyish hue, and has a disagreeable odour. A weighed quantity of the cake—say 100 grains—in the state of powder should be formed into a paste with an ounce of water; if it be good, the paste will be light colored, moderately stiff, and endowed with a pleasant odour and flavor. If the paste be thin, the presence of bran, or of grass seeds, is probable. The latter are easily seen through a magnifying-glass; indeed, most of them are readily recognisable by the unassisted eye: they may, therefore, be picked out, and their weight determined. Sand—a frequent adulterant—may be detected by mixing a small weighed quantity of the powdered cake with about twelve times its weight of water, allowing the mixture to stand for half an hour, and collecting and weighing the sand which will be found at the bottom of the vessel employed. If there be bran present it will be found lying on the sand, and its structure is sufficiently distinct to admit of its detection by a mere glance. There are a great variety of linseed-cakes in the market, of which the home-made article is the best. On the Continent the oil-seeds are subjected to the action of heat in order to obtain from them a greater yield of oil. Their cakes, therefore, contain less oil, and their flesh-forming principles are less soluble, in comparison with British linseed-cake. Next to our home-made oil-cakes, the American is the best. Indeed, I have met with some American cakes which were equal to the best English.
Rape Cake.—The use of rape-cake was limited almost completely to the fertilising of the soil until the late Mr. Pusey, in a paper published in the tenth volume of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, advocated its employment as a substitute for the more costly linseed-cake. The recommendation of this distinguished agriculturist has not been disregarded; and since his time the use of this cake as a feeding stuff has been steadily on the increase, and at the present time its annual consumption is not far short of 50,000 tons.
In relation to the nutritive value of rape-cake there exists considerable diversity of opinion. Certain feeders assert that animals fed upon it go out of condition; others, whilst admitting that stock thrive upon it, maintain the economic superiority of linseed-cake; whilst a third set believe rape-cake to be the most economical of feeding-stuffs. How are we to account for these great differences of opinion—not amongst theorists, be it observed, but amongst practical men? It is not difficult to explain them away satisfactorily. Rape-cake and linseed-cake are about equally rich in muscle and fat-forming principles; and, supposing both to be equally well-flavored, there can be no doubt but that one is just as nourishing as the other. But it so happens that a large proportion of the rape-cake which comes into the British market possesses a flavor which renders it very disagreeable to animals. One variety—namely, the East Indian—is almost poisonous, whilst the very best kind is slightly inferior to linseed-cake. Now, if an experiment with a very inferior kind of rape-cake and a good variety of linseed-cake were tried, who can doubt but that the results would be very unfavorable to the former article? Mr. Callan,[!--35--][35] of Rathfarnham, county Dublin; Mr. Bird,[!--36--][36] of Renton Barns, and some other feeders, who found rape-cake to be worse than useless, experimented, in all probability, with an adulterated article, for they do not appear to have had the cake analysed. On the other hand, those whose experience with rape-cake has proved favorable, must have employed the article in a genuine state, fresh, and moderately well-flavored. It is noteworthy that amongst the advocates for the use of rape-cake as a substitute—partly or entirely—for the more costly linseed-cake, are to be found the most successful feeders in England and Scotland. Horsfall, Mechi, Lawrence, Bond, Hope, and many other feeders of equal celebrity, have assigned to rape-cake the highest place, in an economic point of view, amongst the concentrated feeding stuffs. Mr. Mechi says:—"I invariably give to all my animals as much rape-cake as they choose to eat, however abundant their roots or green food may be. It pays in many ways, and not to do this is a great pecuniary mistake. Even when fed on green rape, they will eat rape-cake abundantly. My cattle are now under cover, eating the steamed chaff, rape-cake, malt-combs, and bran, all mixed together in strict accordance with the proportions named by Mr. Horsfall in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. xviii., p. 150,[!--37--][37] which I find by far the most profitable mode of feeding bullocks and cows." Mr. Hope, of Edinburgh, states that rape-cake is the best substitute for turnips, and that, excepting cases where spurious kinds had been used, he never knew bullocks or milch cows to refuse it. This gentleman states that it is best given in combination with locust-beans, or a mixture of locust-beans and Indian corn; and suggests the proportions set down in the tables as the best adapted for lean cattle; but I think about two-thirds of the quantities would be quite sufficient.
| Feed per week. | Per week. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| lbs. | s. | d. | |
| Rape-cake at £5 15s. per ton | 8 | 2 | 10½ |
| Do. do. | 10 | 3 | 7 |
| Mixture of two-thirds rape-cake and one-third locust-beans £6 | 8 | 3 | 0 |
| Do. do. | 10 | 3 | 9 |
| Rape-cake, locust-beans, and Indian Corn in equal proportions | 8 | 3 | 2½ |
| Do. do. | 10 | 3 | 11¼ |
An intelligent Scotch dairy farmer bears the following testimony in favor of this cake:—
I have tried pease-meal, bean-meal, oat-meal, and linseed-cake, and after carefully noting the results, I consider rape-cake, weight for weight, at least equal to any of them for milch cows; and if I give the same money value for each, I get at least one-third more produce, and the butter is always of a very superior quality. Two years ago, I took some of my best oats (41 lbs. per bushel), and ground them for the cows, and although I was at about one-third more expense, I lost fully one-third of the produce that I had by using rape-cake. I always dissolve it by pouring boiling water on it, and give each cow 6 lbs. daily. I have tried a larger quantity, and found I was fully repaid for the extra expense. I generally use it the most of the summer, but always during the spring months. A number of my neighbours who have tried it all agree that it is the best and cheapest feed for milch cows they have used.—North British Agriculturist, Edinburgh, February 29, 1860.
The best kinds of rape-cake come from Germany and Denmark. When neither too old nor too fresh, and of a pale-green color, these foreign cakes are tolerably well-flavored, and are but slightly inferior to good linseed-cake. Most varieties of this cake, however, contain a small proportion of acrid matter, which often renders them more or less distasteful to stock, more particularly to cattle. This substance may be rendered quite innocuous by steaming or boiling the cake; either of these processes will also, according to Mr. Lawrence, destroy the disagreeable flavor which mustard-seed—a frequent adulterant of rape-cake—confers upon that article. Molasses or treacle is an excellent adjunct to the cake, as it serves in a great measure to correct its somewhat unpleasant flavor. Carob, or locust-beans, answer, perhaps better, the same purpose. It is better, as a general rule, to give less rape-cake than linseed-cake, unless the pale-green kind to which I have referred is obtainable; that variety may be largely employed. The animals should be gradually accustomed to its use. At first, in the case of bullocks, they should get only 1 lb. per diem, and the quantity should be gradually increased to about 4 lbs.; but I would not advise, under any circumstances, a larger daily allowance than 5 lbs. Given in moderate amounts, it will, supposing it to be of fair quality, be found to give a better return in meat than almost any other kind of concentrated food; and, what is of great importance, it will not injuriously affect the animal's health. "Our experience of the use of rape-cake," says Mr. Lawrence, "thus used (cooked), extends over a period of ten years of feeding from 20 to 24 bullocks annually. We have not had a single death during that period, and the animals have been remarkably free from any kind of ailment."
Rape-cake of good quality possesses a dark-green color (the greener the better), and when broken exhibits a mottled aspect—yellowish and dark-brown spots. Sometimes a tolerably good specimen has a brownish color; but the German and Danish cakes are always of a greenish hue. The odor is stronger than that of linseed-cake, and differs but little from that of rape-oil. The only serious adulteration of rape-cake is the addition to it of mustard-seed—sometimes accidentally—less frequently, as I believe, intentionally. This sophistication admits of easy detection. Scrape into small particles about half an ounce of the cake, add six times its weight of water, form the solid and liquid into a paste, and allow the mixture to stand for a few hours. If the cake contain mustard the characteristic odor of that substance will be evolved, and its intensity will afford a rough indication of the amount of the adulterant. As some specimens of genuine rape-cake possess a somewhat pungent odor, care must be taken not to confound it with that of mustard; but, indeed, it is not difficult to discriminate the latter. The paste of rape-cake which contains an injurious proportion of mustard, has a very pungent flavor. Rape-cake improves somewhat if kept for say six months; but old cake is worse than the fresh article.
Cottonseed Cake is one of the most valuable feeding stuffs that have come into use of late years. Its chemical composition shows it to be about equal to that of the best linseed-cake, and as its price is much lower than that of the latter, it may be fairly considered a more economical food. These remarks apply only to the shelled, or decorticated seed-cake, for the article prepared from the whole seed is of very inferior composition, and should never be employed. The use of the cake made from the whole seed has proved fatal in many instances, not from its possessing any poisonous quality, but in consequence of its hard, indigestible husk, accumulating in, and inflaming, the animal's bowels.
The composition of this cake varies somewhat. The following analysis of a sample from one of the Western States of North America, imported by Messrs. G. Seagrave and Co., of Liverpool, was made by me:—
| COMPOSITION OF DECORTICATED COTTON-SEED CAKE. | |
| Water | 8·20 |
| Oil | 10·16 |
| Albuminous, or flesh forming principles | 40·25 |
| Gum, sugar, &c. | 21·10 |
| Fibre | 9·23 |
| Ash (mineral matter) | 11·06 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 | |
In some specimens so much as 16 per cent. of oil has been found. The purchaser of cotton-seed cake should be certain that it is not old and mouldy, which is frequently the case. The recently prepared cake has a very yellow color, which becomes fainter as the cake becomes older. Freshness is a very desirable quality in nearly every kind of cake. I have known animals to have a greater relish for, and thrive better upon, home-made linseed-cake than upon cake of foreign manufacture of superior composition, but of greater age.
Palm-nut Meal, or Cake is a very valuable fattening food. It is extremely rich in ready-formed fatty matters, but at the same time it is not very deficient in albuminous substances. Its strong flavor is rather a drawback to its use in the case of all the farm animals, except pigs. This difficulty may, however, be got over by using the cake in moderate quantities, and by combining it with other food possessed of a good flavor. Reports of practical trials made with this food appear to have almost uniformly given very favorable results. This food is only three or four years in use. The first samples that came into my hand were richer in fatty matters than those which I have recently examined. The average results of eight analyses made from 1864 to 1866 were as follows:—
| 100 PARTS CONTAINED— | |
| Water | 7·48 |
| Albuminous matters | 17·26 |
| Fatty substances | 21·59 |
| Gum, sugar, &c. | 32·14 |
| Fibre | 17·18 |
| Mineral matter | 4·35 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 | |
This year I have not found more than 17 per cent. of fat in any sample of palm-nut cake. One specimen which I analysed for Mr. J. G. Alexander, seed merchant, of Dublin, had the following composition:—
| Water | 9·24 |
| Albuminous matters | 19·28 |
| Fatty matters | 9·36 |
| Gum, starch, fibre, &c. | 53·22 |
| Mineral matters | 8·90 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
But although inferior samples are occasionally met with, I may say of palm-nut cake that on the whole it is a food which deserves to be largely used, and which at its present price is the most economical source of fat. To milch-cows and fattening cattle about 3 lbs. per diem may be given; ¼ lb. will be sufficient for young sheep, whilst pigs may be very liberally supplied with this food.
The Locust, or Carob Bean, is now largely used by the stock-feeder. It is extremely rich in sugar, and is therefore an excellent fattening and milk-producing food. It is used largely in the preparation of the sweet kinds of artificial food for cattle. It is not well adapted for young animals, owing to its deficiency of albuminous matters. The following analysis shows the average composition of this food:—
| Water | 14 |
| Sugar | 50 |
| Albuminous matters | 8 |
| Oil | 1 |
| Gum, &c. | 20 |
| Woody fibre | 5 |
| Ash | 2 |
| ——— | |
| 100 |
Dates have been used, but only in very small quantities, as cattle food. Their composition is not constant, some samples being greatly inferior in nutritive power to others; they are rich in sugar, and if they were obtained in sufficient quantities they might, like carob-beans, come into general use with the stock-feeder. They contain about 2 per cent. of flesh-formers, 10 per cent. of fat-formers (chiefly sugar), and 2 per cent. of mineral matter.
Distillery and brewery dregs (or wash) are chiefly used by dairymen. According to Dr. Anderson, an imperial gallon (700,000 grains) of distillery wash (from a distillery near Edinburgh) contained 4,130 grains of organic matter, and 276 grains of mineral substances. He considers that 15 gallons of this stuff were equal in nutritive materials to 100 pounds of turnips. The following is the centesimal composition of brewery wash:—
| Water | 75·85 |
| Albuminous matters | 0·62 |
| Gummy matters | 1·06 |
| Other organic matter (husks, &c.) | 21·28 |
| Mineral matters | 1·19 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
Molasses constitute a very fattening food, sometimes, but not often, given to stock. Treacle and molasses are composed of non-crystallisable sugar, cane-sugar, water, and saline and other impurities. The composition of average specimens of molasses, as imported, is as follows:—
| Cane-sugar | 50 |
| Non-crystallisable sugar and grape-sugar | 25 |
| Water, saline matter, and organic impurities | 25 |
| ——— | |
| 100 |
If admitted duty free, molasses would be a much more economical food than it now is, but at its present price it must be regarded as a mere flavoring food.
Mr. T. Cooke Burroughs, a West Suffolk feeder, who used treacle in 1864, gives the following mode of mixing it with other food:—
My plan has been (and is still carried on) to give to each bullock per day (divided into three meals) one pint of treacle dissolved in two gallons of water, and sprinkled, by means of a garden water-pot, over four bushels of cut chaff (two-thirds straw and one-third hay) amongst which a quarter of a peck of meal (barley and wheat) is mixed, the animals also having free access to water. The cost of the treacle and meal together is about 3s. per bullock per week. My bullocks (two-year old Shorthorns) have grown and thrived upon the above diet to my utmost satisfaction; and even during the present dry and warm weather they evince no lingering after roots or grass. I am well aware that the use of treacle for neat stock is no new discovery of my own, as I learnt the system while on a visit to a friend in Norfolk, where some graziers have used it in combination with roots during many years past. Perhaps flax-seed (linseed) boiled into a jelly and used in a similar way, may be a more profitable "substitute for roots" than treacle; but the preparation of it is attended with more expense and trouble.
SECTION VIII.
CONDIMENTAL FOOD.
Although every farmer may not have used, there are few who have not heard of "Thorley's Condimental Food for Cattle." This nostrum is a compound of some of the ordinary foods with certain well-known aromatic and carminative substances. It possesses a very agreeable flavor, and it is therefore much relished by horses, and indeed by every kind of stock. The price of this compound was at first so much as £60 per ton; but owing to competition, and perhaps to the attacks made upon the enormously high price of this article, it is now to be obtained at prices varying from £12 to £24 per ton.
The inventor of condimental food, and the numerous fabricators of that compound, claim for it merits of no ordinary nature. Its use, they assert, not only maintains the animals fed upon it in excellent health, but it also exercises so remarkable an action upon the adipose tissues that fat accumulates to an immense extent. Moreover, it is said that an animal supplied with a very moderate daily modicum of this wonderful compound, will consume less of its ordinary food, though rapidly becoming fat.
Now, if these assertions were perfectly, or even approximatively, true, Mr. Thorley would be well deserving of a niche in the temple of fame, and stock-feeders would ever regard him as a benefactor to his own and the bovine species; but I fear that Mr. Thorley's imagination outstripped his reason when he described in such glowing terms the wonderful virtues of his tonic food.
Mr. J. B. Lawes, of Rothamstead, than whom there is no more accurate experimenter in agricultural practice, states that he made many careful trials with Thorley's food, and that he never found it to exercise the slightest influence upon the nutrition of the animals fed upon it. In his report upon this subject, Mr. Lawes, after describing the experiments which he made, sums up as follows:—
There is nothing therefore in the above results to recommend the use of Thorley's condiment with inferior fattening food, to those who feed pigs for profit. In fact, the following balance-sheet of the experiment shows that, in fattening for twelve weeks, there was a balance of £1 10s. 11d. in favor of the lot fed without Thorley's food, notwithstanding that one of the pigs in that lot did badly throughout the experiment, as above stated.
| LOT 1.—WITH BARLEY-MEAL AND BRAN. | |||
| £ | s. | d. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 pigs bought in at 41s. 6d. each | 8 | 6 | 0 |
| 1,860¾ lbs. barley, at 37s. 6d. per quarter of 416 lbs., including grinding | 8 | 7 | 8¾ |
| 1,024¾ lbs. bran at 5s. 6d. per cwt. | 2 | 10 | 3¾ |
| —————— | |||
| 19 | 4 | 0½ | |
| 88 stone 5 lbs. of pork sold at 4s. 4d. per stone, sinking the offal | 19 | 4 | 0½ |
| LOT 2.—WITH BARLEY-MEAL, BRAN, AND THORLEY'S FOOD. | |||
| £ | s. | d. | |
| 4 pigs bought in at 41s. 6d. each | 8 | 6 | 0 |
| 1,862¾ lbs. barley, at 37s. 6d. per quarter of 416 lbs., including grinding | 8 | 7 | 10¼ |
| 1,020¾ lbs. bran at 5s. 6d. per cwt. | 2 | 10 | 1½ |
| 105 lbs. Thorley's food at 40s. per cwt. | 1 | 17 | 6 |
| —————— | |||
| 21 | 1 | 5¾ | |
| 90 stone 1 lb. pork sold at 4s. 4d. per stone, sinking the offal | 19 | 10 | 6½ |
| —————— | |||
| 1 | 10 | 11¼ | |
The results of these experiments with pigs, in which Thorley's condiment was used with inferior fattening food, may be summed up as follows:—
1. The addition of Thorley's condimental food increased the amount of food consumed by a given weight of animal within a given time.
2. When Thorley's condiment was given it required more food to produce a given amount of increase in live-weight.
3. In fattening for twelve weeks there was a difference of £1 10s. 11d. on the lot of 4 pigs in favor of barley-meal and bran alone, over barley-meal, bran, and Thorley's food in addition.
At a meeting of the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, held some time ago, the subject of the nutrimental value of condimental cattle food was discussed. As there is scarcely any kind of quackery, from spirit manifestations to Holloway's pills, that has not got its believers, there were, as might have been anticipated, some voices raised at this meeting in favor of Thorley's food; but the sense of the meeting was decidedly against it. Professor Simonds pronounced it to be worthless.
Although the greater number of equine proprietors and feeders of stock are too sensible to throw their money away in the purchase of those costly foods, still there are by no means an insignificant number who employ it, under the idea that it preserves the health of the animals; these stuffs are also highly appreciated by many grooms and herds. Now, for the information of all believers, I may state that there is no mystery whatever in the nature of condimental cattle foods. They consist in substance of such matters as linseed-cake, Indian corn, rice, bean-meal, locust-beans, and malt-combings. These substances are flavored by the addition of turmeric-root, ginger, coriander-seed, carraway-seed, fenugreek-seed, aniseed, liquorice, and similar substances. In addition to the nutritive and flavorous articles employed in the manufacture of these foods, purely medicinal substances are also made use of with the idea that they would prove useful in maintaining the health and stimulating the appetite of the animals. These medicinal ingredients constitute but a small proportion of the compound, although they add considerably to the cost of manufacture. The following is a formula for a condimental food, which in every respect will be found fully equal, if not superior, to the ordinary high-priced articles.
| cwt. | qrs. | lbs. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linseed-meal, or cake | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Locust beans (ground) | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Indian corn | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Powdered turmeric | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Ginger | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Fenugreek-seed | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Gentian | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Cream of tartar | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Sulphur | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Common salt | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Coriander-seed | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| ———————— | |||
| One ton. | |||
A ton of condimental food manufactured according to this formula will cost only about the same amount as an equal weight of linseed, and will produce an effect fully equal to that of the food which at one time was sold at £60 per ton.
Whatever may be the medicinal virtues of these foods, or however appropriate the term "condimental" which has been applied to them, it is quite certain that their whilom designation "concentrated" was a misnomer. Their composition shows that they possess a degree of nutritive power considerably below that of linseed-cake, and but little, if at all, superior to that of Indian corn.
The following analytical statement, which I published some years ago, will give an insight into the nature of these articles:—
| ANALYSES OF CONDIMENTAL FOOD. | ||
| Thorley's. | Bradley's. | |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 12·00 | 12·09 |
| Nitrogenous, or flesh forming principles | 14·92 | 10·36 |
| Oil | 6·08 | 5·80 |
| Gum, sugar, mucilage, &c. | 56·86 | 60·21 |
| Woody fibre | 5·46 | 5·32 |
| Mineral matter (ash) | 4·68 | 6·22 |
| ——— | ——— | |
| 100·00 | 100·00 | |
As a ton of linseed-cake contains a greater amount of nutriment than an equal quantity of condimental food, the latter should be clearly proved to possess very valuable specific virtues, in order to induce the feeder to use it extensively. Cattle and horses out of condition may be benefited by its carminative and tonic properties; but if they are, it surely must be a bad practice to feed healthy animals upon a substance which is a remedy in disease. It is asserted, and probably with some degree of truth, that when dainty, over-fed stock loathe their food, they are induced to eat greedily by mixing the "condimental" with their ordinary food. If such really be the case, let the feeder compound the article himself, and effect thereby a saving of perhaps 50 or 80 per cent. in the cost of it. A good condimental food, rich in actual nutriment, and pleasantly flavored, is no doubt a compound which might be used with advantage; but it should be sold at a moderate and fair price.
([25]) See Transactions of Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland for 1852.
([26]) Zig-zag clover, or Marl grass? Cowgrass is Trifolium pratense perenne.
([27]) This gentleman has invented an exceedingly simple but effective furze-bruiser, which I hope soon to see in general use.
([28]) H. Le Docte, in Journal de la Société Centrale d'Agriculture de Belgique.
([29]) Cellulose is the term applied to the chemical substance which forms woody fibre. The latter is made up of very minute spindle-shaped tubes. In young and succulent plants these tubes are often lined with layers of soft cellulose. In many plants—such as trees—in a certain stage of development, the substance lining the cells is very hard, and is termed lignin, or sclerogen. This substance is merely a modification of cellulose; and both resemble in composition sugar and starch so closely that, by heating them with sulphuric acid, they may be converted into sugar.
([30]) One part of oil is equal to 2½ parts of starch—that is, 2½ parts of starch are expended in the production of 1 part of fat.
([31]) No difference is here assumed between the nutritive value of sugar and starch.
([32]) Unless when Kohl-rabi is cultivated, for the bulbs of this plant may be preserved in good condition up to June. I have advocated the cultivation of the radish as a food crop in the "Agricultural Review" for 1861.
([33]) According to some chemists, sugar does not exist in ripe grain, but is produced in it, during the process of analysis, by the action of the re-agents employed and the influence of the air.
([34]) Report to Government on feeding cattle with Malt, 1844.
([35]) Monthly Agricultural Review, Dublin, February, 1859.
([36]) Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, October, 1858.
([37]) 3 lbs. of rape-cake, ¾ lb. malt combs, ¾ lb. bran, steamed together with a sufficient quantity of straw.
SECTION IX.—ANALYSES OF THE ASHES OF PLANTS.
(Extracted from the Author's "Chemistry of Agriculture.")
Those numbers marked with an asterisk refer to 100 parts of the substance in its natural or undried state; the remaining numbers refer to 100 parts when dried.
| Rape Seed. | Flax. | Peas. | Kidney Beans. | White Turnip Seed. | Turnip Bulb (Swede). | Cucumber. | Mangel Wurtzel Seed. | Potatoes (tubers). | Hop Flowers. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stalk. | Seed. | ||||||||||
| Potash | 25·18 | 34·96 | 32·55 | 43·09 | 36·83 | 21·91 | 39·82 | 47·52 | 16·08 | 35·15 | 19·41 |
| Soda | ... | ... | 2·51 | ... | 18·40 | 1·23 | 10·86 | ... | 6·86 | 5·77 | 0·70 |
| Lime | 12·91 | 15·87 | 9·45 | 4·77 | 7·75 | 17·40 | 12·75 | 6·31 | 13·42 | 2·14 | 14·15 |
| Magnesia | 11·39 | 3·68 | 16·23 | 8·06 | 6·33 | 8·74 | 4·68 | 4·26 | 15·22 | 2·69 | 5·34 |
| Sesquioxide of Iron | 0·62 | 4·84 | 0·38 | ... | 2·24 | 1·95 | 0·89 | ... | 0·40 | 1·79 | 2·41 |
| " of Manganese | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| Sulphuric Acid | 0·53 | 4·99 | 1·43 | 0·44 | 3·96 | 7·10 | 13·15 | 4·60 | 3·64 | 3·29 | 8·28 |
| Muriatic Acid | 0·11 | ... | ... | 1·96 | ... | ... | 3·68 | ... | ... | ... | 2·26 |
| Carbonic Acid | 2·20 | 13·39 | ... | ... | ... | 0·82 | ... | ... | 13·85 | 17·14 | 11·01 |
| Phosphoric Acid | 45·95 | 8·48 | 35·99 | 40·56 | 11·60 | 40·17 | 6·69 | 18·03 | 13·35 | 20·70 | 14·64 |
| Silica | 1·11 | 5·60 | 1·46 | 0·79 | 4·09 | 0·67 | 7·05 | 7·12 | 1·86 | 3·00 | 18·56 |
| Chloride of Potassium | ... | 7·65 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 4·19 | ... | 1·84 | ... |
| Chloride of Sodium | ... | 0·54 | ... | ... | 2·80 | ... | ... | 9·06 | 15·30 | 6·49 | 2·95 |
| Total | 100·00 | 100·00 | 100·00 | 99·67 | 100·00 | 99·99 | 99·57 | 100·09 | 99·98 | 100·00 | 99·71 |
| Per-centage of Ash | 4·51 | 5·00 | 3·05 | 5·21 | 0·68 | 3·98 | 7·60 | 0·63 | 6·58 | 6·05 | |
| * | * | ||||||||||
The number marked with an asterisk refers to 100 parts of the substance in its natural or undried state; the remaining numbers refer to 100 parts when dried.
| Cauliflowers. | Hopeton Oats (Grain). | Potato Oats (Grain). | Husks of Potato Oats. | Rye. | Hay. | Grasses (in flower). | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grain. | Straw. | Bromus erectus. | Lolium perenne. | Annual Ryegrass. | Avena flavesceus. | ||||||
| Potash | 34·39 | 20·65 | }31·56 | 2·23 | 31·76 | 17·36 | 20·80 | 20·33 | 24·67 | 28·99 | 36·06 |
| Soda | 14·79 | ... | 8·97 | 4·45 | 0·31 | 10·85 | ... | ... | 0·87 | 0·73 | |
| Lime | 2·96 | 10·28 | 5·32 | 4·30 | 2·92 | 9·06 | 8·24 | 10·38 | 9·64 | 6·82 | 7·98 |
| Magnesia | 2·38 | 7·82 | 8·69 | 2·35 | 10·13 | 2·41 | 4·01 | 4·99 | 2·85 | 2·59 | 3·07 |
| Sesquioxide of Iron | 1·69 | 3·85 | 0·88 | 0·32 | 0·82 | 1·36 | 1·83 | 0·26 | 0·21 | 0·28 | 2·40 |
| " of Manganese | ... | 0·42 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| Sulphuric Acid | 11·16 | ... | ... | 4·30 | 1·46 | 0·83 | 2·11 | 5·46 | 5·20 | 3·45 | 4·00 |
| Muriatic Acid | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 0·46 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| Carbonic Acid | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 0·68 | 0·55 | 0·49 | ... | ... |
| Phosphoric Acid | 27·85 | 50·44 | 49·19 | 0·66 | 47·29 | 3·82 | 15·43 | 7·53 | 8·73 | 10·07 | 9·31 |
| Silica | 1·92 | 4·40 | 1·87 | 74·18 | 0·17 | 64·50 | 30·01 | 38·48 | 27·13 | 41·79 | 35·20 |
| Chloride of Potassium | ... | 1·03 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 10·63 | 13·80 | ... | ... |
| Chloride of Sodium | 2·86 | ... | 0·35 | 2·39 | ... | ... | 5·09 | 1·38 | 7·25 | 5·11 | 1·25 |
| Total | 100·00 | 98·89 | 97·86 | 99·70 | 100·00 | 100·11 | 99·05 | 99·99 | 99·97 | 99·97 | 100·00 |
| Per-centage of Ash | 0·71 | 2·22 | 2·30 | 2·60 | 5·21 | 7·54 | 6·45 | 5·20 | |||
| * | |||||||||||
Those numbers marked with an asterisk refer to 100 parts of the substance in its natural or undried state; the remaining numbers refer to 100 parts when dried.
| Broccoli. | Cow Cabbage. | Kohl-rabi, from chalk soil. | Wheat (Grain). | Wheat. | Barley. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Root. | Leaves. | Leaves. | Stalk. | Leaves. | Tuber. | Grain. | Straw. | Grain. | Straw. | ||
| Potash | 47·16 | 22·10 | 40·86 | 40·93 | 9·31 | 36·27 | 29·51 | 25·92 | 10·78 | 32·02 | 14·37 |
| Soda | ... | 7·55 | 2·43 | 4·05 | ... | 2·84 | 10·61 | ... | ... | 1·21 | 0·28 |
| Lime | 4·70 | 28·44 | 15·01 | 10·61 | 30·31 | 10·20 | 0·99 | 3·80 | 2·44 | 3·39 | 8·50 |
| Magnesia | 3·93 | 3·43 | 2·39 | 3·85 | 3·62 | 2·36 | 10·60 | 12·27 | 3·23 | 10·99 | 1·70 |
| Sesquioxide of Iron | ... | ... | 0·77 | 0·41 | 5·50 | 0·38 | ... | 1·12 | 0·54 | 0·15 | 0·20 |
| " of Manganese | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| Sulphuric Acid | 10·35 | 16·10 | 7·27 | 11·11 | 10·63 | 11·43 | 0·09 | ... | 1·77 | ... | 2·22 |
| Muriatic Acid | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| Carbonic Acid | ... | ... | 16·68 | 6·33 | 8·97 | 10·24 | ... | 4·43 | 6·01 | 0·48 | 1·25 |
| Phosphoric Acid | 25·83 | 19·81 | 12·52 | 19·57 | 9·43 | 13·46 | 47·55 | 43·44 | 3·69 | 29·92 | 4·22 |
| Silica | 1·81 | 2·83 | 1·66 | 1·04 | 9·57 | 0·82 | 0·11 | 7·16 | 64·84 | 21·12 | 62·89 |
| Chloride of Potassium | 6·22 | ... | ... | ... | 5·99 | ... | ... | 1·03 | 3·96 | ... | ... |
| Chloride of Sodium | a trace | ... | ... | 2·08 | 6·66 | 11·90 | 0·54 | ... | 0·42 | 0·72 | 4·37 |
| Total | 100·00 | 100·26 | 99·99 | 99·98 | 99·99 | 99·90 | 100·00 | 99·17 | 99·68 | 100·00 | 100·00 |
| Per-centage of Ash | 1·01 | 1·70 | 0·70 | 1·24 | 18·54 | 8·09 | 2·32 | 1·645 | 5·252 | 2·22 | 5·49 |
| * | * | * | * | ||||||||