284 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



with cooked meal, and I would hardly know what to compare 

 them with. So far as raw meal is concerned, notwithstanding- the 

 great variation, the rule I laid down holds good almost uniformly: 

 the greater increase of food consumed during the early stage, and 

 the dissemination of fat as the animals fatten. The animals for 

 feeding should not onh r be of the same age, but they should be aa 

 near as possible of the same size, and of the same degree of fat- 

 ness, when they are put into the pen, in order to get a fair oppor- 

 tunity for comparison. 



I have one other suggestion to make in regard to the methods 

 of conducting experiments, and that is the method of obtaining 

 manures. The term manure is a very indefinite term. We take 

 manure from our barnyards at different times, and it will vary 

 very much in quality. The value of manure will depend on feed 

 consumed ; that is a fact well settled. 



It is impossible to make a chemical analysis so as to get the 

 value of it. A chemirt may take a quantity and tell you what 

 there is in the sample, but he cannot analyze each load that you 

 use. The method I would adopt is this : to take the animals and 

 put them into a pen — into a box-stall — and would have it con- 

 structed tight, so there is no chance of losing any of the liquid 

 constituents ; and I would feed to the animals a definite amount 

 of food ; then I would take the results of these articles of food as 

 we have them furnished by chemists in tables, as the measure of 

 the value. Then take the manure from the box, and put it on the 

 plat. By pursuing this method, you may get a number of boxes 

 of precisely the same strength for all parctical purposes. 



In regard to the experiments which it would be desirable to try, 

 I have mentioned but a few. There are many more that suggest 

 themselves to me, and I speak of these simply for the reason that 

 they seem to me as important as any, and for the further reason 

 that I think they would be as easily tried as any. It does not 

 seem to me best to attempt very complicated fwperimeuts at any 

 particular institution, until a long experience has been had in 

 experimenting — until the person experimenting becomes thorough- 

 ly familiar with all the difficulties in the way. For the feed 

 experiments I would simply try to ascertain the value of Indian 

 corn in its different forms. After this is accomplished we may 

 then take other grain in the same manner. After that I would 

 take the grasses. In these experiments it would be desirable to 

 have the same conditions observed by all the experimenters, 



