iron mordants do not exert a destructive action on cloths when they are at a low degree. At 15° Beaumé, the alteration of the cloth takes place with aceto-ferruginous mordants: this alteration is less perceptible with the pyrolignite of iron than with the pure acetates or those obtained by double decomposition; that the stuffs printed with mordants become weaker as the oxidation is more rapid that under the influence of the solar rays, the alteration is more rapid than by exposure to heat in a dark place; that thickened mordants weaken less than those which are not thickened; finally, that a cleansing in a boiling dung-bath also causes alteration of the tissues. : Without deciding, however, the alteration of the tissues is attributed rather to the effects which accompany or follow the combination of the protoxide of iron with oxygen to produce the peroxide. CONCERNING INVESTIGATIONS PAYEN. (Concluded from p. 216.) PERHAPS, but always within certain limits, the proportion of butter in milk, and its nature also, might be varied at will. In order to prove it, for example, would it not be sufficient to call to mind that the butter of cows of the same locality may vary, to a certain extent, according to whether they are fed on green provender or with dry food; and that the butter of Vosges contains, for example, 66 of margarine to 100 of oleïne in summer, and 186 of margarine to 100 of * Comptes Rendus, No. 7, 1843. (1) Numerous facts, worthy of serious attention, have taught us that green forages are in general more profitable than dry ones in the production of milk, and in the fattening of animals; it would be curious, without doubt, to determine the circumstances favorable to this more complete assimilation, and its precise effects. oleïne in winter. In the first case, the cows feed on the mountain; in the second, they eat dry food in the stable. But, doubtless, a direct experiment in this respect, and which appears to us conclusive, will be preferred; if half of the ration of hay of a cow be substituted by an equivalent quantity of rape cake, still rich in oil, the cows are maintained in good condition, but the milk furnishes a more fluid butter, and this butter possesses, to an intolerable extent, the taste of rape oil. What is opposed to this experiment of one of us? and how can it be otherwise than concluded, that the fatty matter of the food passes into the milk, with little or no alteration, in order to form butter? Let an intelligent agriculturist, guided by suitable chemical studies, take up these ideas, and we doubt not that he will soon be able to modify, at pleasure, the quantity and taste of his products, by judicious modifications in the nature of the food furnished to his flocks. Is that which we have above said of the experiment made, by one of us, on seven cows, applicable to the generality of cases? We hesitate not to affirm that it is. It results, indeed, from all that we have observed, that by causing cows to eat 100 kilogrammes of hay, dry clover, and aftergrass, and their equivalent of green food, 42 litres of milk, on the average, are obtained. It is found, likewise, on the average, that 28 litres of milk contain and furnish one kilogramme of butter. Whence it follows that 100 kilogrammes of dry hay would produce Ikil-50 of butter. Now, analysis indicates in dry hay a quantity of fatty matter, amounting to 1kil-375, or 2 per cent.; consequently, a greater proportion than that contained in the milk which it furnishes, and at the same time capable of representing that which is found in the excrements of the animal. An agricultural writer, Riedesel, who has attentively studied this subject, presents the results in another fashion, namely, by diin-viding the aliment of the cow into two parts, distinguishing the quantity required for support from that which serves for the formation of milk. Here is a subject for very interesting vestigations; if we had been able to enter upon it, we should have wished to reconcile the results of these comparative alimentary regimens, with the remarkable facts observed by M. Magendie, and which have developed such notable differences between the nutritive powers of cooked meats and raw flesh. But such studies might have carried us too far; we preferred keeping to the plan which we had fixed upon, leaving to other experimenters the task of settling those questions, without, however, entirely renouncing all attention to them ourselves. N. S.-VOL. I. According to him, a cow, weighing 600 kilog., would require 10 kilog. of dry hay for its ration of support. With this regimen, therefore, it could not produce milk without becoming thin. But for every kil. of hay that the cow eats beyond the 10 kilog. necessary for its support, it furnishes 1 kilog. of milk; so that by eating 20 kilog. of hay, such a cow might furnish 10 litres of milk. These results agree with our own observa2 M tions, but they require another interpreta tion. Thus, it would be wrong to admit, in our opinion, that a cow can extract 10 litres of milk from 10 kilog. of dry hay. That appears to us impossible, because 10 litres of milk contain Okil-370 of butter, whilst 10 kilog. of dry hay contain only Okil-187 of fatty matters. Besides, things do not occur thus. When a cow eats only 10 kilog. of dry hay, it consumes all the products which it can extract from it, whether they be nitrogenous, fatty or saccharine. But, when 20 kilog. of dry hay are furnished to it, it finds therein saccharine or analogous products, in sufficient quantity for its daily ration, and there is nothing to prevent it from putting in reserve, under the form of milk, a portion of those saccharine products, a portion of the nitrogenous matters, and almost all the fatty matter. Moreover, it is known that, from the time that the cow fattens, the ration remaining the same, the milk diminishes in proportion to the increase of weight of the animals, and in a ratio which we shall very soon determine with precision. duce a given quantity of heat, and it certainly developes it by means of the soluble products contained in its blood, before attacking the insoluble products, such as the neutral fatty bodies which the chyle incessantly pours into it. Thus, with the small ration of 10 kilog. a cow consumes all that it absorbs; when it eats 20 kilog., it makes a selection, consuming certain products, reserving others, and then it finds the Okil-370 of butter, which its milk contains, in the hay which it has received, and in which analysis indicates, in fact, at least Okil-370, and even Okil-400 of fatty matter. But if it be true that hay contains sufficient fatty matter to represent the butter which exists in the milk furnished by the animal fed with it, will the same result be found when the cow is nourished with food of another nature? The answer will be easy, thanks to the information which we owe to the carefulness of M. Damoiseau, one of the most attentive observers who have paid attention to the production of milk, and who has carried the strictness of scientific methods into the consideration of all the phenomena which Like all animals, the cow must daily pro- he had to study in his fine establishment. In order to seize the true sense of these expressions, we must add that the minimum of milk being about 7 litres per day, the mean amounts to 9 or 10, and the maximum to 15.* The cow-keepers who supply Paris, and in general in large towns, rid themselves of cows which, from beginning to fatten, or from other causes, yield little milk; from this it results that the mean of the production of milk is raised in those localities. By taking the solid equivalents of potatoes, carrots, and beet-roots, it is again evident, from experiments made on asses, that the potatoes furnish least milk, the same as has been observed with respect to cows. Let us now calculate the real value of these different aliments, and take as an example the regimen of beet-root. It is composed of 14kil-55 of bran, luzerne, and straw, which seems destined only to scour the stomach of the animal, as, indeed, it is generally thought. Chemical analysis will very soon teach us what to think of this opinion. Oat straw contains not less than 5 per cent. of resinoïd fatty matter; luzerne contains 3.5 per cent; bran, 5 per cent. Whence it follows that there enters into the regimen of a milch cow in the establishment of M. Damoiseau : : There are then 600 grammes of fatty matter, a quantity more than sufficient for producing not only 10 litres of milk, but even 15 litres of milk, very rich in cream, quantities containing from 400 to 550 grammes of butter. If the cow likewise receives 40 kilogrammes of beet-root, it finds, in this new aliment, 6 kilogrammes of solid matter formed of sugar which it burns, 20 grammes of fatty matter which may pass into the butter, and nitrogenous matters which may be converted into caseïn. The water of the beet-root is besides far from useless; it is necessary to the production of milk as well as to the different functions of the life of the animal. When 25 kilogrammes of potatoes are given to a cow, it is still 6 kilog. of dry matter that it receives. This matter also contains 20 grammes of fatty substance associated with much starch, which may be converted into sugar, and with albuminoïd matters which interfere in digestion. The reason that the potato furnishes less milk than beet-root, is, doubtless, because it contains less water. According to analysis, it should require nearly 33 kilog. of carrots to represent 40 kilog. of beet-roots; but the regimen of carrots is determined by other considerations than those which relate to the economical production of milk.* This alimentation is reserved for cows which do not yield much milk, in which it is desired to lower the richness of the milk, in order to substitute by this product, the From this discussion it results, that instead of 20 kilogr. of dry hay, which a cow would receive, 14 kilog. of oat straw, bran, or luzerne, may be given to it, and 6 kilog. of dried beet-roots or potatoes: in all 20 kilog. In this last regimen, the beet-roots or potatoes constitute the ration of support, and sustain the life of the animal by their sugar or their starch. It is the oat straw, the bran and luzerne, which furnish, on the contrary, the greater portions of the fatty matters necessary for the formation of milk. If we now try to pass to the phenomena of the fattening of animals, we find so exact an application of the principles which we have laid down, that if there remain some few circumstances to be cleared up, we hope that they speedily will be explained by the agriculturists, who will hasten to devote themselves to the experiments necessary for controlling views which are of such interest to them. Setting out from the numbers resulting from Riedesel's experiments, which agree, in some points, with the information which we have gained, the following results are arrived at: According to Riedesel, it would be found that an ox, weighing 600 kilog., retains its weight when it eats 10 kilog. of dry hay per day. To fatten, the same ox would require, for its complete nourishment, 20 kilog. of dry hay per day, and it might gain 1 kilog. in weight under the influence of such a diet. Although regarding the experiments of Riedesel as presenting too favorable results, as giving the maximum of the nutritive power of hay or its equivalents, we admit, with this agriculturist, that 10 kilog. of hay may produce about 10 litres of milk, or about 1 kilog. of beef; it remains to be known what is that 1 kilog. of augmentation in the weight of an ox. Now, the following is the manner in which this kilog. may be supposed to be disposed of. Admitting that the fatty matter of hay is fixed by the animal, the same as it passes into the milk of the cow, it is found that the ox has received about Okil-370 of fat. There remains, therefore, Okil-630 of humid meat, which should contain about Okil-160 of dry meat. Whence it follows that the ox which is fattening, supposing even that it can fix in its tissues all the fatty substance of the hay which it eats, derives only half its nourishment, at the most, from the nitrogenous matter which would be extracted by the milk of women. It will be understood that it is proposed thus to avoid a too rapid transition when the milk of a nurse is failing. cow under the form of milk, and that it loses the whole of the alimentary product which the cow converts into sugar of milk. It is not necessary to recur to this discussion, to show how great is the difference between the cow and the ox, as regards the portion which they extract for the profit of man, from the food which they have received. Indeed, in this example, which we borrow from Riedesel, in order to fix the ideas, the cow which has consumed 10 kilog. of hay beyond its ration of support, furnishes 10 litres of milk, which represent 1-4 of dry matter, whilst the ox has increased only 1 kilog. with the same food, and in this kilog. the water fixed in the tissues of the animal certainly amounts to half; whence it follows that it would be exaggeration to suppose that the ox had fixed 0kil-500 of dry matter in feeding on the aliment which had furnished 1kil-400 to the milk of the cow. The milch cow, therefore, extracts, for the profit of man, from the same pasturage, a quantity of alimentary matter more than double that derived by the fattening ox. It must be evident, then, that everything tending to establish the commerce of milk on a basis calculated to inspire confidence and to deserve it, would be in the highest degree worth the attention of an intelligent administration. Whence it would again follow that the more general introduction of Swiss fruiteries and fromageries would be one of the most essential services that could be rendered to our agriculture, at least in localities in which the consumption of all the milk by man would not be possible. Let us see, however, if these views agree with general experience, and let us examine whether the relations which we have admitted between the secretion of milk and fattening are confirmed by practice. The following is a note which we owe to the kindness of M. Yvart; it gives the summary of a longer series of facts: "The secretion of milk, says this skilful veterinarian, seems to alternate with the formation of fat. "When a milch cow fattens, lactation diminishes. The best races remain thin for a long time after calving. In certain English races, the cellular tissue of which is very strongly developed, (the Durham race, for example,) the quantity of milk may be considerable after the calving; but the beast does not delay to fatten ; the secretion of milk does not last so long as in the cows of Holland or Flanders. "The English sows, which form much more fat than those of French race, are rarely such good nurses, that is to say, they give less milk." If it be admitted that there exists a balance between the formation of milk and that of fat, it is also nearly admitted that the fatty aliments, indispensable to the production of milk, are not the less necessary for the production of the fat of animals. Are there circumstances in which animals might be fattened with aliments deprived of fat? We have not met with a single fact calculated to give rise to such a supposition. A skilful agriculturist has tried, for example, the effect of potatoes in fattening pigs, and he was enabled to fatten them by means of this diet only by adding to them cakes of creton, which contain, as is known, a considerable quantity of fatty matter. Again, we have made experiments on pigs, which seem perfectly conclusive, and from which it results that while two Hampshire pigs, which had eaten 30 kilog. of gluten and 14 kilog. of fecula, had gained only 8 kilog., two others of the same race, age, and weight, which during the same period had eaten 45 kilogr. of the boiled flesh of sheep's heads, containing 12 or 15 per cent. of fat, had gained 16 kilog. However, judging from elementary analysis, these nourishments were equivalent to each other. The first, in fact, represented: dry gluten, 12 kilog. plus 14 kilog. of fecula. The second contained: dry meat, 9kil-5, and fat, 7 kilog. Thus, then, the quantities of carbon and nitrogen were even rather greater in the vegetable food; but these two rations differed considerably in this sense, that the animal food contained a quantity of fat equivalent to the fecula of the other. In a second trial, four pigs, fed with boiled potatoes, carrots, and a little rye, had gained only 53kil-5, whilst four other pigs, of the same age and in the same condition, fed with boiled sheep's heads, had gained 103. We ought even to be struck with this circumstance, that the increase of weight of an animal which is fattening, being considered as represented by 50 per cent. of water, 33-3 of fat, and 16·6 of nitrogenous matter, this consequence is arrived at, that the greater portion of the fat is fixed in the tissue of the animal. Thus the first pigs had eaten 6kil.7 of fat, and had gained 5kil-2 from it; the four latter had eaten 8ki' 4 of fat, and had acquired 6kil.7. We cannot conclude without calling to mind the remarkable experiments by which M. Magendie so well established that the chyle of animals nourished with fat aliments, is itself very rich in fatty mat ter, and that, under the influence of a nourishment very rich in fat, the animals present that affection of the liver which is designated fat liver (foie gras). These facts have had great weight in the discussion which has led us to the opinions which we have just expressed. To sum up, we find by experiment :That hay contains more fatty matter than the milk which it serves to form; that it is the same with other articles of diet furnished to cows and asses. That cakes of oleaginous seeds augment the production of butter, but always render it more liquid, and may give it the taste of seed oils, when administered in too large quantity. That maize possesses a fattening property, determined by the abundance of oil which it contains. That the most perfect analogy exists between the production of milk, and the fattening of animals, as breeders had foreseen. That the fattening ox turns to account, however, less fatty or nitrogenous matter than the milch cow; that the latter by far deserves the preference, in an economical point of view, if it be desired to convert a pasturage into products useful to man. That potatoes, beet-roots and carrots fatten only inasmuch as they are associated with products containing fatty bodies, as straw, the seeds of cereals, bran, and cakes of oleaginous seeds. That in equal weight, gluten mixed with fecula, and meat rich in fat, produce a fattening which, as regards the pig, differs in the ratio of 1 to 2. All these results are so perfectly in accordance with the opinion which regards fatty matters as bodies which pass from the digestive canal into the chyle, thence into the blood, into the milk or the tissues, that it would be difficult for us to express on what fact could be founded the idea, which would consider fatty matters as capable of being formed in animals. We are perfectly aware that chemistry has arrived at transforming certain bodies, such as amygdalin, into oil of bitter almonds, hydrocyanic acid, &c.: we know that it has been able to convert salicine into oil of queen of the meadow, carbonic acid, &c., and believe that, in peculiar circumstances, certain vegetable matters might furnish fatty bodies to chemistry; but, hitherto, no phenomenon of the economy of the superior animals has given us any reason for thinking that such fats were of a nature to act apart in their digestion, in the formation of their chyle, in the production of their milk, or in the phenomena which occur during their fattening. ON MANURES AND THEIR COMPARATIVE VALUES. BY MM. BOUSSINGAULT AND PAYEN. (Continued from p. 220.) Trèz.-This sea-sand constitutes the soil of the inclining shores in various localities in the arrondissement of Morlaix it is the same fine sand which is designated by the name of tangue or tanque (sea-sand), on our northern coasts. Favorable to vegetation, especially when a great portion of the salt with which it is impregnated is removed by washing, it is spread in more considerable quantities than marl; it should also be employed soon after washing, after its extraction from the sea, for exposure to atmospheric influences diminishes its fertilising properties, when the salt has been removed from it by the rainwater; this may be conceived from its small equivalent of easily decomposed nitrogenous substances; this alteration of the organic portion of the manure has caused it to be distinguished by the name of dead-trèz. Moreover, the incrustations of calcareous deposits, at first disaggregated in consequence of the alteration of the interposed organic matters, render the substance more unctuous to the touch, or more fat; then, sometimes carried away after their disaggregation, leave at the surface of the shores the quartzose sand more completely deprived of properties, and still more inert. Trèz, more than marl, acts by rendering compact soils lighter; its granular form allows of its being employed directly in improving marshy soils, in which its calcareous substance, and its organic matter, complete the action of dung. The cultivators of these lands spread as much as 40,000 kilog. of trèz per hectare in order to sand the soil, which they keep together by a less abundant sanding; every three years they follow marshy plants with cereals in quantities sufficient only for the consumption of their families. Their crops are generally remarkably fine. The following is the analysis of living and dead or fat tangue (sea-sand), according to M. Vitalis :Tangue. Water Oxide of iron Micaceous sand Living. 6 Dead. 3.50 0.60 1.10 20.30 40.00 |