These tables exhibit in a condensed form the results of one of the elaborate series of experiments in relation to this point carried out by Lawes and Gilbert:—
| ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF CERTAIN CONSTITUENTS STORED UP IN INCREASE, FOR 100 PARTS OF EACH CONSUMED IN FOOD BY FATTENING SHEEP. | ||||||||||
| General Particulars of the Experiments. | Amount of each Class in Increase for 100 of the same consumed in Food. | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breed. | A. | Duration. | Description of Fattening Food. | B. | C. | D. | E. | |||
| Given in limited quantity. | Given ad libitum. | |||||||||
| Class I. | ||||||||||
| wks. | dys. | |||||||||
| Cotswolds | 46 | 19 | 5 | Oilcake and clover chaff. | Swedish turnips. | 3·98 | 4·43 | 11·6 | 9·60 | |
| Leicesters | 40 | 20 | 0 | " | " | 3·15 | 3·39 | 12·0 | 9·48 | |
| Cross-bred wethers | 40 | 20 | 0 | " | " | 3·24 | 3·60 | 11·6 | 9·31 | |
| Cross-bred ewes | 40 | 20 | 0 | " | " | 3·25 | 3·60 | 11·8 | 9·40 | |
| Hants Downs | 40 | 26 | 0 | " | " | 3·40 | 4·28 | 10·3 | 8·49 | |
| Sussex Downs | 40 | 26 | 0 | " | " | 3·30 | 4·16 | 10·3 | 8·44 | |
| Means | 3·39 | 3·91 | 11·3 | 9·12 | ||||||
| Class III.—(Series 1.) | ||||||||||
| Hants Downs | 5 | 13 | 6 | Oilcake. | Swedish turnips. | 4·16 | 4·01 | 11·1 | 9·33 | |
| 5 | 13 | 6 | Oats. | " | 5·73 | 7·07 | 10·0 | 9·45 | ||
| 5 | 13 | 6 | Clover chaff. | " | 3·98 | 7·44 | 9·0 | 8·49 | ||
| Means | 4·62 | 6·17 | 10·0 | 9·09 | ||||||
| Class IV.—(Series 2.) | ||||||||||
| Hants Downs | 5 | 19 | 1 | Oilcake. | Clover chaff. | 1·69 | 2·20 | 6·3 | 5·07 | |
| 5 | 19 | 1 | Linseed. | " | 1·81 | 2·32 | 6·2 | 5·19 | ||
| 5 | 19 | 1 | Barley. | " | 1·75 | 2·82 | 5·7 | 5·00 | ||
| 5 | 19 | 1 | Malt. | " | 1·46 | 2·17 | 5·3 | 4·61 | ||
| Means | 1·68 | 2·38 | 5·9 | 4·97 | ||||||
| Class V.—(Series 4.) | ||||||||||
| Hants Downs | 4 | 10 | 0 | Barley ground. | Mangolds. | 3·80 | 5·65 | 9·8 | 8·91 | |
| 5 | 10 | 0 | Malt, ground, & malt dust. | " | 4·04 | 6·18 | 10·4 | 9·49 | ||
| 4 | 10 | 0 | Barley ground and steeped. | " | 3·72 | 6·35 | 8·9 | 8·28 | ||
| 4 | 10 | 0 | Malt, ground and steeped, & malt dust. | " | 2·95 | 4·34 | 9·3 | 8·23 | ||
| 5 | 10 | 0 | Malt, ground, & malt dust. | " | 3·46 | 5·46 | 9·1 | 8·25 | ||
| Means | 3·59 | 5·60 | 9·5 | 8·63 | ||||||
| Means of all | 3·27 | 4·41 | 9·4 | 8·06 | ||||||
| KEY: | A.—No. of Animals. B.—Mineral matter (ash).[!--11--][11] C.—Nitrogenous compounds (dry). | D.—Non-nitrogenous substance. E.—Total dry substance. | ||||||||
| ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF CERTAIN CONSTITUENTS STORED UP IN INCREASE, FOR 100 OF EACH CONSUMED IN FOOD, BY FATTENING PIGS. | |||||||||
| General Particulars of the Experiments. | Amount of each Class in Increase for 100 of the same consumed in Food. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. | Duration. (weeks) | Description of Fattening Food. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | ||
| Given in limited quantity. | Given ad libitum. | ||||||||
| The Analysed "Fat Pig."[!--12--][12] | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Mixture of bran 1, bean and lentil-meal 2, and barley-meal 3 parts, ad libitum. | 2·66 | 7·76 | 17·6 | 14·9 | 405 | ||
| Series I. | |||||||||
| 3 | 8 | None. | Bean & lentil-meal. | 0·68 | 4·88 | 25·3 | 17·5 | 621 | |
| 3 | " | Indian-meal. | " | 1·86 | 6·39 | 23·7 | 17·9 | 477 | |
| 3 | " | Indian-meal and bran. | " | 0·33 | 5·02 | 21·1 | 16·1 | 362 | |
| 3 | " | None. | Indian meal. | 2·09 | 9·28 | 20·9 | 18·6 | 300 | |
| 3 | " | Bean and lentil-meal. | " | 0·99 | 9·18 | 20·9 | 18·4 | 324 | |
| 3 | " | Bran. | " | 2·35 | 12·10 | 20·3 | 18·7 | 300 | |
| 3 | " | Bean, lentil-meal, and bran. | " | 2·71 | 10·03 | 21·3 | 18·5 | 307 | |
| 3 | " | Bean, lentil-meal, Indian-meal, bran, ad libitum. | 0·22 | 5·65 | 21·1 | 16·8 | 362 | ||
| Means | 0·74 | 7·82 | 21·8 | 17·8 | 382 | ||||
| Series II. | |||||||||
| 3 | 8 | None. | Bean & lentil-meal. | 3·20 | 3·12 | 26·5 | 18·2 | 801 | |
| 3 | " | Barley-meal. | " | 0·16 | 4·65 | 19·2 | 14·7 | 575 | |
| 3 | " | Bran. | " | 0·16 | 3·99 | 21·2 | 15·2 | 547 | |
| 3 | " | Barley-meal and bran. | " | 0·75 | 4·57 | 20·1 | 15·6 | 514 | |
| 3 | " | None. | Barley-meal. | 0·56 | 10·09 | 18·5 | 16·9 | 574 | |
| 3 | " | Bean and lentil-meal. | " | 0·53 | 6·57 | 21·1 | 17·5 | 620 | |
| 3 | " | Bran. | " | 0·49 | 9·79 | 18·9 | 16·9 | 506 | |
| 3 | " | Bean, lentil-meal, and bran. | " | 4·33 | 4·49 | 22·7 | 18·0 | 578 | |
| 6 | " | Mixture of bran 1, barley-meal 2, and bean lentil-meal 3 parts, ad libitum. | 0·27 | 5·65 | 20·4 | 16·1 | 495 | ||
| 6 | " | Mixture of bran 1, bean lentil-meal 2, barley-meal 3 parts, ad libitum. | 1·58 | 8·10 | 21·1 | 17·6 | 515 | ||
| Means | 0·59 | 6·10 | 21·0 1 | 6·7 | 572 | ||||
| Series III. | |||||||||
| 4 | 8 | Dried Cod Fish. | Bran & Indian-meal. (equal parts). | 1·06 | 5·06 | 24·3 | 18·1 | 315 | |
| 4 | " | " | Indian-meal. | 0·26 | 8·16 | 25·6 | 20·9 | 352 | |
| Means | 0·66 | 6·61 | 24·9 | 19·5 | 333 | ||||
| Series IV. | |||||||||
| 3 | 10 | Lentil-meal & bran. | Sugar. | 3·07 | 9·30 | 19·4 | 16·9 | ||
| 3 | " | " | Starch. | 3·18 | 9·36 | 19·4 | 16·9 | ||
| 3 | " | " | Sugar & starch. | 4·06 | 10·78 | 17·7 | 16·1 | ||
| 3 | " | Lentils, bran, sugar, starch, ad libitum. | 4·80 | 9·96 | 18·7 | 16·5 | |||
| Means | 3·78 | 9·85 | 18·8 | 16·6 | |||||
| Means of all | 0·58 | 7·34 | 21·2 | 17·3 | 472 | ||||
| KEY: | A.—No. of Animals. B.—Mineral matter (ash). C.—Nitrogenous compounds (dry). | D.—Non-nitrogenous substance. E.—Total dry substance. F.—Fat. | |||||||
The larger appropriation of the non-nitrogenous constituents of its food by the pig, as compared with the sheep, must not be attributed solely to its greater tendency to fatten, but partly to the far more digestible nature of the food supplied to it.
SECTION V.
RELATION BETWEEN THE QUANTITY OF FOOD CONSUMED BY AN ANIMAL, AND THE INCREASE IN ITS WEIGHT, OR OF THE AMOUNT OF ITS WORK.
The manifestations of that wondrous and mysterious principle, life, are completely dependent upon the decomposition of organised matter. Not an effort of the mind, not a motion of the body, can be accomplished without involving the destruction of a portion of the tissues. In a general sense we may regard the fat of the animal to be its store of fuel, and its lean flesh to be the source of its motive power. As the evolution of heat within the body is proportionate to the quantity of fat consumed, so also is the amount of force developed in the animal mechanism in a direct ratio to the proportion of flesh decomposed. The quantity of fat burned in the body is estimated by the amount of carbonic acid gas expired from the lungs and perspired through the skin; the proportion of flesh disorganised is ascertained by the quantity of urea eliminated in the liquid egesta. The amount of urea excreted daily by a man is influenced by the activity of his mind, as well as by that of his body. A man engaged in physical labor wears out more of his body than one who does no work; and a man occupied in a pursuit involving intense mental application, consumes a greater proportion of his tissue than the man who works only with his body.[!--13--][13] In each of these cases, there is a different amount of tissue disorganised, and consequently a demand for different amounts of food, with which to repair the waste. But all the food consumed by a man is not devoted to the reparation of the tissue worn out in the operations of thinking and working. A human being whose mind is a perfect blank, and who performs no bodily work, excretes a large quantity of urea, the representative of an equivalent amount of worn-out flesh. In fact the greater part of the food consumed by a man serves merely to sustain the functions of the body—the circulation of the blood—the action of the heart—the movements of the muscles concerned in respiration—in a word, the various motions of the body which are independent of the will. According to Professor Haughton, about three-fourths of the food of a working man of 150 lbs. weight, are used in merely keeping him alive, the remaining fourth is expended in the production of mechanical force, constituting his daily toil.
In the nutrition of the lower animals, as in that of man, the amount of food made use of by a particular individual depends upon its age, its weight, the amount of work it performs, and probably its temper. As three-fourths of the weight of the food of a laboring man are expended in merely keeping him alive, it is obvious that the withholding of the remaining fourth would render him incapable of working. An amount of food which adequately maintains the vital and mechanical powers of three men, serves merely to keep four alive. It is the same with the horse, the ox, and every other animal useful to man: each makes use of a certain amount of food, for its own purposes; all that is consumed beyond that is applied for the benefit of its owner. Let us take the case of two of our most useful quadrupeds—the horse and the ox. The horse is used as an immediate source of motive power. For this purpose food is supplied to it, the greater portion of which is consumed in keeping the animal alive, and the rest for the development of its motive power. Abundance of food is as necessary to the natural mechanism, the horse, as fuel is to the artificial mechanism, the steam-engine. In each case the amount of force developed is, within certain limits, proportionate to the quantity of vegetable or altered vegetable matter consumed. The greater portion of the ox's food is also consumed in keeping its body alive, and the rest, instead of being expended in the development of motive power, accumulates as surplus stores of flesh, which in due time are applied to the purpose of repairing the organisms of men. It is evident then, that the greater sufferer from the deficient supply of food to animals is their owner. That they cannot be taught to fast is a fact which does not appear very patent to some minds. The man who sought by gradually reducing the daily quantum of his horse's provender to accustom it to work without eating, was justly punished for his ignorant cruelty. The day before the horse's allowance was to be reduced to pure water, and when its owner's hope appeared certain of speedy realisation, the animal died. There are men who act almost as foolishly as the parsimonious horse owner in this fable did; and who are as properly punished as he was. Such men are to be found in the farmers who overstock their sheep pastures, and whose "lean kine" are the laughing stock of their more intelligent neighbours.
The weight of a working full-grown horse does not vary from day to day, as the weight of its egesta is equal to that of its food. The desideratum in the case of the working animal is that its food should be as thoroughly decomposed as possible, and the force pent up in it liberated within the animal's body: as an ox, on the contrary, increases in weight from day to day, it is desirable that as little as possible of its food should be disorganised. The wasteful expenditure of the animal's fat may be obviated by shelter, and the application of artificial heat: the retardation of the destruction of its flesh is even more under our control; for, as active muscular exertion involves the decomposition of tissue, we have merely to diminish the activity of the motions which cause this waste. This, in practice, is effected by stall-feeding. Confined within the narrow boundaries of the stall, the muscular action of the animal is reduced to a minimum, or limited to those uncontrollable actions which are conditions in the maintenance of animal life.