NUTRITION AND GROWTH. 



67 



Waters asked the question: 



Will this animal of smaller stature be in the same proportion with re- 

 spect to all the organs and the different parts of its body as though it had 

 been nourished to its full capacity and had attained its normal size and max- 

 imum development? Or will in this period of sparse nourishment a more 

 complete development occur in certain parts of the body than in other parts? 

 In short, when there is not sufficient food supplied to the growing animal 

 to develop all of the organs and all parts of the body to their full limit and 

 extent, will the rate of development of certain of these organs or parts 

 diminish earlier than others and will the development of certain parts cease 

 altogether before the development of other parts is diminished in rate and 

 is it possible that some parts may cease their development before that of 

 other parts?* 



In actual experiments at the Missouri Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, Waters found that ungrown cattle may remain at a constant 

 body-weight for a long period of time, and yet increase in height and 

 apparently decrease their store of fat. In other words, the skeleton 

 has grown, or at least the bones have lengthened. Two interesting 

 illustrative protoeolsf are reprinted here, one, Table XXXI, in which 

 a stationary body-weight was maintained, the other, Table XXXII, 

 in which there was actual decline on a starvation ration. 



Table XXXI (from Waters, Table II). Showing Increase in Height at 

 Withers, Length of Head, Depth of Chest, Width of Chest, and Loss of Fat 

 in a Yearling Steer when Kept at a Stationary Body- Weight. 



No. 595. Grade Hereford. Born May 15, 1907. Nine and a half months old when experiment began. 

 Full fed four months previous to beginning of trial. Condition when put on maintenance, medium. 

 Weight at beginning of trial, 609.2 lbs. Weight at close of trial, 595.6 lbs. Average of ten daily weights. 



Date. 



Height at 

 withers. 



iqo8. cm. 



Feb. 8 ioq 



Mar. 13 1 12. 5 



Apr. 11 1 15 . 5 



June 2 . , 116 



July 1 117. 5 



Aug. 1 1 17. 5 



Sept. 2 1 1 7 . 5 



Sept. 2Q 1 ICJ 



Oct. 30 1 IQ.25 



Nov. 30 : 1 iq. 5 



IC)OQ. 



Jan 1 1 iQ.75 



Jan. 30 > 119.75 



Totalheightin 12 months. 10.75 



Per cent gain ; q . 86 



Width of 

 chest. 



cm. 

 35 



36.5 



Condition. 



35- 



33- 



34 



33 



33 



33- 



31 



3' 



30.75 

 30.75 

 25 

 1 



Medium. 



Medium. 



Medium to thin. 



Common. 



Common. 



Common. 



Common to fair. 



Fair. 



Fair. 



Fair to thin. 



Thin. 

 Thin. 



- 4 

 12 



Notk. When slaughtered, carcass wasclassed as poor canner. All visible stibdermal and intramuscular 

 fat had disappeared. 

 * Denotes a loss. 



*H. J. Waters: The influence of nutrition upon the animal form, 

 for the Promotion of Agricultural Science, 1909, xxx, p. 71. 



Proceedings Society 



jFrom H. J. Waters: The capacity of animals to grow under adverse condition, 

 ceedings Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science, 1908, xxix. 



Pro- 



