36 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Perhaps it may be well here to illustrate the point, of the variation 

 through feeding for different purposes. 



A common crop, one which we are all growing, and which we cal- 

 culate lies at the foundation of successful agriculture, is English 

 haj'. A ton of English ha}' contains 31 pounds of nitrogen, the 

 same material we have been speaking of, and which is an element of 

 fertility, and as I said before, an element existing in the structure 

 of the plant. In addition it contains 8.2 pounds of phosphoric 

 acid, and 26.4 pounds of potash. Now 3'ou see if that ton of 

 English ha}' is sold from the farm all that amount of fertilizing 

 material goes with it, and is lost to the farm. 



In a ton of clover hay there is found 39.4 pounds of nitrogen, 

 11.2 pounds of phosphoric acid, and 36.8 pounds of potash. 



Let me say here that these figures are no myth ; you may just as 

 well settle right down to the conviction that they are facts. These 

 figures are derived from a large number of examinations and are 

 the averages ; and whether you have already accepted them or not, 

 it is a fact that the sooner you accept them as approximately reliable 

 the better it will be for j'ou and your farm. It is not theory ; but a 

 matter of fact, proved from examinations, which cannot be disputed. 

 The amount of these several ingredients contained by the different 

 kinds of farm crops can be read from the table. 



If these farm crops are fed to the stock onl}* a portion of the 

 ingredients named is retained by the animal ; the larger part remains 

 upon the farm. Let us, as a starting point in this connection, see 

 what percentage of the 31 pounds of nitrogen in a ton of English 

 ha}' will remain after having been fed. It will make a difference as 

 to what you are feedmg for. For instance, you are growing a steer 

 and feeding English ha}'. Now what are you doing? Instead of 

 building a corn plant you are building a steer, and you are building 

 that steer out of the same material that you would build a corn 

 plant. You are building up bone structure. What do you use in 

 building up bone structure? You use a portion of the phosphoric 

 acid to form the bone of the steer. . You are also building up the 

 muscular tissue of the animal, and you are using nitrogen for that 

 purpose. 



Supposing you are fattening a beef, what are you doing? Are 

 you growing bone? Not all ; the bone has been previously grown ; 

 you are now only laying on fat. And what is this fat really — where 

 does it come from — that you are putting upon the ox? It is mostly 



