Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1898-02-22
The QUESTION OF FEEDS.

THE QUESTION OF FEEDS.
Never do remember Of 50 much In
quiry being made In regard To the mat
ter of more economical feeding OF dairy
cows AS this present winter, and more
searching Investigations put on foot q
answer them. East Of the Central States
the question Is almost vital one, for on
the cost Of feed hinges the life Of ths
dxiry industry. There Is now NOR,
finance behind IL than "What shall bs
done with dairy produce when nader
The West seems-with better ways oi
farming, sni the seeming possibility OF
feeding more open ration than the
Eastern dsirym' n, and every mechanical
advantage, from n silo TO an electric
motor, 10 work for him-to be pushing
the Eastern farmer hsruer and harder
aud IL Il with the latter simply sques-
ton OF meeting cheapness with another
chespness. Granted that he has twu
elements In his favor, nesrness to the
great markets and possibility Of sup
pl,ing great masses Of congregsted peo-
pie, such ss exis, In our great seabosrd
cities agreed that this Eastern farmer
wants a Tar better average COW, the dol
lar factor IL, How shall she be fed aud
chesply fed: The first item In the couu,
IL that this Eastern farmer must raise
more Of the things this COW needs and
must buy less. At present he Is COM
peting with a western man, who st the
ssme time is supplying him with far too
much feed, aud so is actually 'tolling'
the income Of his Eastern rival while he
Ia f,s, ht1 nd In
his own COW feed AZ actual raw material
prices, while the little he may buy Is not
doubled by freights and feed merchants
tariffs.
Now this Eastern man must sit down
and make a study OF feed stuffs-whxt
he wants and what he msy dispense
with, aud find what the makeup OF these
foods are, and what he needs the most
Of; what plants contain the largest pro-
portions OF the different elements, and
What sorts-when he buys-have, and in
What amounts, like elements OF the
things he raises on the farm, and what
the msnurial returns are for the different
foods. Thus he will learn TO buy things
which will make his manure plies the
richer for the buying. and not poorer,
and III raise those which have the less
fertilizer value, tor, With one exception,
these are the plants and grains which
yet their wealth from the mir largely
The farmer needs 10 know that no plant
supplies balaCcei ration, save the
famous blue grass, and that only at It's
best mature growth, snd that plants and
grains are grouped in two general class
e.; first, the plants aud grains which 20
To make up the supply of blood, giving
material To build up the working tissues,
the nerves, and indirectly the solids OF
milk. and which, when other foods are
WantiOg, ca1 be used "a fuel, but at
great cost. The other great class OF
foods Ia numerical majority are the heat
producers. These simply supply heat
and energy 10 the body, but are power
less. without the other foods, TO build
nerves and tissues for their energy 10
put In. motion. The first class referred
10 are plants. and flood. containing al
luminous matter-proteins-w the
other great class OF fuel suppllers are
the starches, sugars, gums aud other
compounds found 10 corn, hay aud root
crops. In ali of these plants there are
oils in varying degree. which have a
place In the. ration in minor part, but
ho~ Important place is not known, ss
they have been dispensed with without
not olieeaole results, though they are
thought 10 have an Office In maintaining
palatsbllity and in keeping the animal In
love with Its food.
Considering all foods mentioned here
a. aigestible, dry matter. this COW NUT
have not less than fourteen pounds of
starch, sugar ana guns each t~enty-four
hVurs To supply heat aud energy. 10
supply these the animal must consume
not less Than thirty three pounds vi
good hay, but In no after analysis can
over three pound, OF these solids be &C
counted Tor; a., IN the bodily economy.
II has Ue-n actually burned up, anu b :
uisappeared as heat, xas aud energt,
ieaNIug To the sm .ller amount OF pfotein
"A possible tso and half pounis-ih-
dutS of Supplying the other solids IN tn.
mix aud the like and feeding and max
ing active the muscular and nervous
~ stem aud holding nature up 10 u,
best.
Here IL il where the question for tn,
farmer cvmes in-Whe can get thes.
.tarch.s aud gums the cheapest, and
here the protsiHs: AT the start nay
say that With the standard crops that
best thrive with Us snd are best sd apte
10 our r, r,quirem nts, the starehes Can D.
raised six tunes more soundantly than
the proteius. To-day there Is not n
STATE, in the union In which starch, sugar
ana gum. cannot be raised cheaper and
more Abundantly ia the form OF corn
plant than in ANY other, and IN no Other
way can this sIaTch oe saved so economi-
caliy for the COW and with so little waste
anc loss as in the silo. Even so lar north
a. Ottawa. Ontario. last season, the 81
lsge corn at the Dominion Experimental
Farm, showed total digestiole dry con-
tent of 500 pounds per acre. equal To u
crop of about niue tons of hay per acre.
ia other words, here was ample luei
food for one COW for over two years al
an outlay OF labor and fertilizer OF not TO
exceed sis per acre-less than 81 Tor the
rouyhay. for a COW for month. This
puts Western competition out OF the
question. There Is another ECONOMY
concealed in this exhibit. The Eastern
man buys ton Of Western corn meal al
sl6 per ton, and from IL gets manuriai
v.iue of about 81, AS the starch In II Is
burned up by the animal. For the slt
he could have raised, il not 500 pounds
of starch - at the Ottawa station, o,Vc
pounds, or IL tons, had $40 worth OF
manurial value left, and the outlay would
only have been work aud return Oh the
manure TO grow another acre OF corn
mi. .bows why the Eastern man should
raise his own starch foods at least. One
of the other strong points about corr
culture Is that the fertility IL wants Il
chiefly decayiug vegetation and potash
Most of our concentrated farm crops
ike wheat. need costly nitrogen, some
,hipg that costs shilling pound, sne
i "a shy as ghost, and escapes at al
points and on all occasions; out VIII