Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-12-25
ASHES AND sohE-MEAL

Details of Exveriments Of the Wisconsin
Agricultural Station.
A recent bulletin of the Wisconsin
Experiment Station gives details of ex-
periments in feeding hardwood ashes
and bone-meal to hogs living on corn,
water and salt The first lot of hogs
was fed nothing else: the second lot was
fed little ground bone daily: the third
lot had free access to a trough OF hard
wood ashes Three separate trials were
made
AS the average of the three trials. lf
was found that where neither ashes nor
bone-meal was fed. 6se pounds of corn
meal We're required to produce 100
pounds of gain with the pigs Where
ashes Were fed, 491 pounds only were
required Where bone-meal was fed,
4Sa pounds of corn Were required TO pro-
duce 100 pounds of gain This shows
that the ashes aided digestion. and made
a given amount of feed so further The
most interesting part of the experiment,
perhaps, relates to the bones OF the
pigs. 1t was found that where no ashes
or bone-meal were fed the bones OF the
pigs were quite weak. The thigh bones
cut cut from the hams were broken in
two by an average pressure OF sol
pounds where no ashes or bone-meal
Were fed Where ashes were fed. 5S1
pounds of pressure were required. while
the bones from the bone-meal-fed pigs
required $50 pounds OF pressure to break
each bone. The thigh bones of the pigs
were then burned, and it was found
that those receiving no bone-meal or
ashes contained 1os grams of mineral
matter, and those from the hogs getting
ashes gave $50 grams, while those get
ting bone.meal gave 1e5 grams Prof
Henry gives the following conclusions
as drawn from the work:
l. That the effect of the bone-meal
and ashes was to save about $50 pounds
OF corn, or 2S per cent of the total
amount fed in producing 1e0 pounds OF
gain, live weight
>. That by feeding the bone-meal we
doubled the strength of Che thigh bones;
ashes nearly doubled enc strength of
the bones. ..
| 5 There was about so per cszt- more
ash il the bones of the hogs receiving
| bone-meal and hard wood ashes than in
| the others
No difference was found in the pro-
portion of fat to lean meat in the body.
| The benefits Of the ashes, therefore,
seem limited to Strengthening the bones
and aiding digestion. These, however,
are very important, and warrant our
farmers in using some mineral agent of
this character regularly snd freely in
hog feeding, especially where much
corn is fed Bone-meal seems to build
mp somewhat stronger bones than
ashes, but ashes do the work very well
| indeed. and usually cost che farmer
nothing The figures show most plainly
that Indian corn can not OF itself build
up strong bones, and must be supple
mented by ash material from other
sources They point most plainly to
one cause, at least, of hogs becoming
too fine and lacking bone, a common
complaint in Che corn-growing sections.
Sows and growing pigs should not have
their diet restricted TO corn alone, al
| though that grain is exceedingly valu
able as part of the ration = variety
of food should be provided, such as
clover, blue grass, shorts, peas, oats
and sl1iIn milk. Even where shese are
literally used. ashes should be accessi-
bic az all times.-Ohio Farmer