AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 377 



Accordingly, to effect any considerable changes in the milk, 

 we must first work upon the body, and provide it, and par- 

 ticularly the milk glands, with material for making the milk; 

 and since albuminoids are the chief tissue-formers, they are 

 most important for producing casein and fat in the milk. It 

 is clear, then, that to produce a good yield of milk the animal 

 must be kept in good condition by proper feeding; that the 

 food, to be most economical, must contain the proper propor- 

 tions of albuminoids, carbohydrates, and fats; and that the 

 composition of the milk is decided by the peculiarities of the 

 breed and individual rather than by the food. The practical 

 application of these principles is apparent. For quality of 

 milk select proper breeds ; for amount, good milkers. Suit 

 the food to the wants of the animal, and feed well, but not 



over richly. 



Other Feeding Experiments. 



Of those reported during the past year we have only space 

 for the briefest reference to some of the most important. 

 Among them are experiments on the digestive capacity of 

 the horse, by Wolff, at Hohenheim ; on the digestion of va- 

 rious foods by sheep, by Weiske at Proskau, Wolff and Kell- 

 r.er at Hohenheim, and Wildt at Kuschen ; and on the diges- 

 tion of different foods by swine, by Wolff, by Wildt, and by 

 Heiden, at Pommritz. Full accounts of these are given in 

 the volumes of the LandicirthschaftUche Versuchs-titationen 

 Journal fur Land 'wirthschqft, and Landwirthschaftliche Jahr- 

 bUcheriov 1876 and 1877. 



The Digestive Capacity of Horses. 



Wolff reports experiments on the digestion of hay, straw, 

 and oats by a horse as compared with sheep. The horse 

 digested a little less from the hay and straw than the sheep. 

 With oats the digestion was essentially the same by both. 

 From his own and other experiments Wolff concludes that 

 all the domestic animals horses, cows, sheep, goats, and 

 swine digest the concentrated food (grain, roots, etc.) and 

 the young succulent forage plants about alike. Of coarse 

 foods, sheep digest a somewhat larger percentage than 

 horses. 



