436 



SCIENCE PROGRESS 



average results obtained in feeding trials upon a large scale or 

 frequently repeated, such as those conducted in Denmark by 

 Fjord and Friis and in Sweden by Hansson. 



The comparison with the Danish and Swedish results is the 

 more interesting in that the latter have reference to the relative 

 values of the foods in milk-production whereas Kellner's experi- 

 ments, upon which the method of computing the starch equiva- 

 lents is based, were measurements of fattening increase. Below 

 are given the equivalent quantities of a variety of foods of 

 different types, as deduced from their average starch equivalents, 

 alongside the corresponding data given in three separate tables 

 which are based solely upon practical feeding trials. In each 

 case, wheat is taken as the basis of comparison. 



Equivalent Quantities of Food 



With one exception (bran), the degree of concordance shown 

 in this comparison between the " theoretical " (starch equivalent) 

 feeding values and the " practical " feeding values is little less 

 than remarkable and it must be obvious, even to the layman, 

 that a method which, even when applied in somewhat rough 

 fashion, can give such an approximation to the results of prac- 

 tice, is worthy of a thorough and extended trial. There can be 

 little doubt that when its foundations have been more thoroughly 

 explored and the limits of its applicability more precisely de- 

 fined, it will become a permanent instrument in controlling 

 feeding practice on the farm. 



1 Loc cit. pp. 582-93. 



2 Journal of the Board of Agriculture, April 1905, 23. 



3 Grundziige einer wirtschaftlichen Erndhrung der Milchkiihe, Berlin, 1909. 



4 Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, 3rd Series, viii. 698 (1897). 



