EFFECTS OF CHANGING DIET.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2573, 6 July 1882, Page 4

EFFECTS OF CHANGING DIET.

In the "Agricultural Gszstte " of Maroh SOta, a, correspondent atates that the late Mr Oarrhwton, of England, was in the habit ot feeding hit cows with the best American brands cE decorticated cotton• seed cske, , regarding it as tho best food for product;? , milk for cheese mßkin? or for marketing. Km . -eseoutors having dict-ided to sell a portion ol his cows, and wishing to make the boefc showing poisible, cbsnxod from catton-seed cake to best linseed cake, as, in their judgment, the better food. The result was that, in two da;/? time, the ccwa on f>il h:s fwrma full oft materially ia choir yield of milk. Upon xu<:vjuing tb cotton-seed cake ag-un, after e, f*w weeks, there was a marked increase m that milk. The inferenoe was, that deoortioated ootton-seed cake was a better milk-produciug food than the best linseed cake. Tho »r.f«. euoe m-y be correct, aud probably u, but nuoh an experiment should nat be regarded es a demonstrative proof of its correctness. The long-co-atiimed use of ft particular food, as in the case oE cotton Boed cake by Mir Carrington's cows, cauiiaa tno action oE the stomach to adapt itselt especially to tho digestion of the food BO used, and ft change to a different Umd o£ food, though equally good, would causo tho yield of milk to diminish. It ia a fact, well established by the experience of dairymou, that cows whioh are regularly fed with grain whilei they are at pasture, oven if tho pasture is fresh and plenty, will give more milk and mtsm mo-e butter or oheese than cows equally good, but living on grass enly ; yet, if a liberal, ration of meal is given to the cows living on tho fresh Igrass, the first effect is to cause thein to shrink in their milk ; and if the oows whioh have become aooustomed to have meal with their grass have their meal suddenly taken away, they will also shrink, the pasture in both cases bsing equally fresh and plenty. The loss of milk in neither case oaa be charged to the inferiority of tho feed, cinoa tho changes in feed are the reveres of each ether, while the effects are alike. Tho effect Is duo to a ohange in tho action or the •tomach, to adapt its character to the digestion of an established food. Tha food may ohange suddenly, but the action of tne Stomach can only change slowly, and henoo defective digestion follows. This change in the quality or the gaatrio agencies II much more rapid and marked in young thaa in old or middle-aged aaimals. Calves and infants often show suoh a seneitivenees in regard to the aotion of their stomachs that they are made lick simply by a ohange of milk from one cow to that of another, which, differs front tha first but slightly. Though suoh differences are lees marked ia adult animals, they must not be overlooked in making changes of food. Changes from hay to grass especially need to be guarded and gradual, or serioas diiiturbanoee may follow.