AS FODDER FOR CATTLE. 127 



given alone, and also the advantages which are likely to accrue 

 from the use of properly combined foods. 



At the end of this week the supply of herring meal was again 

 exhausted, but to see whether the two lots of cows would again 

 return to about the same proportions of milk as each had held 

 at the beginning of the experiment, it was determined to carry 

 on the weighing of each cow's milk for three weeks longer, and 

 in the interval feed all alike. 



During the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth weeks, therefore, all 

 the ten cows were fed on 7 lbs. of a mixture of Paisley meal, 

 bean meal, saccharine meal, and cummins, with the usual bulky 

 food. The tenth week those which had received herring meal 

 and maize still showed a daily increase of 1 lb. of milk over 

 those fed in the usual way, which is a reduction of | lb. from 

 the increase of last week. It may, however, be here noticed, 

 that whereas those fed in the usual way fell off none during the 

 week, the ones which had previously had herring meal and maize 

 fell almost h lb. The following week this lot fell off fully 1 lb., 

 while those fed in the ordinary way all along sank scarcely 1 lb., 

 so that it will be seen that the two lots were gradually approach- 

 ing each other. The last week those previously fed on herring 

 meal and maize fell off h lb., while the other ones had a trifling 

 increase. The lot of seven cows on the average of the week 

 have a production of ^ lb. over the lot of three cows. This 

 increase is, however, all made up on the first half of the week, 

 for on the last three days of it they were actually giving less 

 than the others. At the beginning of the experiment, it will be 

 noticed that the lot of three cows were on an average giving 

 4 lbs. milk per day more than the average of the seven cows, 

 and during the last few days of the experiment they had re- 

 turned almost to this identical position — in fact, much nearer 

 to it than I had ever thought it possible to attain. 



This test experiment of fish meal, although fairly satisfactory, 

 and in most particulars confirmatory of the results obtained 

 during the previous summer with the same food, should not, 

 however, be taken as furnishing actual proofs of the value of 

 herring meal as food for dairy cows, but only as one of several 

 such proofs, as agricultural experiments with milk cows are so 

 very apt to have the results contorted either one way or 

 the other, by the particular likes or dislikes of the animals 

 and their surroundings, that it is only from a constant repeti- 

 tion of the same results from different animals under different 

 management, that facts thoroughly to be relied on can be 

 obtained. 



Whether or not the results obtained in these experiments 

 will be borne out in everyday practice, experience only can 

 solve. My present opinion, however, is that they should at 



