156 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



placed under similai* conditions and fed with exacth* the same 

 rations. ma\- give large qnantities of milk in the one case, and small 

 quantities in the other ; that the milk may in the one instance be 

 rich, in the other poorer, in fat. An animal must be well selected 

 in order to do what ever}' agriculturist wants, that is, to give a pay- 

 ing return for the fodder which it consiunes. 



From the composition of milk we see that the albuminoid which 

 occurs in largest quantity in it is casein, while the most important 

 non-nitrogenous substance in it is the fat. 



The feeding of milch cows with highl}- albuminous food has a 

 very favorable effect upon the production of milk ; cows fed in this 

 way will jield a rich and abundant supply of milk longer than when 

 fed with fodder poor in albuminoids. The production of milk will 

 rapidh' become less when there is a decrease in the amount of albumi- 

 noids in the fodder, although the amount of digestible albuminoids 

 in the fodder ma}- be quite large enough. Experiments of this kind 

 were made at Mockern, and the production of milk was decreased 

 b}' two litres (4.2 pints) per cow per da}'. At Hohenheim, there 

 was a decreased daily production for each cow of five litres (10.5 

 pints) . The rations were abnormal as well as the appearance of the 

 animals, although they scarcely varied in weight during the experi- 

 ments. Good milch cows will give large quantities of milk even 

 when the fodder is rather poor in albuminoids ; sometimes it even 

 occurs that the body itself furnishes what may be lacking in very 

 poor fodder. This cannot last long, however, nor must the fodder 

 fall below a certain nutritive ratio. The best feeding will not make 

 a good milch cow out of a poor one, and ii is a waste of money to 

 keep such. 



The casein of milk is formed by the changes which the albumi- 

 noids of the fodder undergo, the fat is also produced in great part 

 by the albuminoids together with that already existing in the fodder. 



From experiments tried at Munich it would seem that sugar of 

 milk is derived from the albuminoids and fats. Sugar of milk in 

 the milk of carnivorous animals, subjected to a purely animal diet 

 of flesh and fat, can only be formed by the transformation of 

 albumin and fat ; while it seems probable that for herbivorous ani- 

 mals the curl)ohydrates may take part in its formation also. 



From numerous experiments wiiich have been performed with 

 great accuracy, it has been deduced that the daily quantity of digesti- 

 ble albuminoids necessary for milch cows is about 1.250 kilogrammes 



