Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1910-03-10
EATING OF GRAIN
BY mankind
High Priced Food Remedy Urged
by a Scientist.
Different RATION FOR CATTLE

Or. II. p. Armsby Believes In CUTTING
Animals Down to a Coarse Fodder
That Human Beings Cannot AssinaI-
iate-Deelare We Would Save on 6la
Percentage of Food.
DR.. Henry Prentice Armsby of State
| College, Pa, who Is n great expert In
animal nutrition. says we waste too
| much good food on our animals and
| that we should use grain ourselves
and grow coarse fodder for our ami
mails. By so doing we would save
| largely on 40 per cent of our daily
food, and that ought to have lot of
effect on high prices.
The Armsby program is simple
enough. 1t amounts to little more
than this: That the time has come for
the American people to begin eating
the food that they have been throwing
to the steers and the hogs and work
out a new ration for the animals. And
yet that idea when worked out means
that millions Of bushels of grain that
now 90 into the nations animal food
and dairy products will he directly
available for human consumption and
that We will have the beef and the
butter and the cheese as well.
AS DR.. Armsby casually tells it:
You see. we are already confronted
with food problem, and one Of the
potent factors toward its solution Is
to ascertain more economic ration
for cattle. We must learn how to OBJ
tain animal food and dairy products
by feeding cattle on ration that con-
tainS nothing that can be assimilated
by human beings-that is, we must
utilize our grain crops for mans con-
sumption entirely and feed cattle on
coarse folders not palatable to human
beings. Animal food and dairy prod
! ucts make up 40 per cent of the food
! consumed by the people Of the United
! States. By using a cheaper ration for
| animals we will get that 45 per cent
; of our daily food cheaper and thereby
! relieve in measure the ordinary wage
Garner of his fight to feed his family"
J All very plausible, all simple enough
to hear 1t told, but II program that
! has not been worked out in its details
d however, advanced further than per-
haps any other scientist
Steer In a CaIorimsser.
The experiment is Centerod around a
, calorimeter and steer. The steer is
just steer. The calorimeter suggests
, in appearance huge refrigerator. The
:, box consists of an inner chamber of
sheet conner that lrl 1ivttlt- glR1NI
i surrounded by two wooden walls, leGv-
ing a dead air space Of about four
inches between. 1t is in the closed in
ner chamber, lighted by plate glass
" windows and supplied by constant
current of pure air that the State tnl-
lege steer, which may become historic.
lives
The temperature Of the chamber can
, be regulated to the hundrcdth pare or
, degree. Every physical change with
in it can be weighed down to the hun
dredth part of an ounce The amount
: Of food energy given off in heat -
I measured, the amount of food energy
used for mere physical upkeep is meas
ured, and the rate Of growth is meas
|
3 what proportion of the food energy OF
each ration can be used by the animal
b to produce meat or milk or work and
how much is simply used up In heat
ing the surrounding atmosphere.
A Saving OF Millions of Dollars.
The practical man, however, is inter-
ested In results, not mechanism. What
do all these experiments amount to?
Where do they lead? They lead to an
era of cheaper production. says DR..
Armsby. They amount to this: What
DR. Armsby can DO others can do after
him, and already the State College ex-
periments have laid the basis for an
economy in animal rations that If ap-
4 piled throughout the nation would
mean saving e millions.
"As the den'ty OF population and
. the demand for breadstuffs increase -
says DR.. Armsby. 1.-The stock feeder Is
constrained to use the cheaper by
product feeds In place of grain. From
J the economic viewpoint. then, 1t IS
highly important that that portion OF
our national wealth represented by
| these inedible products should be util-
lied to the best advantage, yielding a
more liberal supply of food to the con-
sumer.
! Thus, you understand, the calori-
2 meter Is showing US how to conserve
, our grain to feed the men, women and
, children of the country by eliminating
, 1t entirely from the ration OF cattle
and substituting In its stead present
fodder crops, new fodder crops and
more grain byproducts."
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