The Cecil Whig., 1875-10-23
MORE FEEDING EXPERIMENTS.

is so important that | will illustrate it
by some
MORE FEEDING EXPERIMENTS.
Some years ago, German chemist,
Grouven fed oxen for a time upon
straw, giving them what he styled
s hunger ration" though in fact it might
almost be called starvation ration, for
there was just enough of the straw to
keep the animals from starving. He
then added, in successive trials, quite
small quantities of sugar, starch, and
other non-nitrogenous materials, deter
mining in each case just how much was
digested And though with starch or
sugar and straw together, the oxen had
little more than enough to sustain life,
yet they digested less from the straw
than when nothing was added to it.
1t is very interesting fact, that of
the different kinds of coarse foods,-as
clover hay, straw, corn stalks,-those
which are richest in nitrogen suffer the
least loss when mixed with non-nitro-
genous foods. This principle is very
plainly set forth in some experiments
by Wolff Four sheep two-year-old
wethers) of 100 to 105 pounds weight
each, were used. As coarse food they
received aftermath, (".rowen,") and
Eetch hav, and as concentrated food,
sugar beets. The vetch, it may be said,
is leguminous plant, like the bean, or
clover. The stalk, or ha;, is rich in
nitrogen, and is highly valued in Europe
as food for cattle The sheep were fed
for period with aftermath hay, or vetch
hay alone. Then, during second per-
iod, small amount Of sugar-beet was
added During third, large amount
of beets was given, and during fourth,
still more, while during a fifth period
the beets were omitted and the hay fed
alone once more. The result was that
whenever beets were used, less of the
coarse food was digested. The loss in
creased with the amount of beets, and
was greater with the aftermath than
with the vetch hay
From the detail figures (not given
above), in the description of the expert
ments, it appears that the aftermath
hay contained 1926 per cent of albu-
minoids, that is, 100 lbs. of hay con-
tanned IA l-2 lbs. In the experiments
with hay alone, the sheep digested on
an average GA per cent of this IA IA
lbs. With the 3-4 lbs. of beets, they
digested only 40 6 per cent, (64-496
-144, so l4.4 per cent of the albu-
minoids of the hay was lost To put
it in another way of every 100 lbs of
albuminoids contained in the hay, the
sheep could digest and use Ga lbs, but
with the beets they digested only 40 3-5
lbs. In short, from GA lbs of digest-
Bile albuminoids in the hay, IA 3-5 lbs,
or between IA and 1-5 was lost by add
ing the beets.
1t should be remembered, that by
loss here is to be understood loss as
food, and not as manure. Solar as the
carbohydrates, fiber and fat are con-
cerned, the waste is practically total, as
these contain no nitrogen, and have
very little fertilizing value
WHAT is TO BE DONE WITH POTATOES
AND ROOTS.
1t seems, from the experiments de-
scribed, that if we feed any consider
able quantities of these with clover,
there will be some loss, with the better
qualities of hay more, while with poor
hay, straw, and corn stalks, the case
will be still worse, for they contain very
little nitrogen. 1t would be very wrong,
however, to give up the use Of roots on
this ground. The proper course is
rather to use them so as to get all the
benefit that can come from their use
and have little or no waste. This can
be done. Indeed it is done continually. |
The method has been repeatedly point
ed out, to wit: Use potatoes, beets, or
other roots, with hay, straw, or other
coarse fodder; but at the same time
feed oil-cake, bran, bean-meal, or malt
sprouts, etc, each one of which con-
tains considerable albuminoids, and each
will add needed food elements, and en-
able the animal to digest and use a
much larger part Of the coarser hay,
straw, etc.
| should be glad, if there were space, I
to describe experiments in which it is
most conclusively shown that when rich
nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous foods
together, are mixed with hay and coarse
food, the latter suffer little or no loss
in digestion. A great many feeding
trials have been made in the German
Stations, to determine in what propor-
tions different food materials may be
mixed to secure economy in feeding.
LATE PAsTURING MEADows-As n
general rule it is better to avoid pastur.
ing meadows, after the growth has