ossible 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 di