The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-02-27
M;Mhe 1atnt.
SCIENCE APPLIED TO FARMING.

SClENCE APPLIED To FARMlN6s
BY PROF. W. O. ATwATER, WESLEYAN
UNIVERSITY, MIDDLETowN, CONN.
INCREASING THE PROFITS OF FARM
ERs-MoRE ABOUT EUROPEAN EN-
PERIMENTs
From the american Agricultural.
AS cattle are ordinarily fed, there is
apt to be a waste of some of the nutri
tive part of the food. American farm
ers are often in doubt not only as to
what materials will, at current prices,
make the most economical fodder for
their stock, but also in what proper
tons they should be mixed and fed to
secure the greatest benefit AS yet
they are without careful and accurate
experiments to settle these questions.
In the German Experiment Stations,
large number of men, fitted for the
work both by the fullest scientific
knowledge and by practical skill, de-
vote their whole time to making feed
ing trials. Farms, stables, cattle, chemi-
cal laboratories, assistants, and every
thing needful are at their disposal.
The systematic way these experiments
are planned and carried out, and the
care used to make them accurate and
thorough, would astonish any one who
has not looked into the matter.
Take, for instance, an experiment on
feeding cows for milk. OF different
food materials, what amounts and pro-
portions shall be mixed in the daily
ration, to obtain the largest and best
yield of milk at the least cost? From
the cows in the stable of the Station
number are selected and fed for two or
three weeks with clover hay, then dur
ing another period with clover and
straw, during other periods bran, or
meal, or oil-cakes, or turnips, or two or
three Of these together, are mixed with
the hay. The fodder given and the
milk obtained in each period are care
fully measured, and are also analysed.
Thus the effect of the different kinds
and mixtures of food upon the yield of
milk is accurately learned Such an
experiment often requires the hard labor
of three or four men for as many months
in overseeing the work in the stable,
and making the analyses in the labera-
tory No one can fail to see how valu-
able must be the application of the
results of such experiments to practice.
Information, just such as hundreds of
thousands Of American cultivators want,
is obtained at these Stations, and spread
abroad among the German farmers.
And this is done at cost extremely
small in comparison with the money
saved, and still smaller when compared
with the increased certainty and enjoy
ment which they bring to the work of
tilling the soil. The average annual
expense of one of the German Stations
is less than the salary often received
for merely nominal services by single
party favorite in this country.
Hundreds of such feeding trials have
been made in the European Stations
during the last Is years. They indicate,
as general result, that the dealing ont
of fodder is not properly matter of so
much hay, or turnips, or meal 1t
depends rather upon the amounts of
starch, sugar, fat, fiber, albuminoids,
salts and water, of which the hay, tur-
nips and meal are composed. Chemical
analysis tells us that all our common
fodder materials contain essentially the
same ingredients, but in very different
proportions. Again, the animal is nour-
ished only by that part of the food
which it digests. The undigested por-
ton passes off as excrement, and is
useless, except as manure. A great
many feeding trials have been made to
determine how much of the starch,
fiber, albuminoids, ETC., of ordinary food
materials are digested by oxen, cows,
sheep, and other animals. 1t is found
that unless the ingredients are mixed
in proper proportions, only a part of
the digestible material will be actually
digested, while the rest will be wasted.
By such investigations we learn also
which of the food ingredients, Gas starch,
albuminoids, etc., are made over into
fat, or into muscle or lean meat in the
body; also which ones supply the fat
(butter) and casein (curd) of the milk
which ones are consumed in producing
the heat which keeps the animal warm,
and which ones in yielding muscular
force or working power. In short, these
investigations show how the nutritive
value of different fodder materials can
be learned from their chemical compost
ton, and in what proportions they
should be mixed and fed out to the
animals, in order that all the valuable
nutritive material will be digested and
utilized, and none wasted But do the
farmers in Germany turn these expert
ments to much practical use IL
have here German Farmers Diary,
or Agricultural Calendar" Tens of
thousands of German farmers carry
copies of this little work in their peck
cts, and consider the information con-
densed between its covers as invaluable
Fifteen pages are devoted to the practi-
cal application of such experiments as
we have described First comes tables
giving the composition of nearly 200
different fodder materials, with direc-
tons for calculating their nutritive
values Then come Fodder Tables.
These give the amounts of the food
ingredients required per 900 lbs live
weight by oxen when at rest, and when
at work, by mich cows, horses, sheep,
etc. Then follows no less than l26
tables of fodder mixtures These are
calculated to contain the different ma
terials in such proportions as to supply
the animals needs, and at the same
time to secure the most complete util-
cation of the food. In this great variety
of tables, any farmer can find just the
information he needs to guide him in
mixing and dealing out to whatever
stock be may have to feed, the fodder
materials which he may produce upon
his farms or buy. And this is all ex-
pressed SO plainly that he can under
stand it without any special scientific
knowledge. l asked great many of
the farmers in Germany what they
thought of these tables. The reply