FERTILIZER CONTROL STATION. 343 



not in any way account for, but is rather opposed to. the large de- 

 crease in the flow of milk during the second period. 



Experiment in Feeding for Groavth. 



The questions involved in this experiment are two, viz: (1) 

 Economy in the quantity of food, and (2) Economy in the com- 

 position of the food. 



Ten steers, not far from eighteen months old, exceptionally uni- 

 form in size and qualit}', were used in this experiment. They were 

 divided into five pairs, selected so a5 offset as much as possible any 

 differences in size, qualit3% &c., and each pair was given a ration 

 differing in some respects from the food of any other pair. The va- 

 rious rations fed were the following : 



Ration A 15 lbs. mixed hay (mostly Timothy). 



T, X- T, 02 lbs. mixed hay, 



^^^'^^^ I 3h r cornmeal 



C 12 lbs. mixed hay, 

 Bation C < 2 " corn meal, 



C 1^ " cotton-seed meal or linaeed meal. 



C 10 lbs. mixed hay, 



Bation D < 5 " corn meal, 



C 2 " cotton-seed meal or linseed meal. 



£ 12 lbs. oat straw, 



Bation E < 2 " corn meal, 



( 2 '• cotton-seed meal or linseed meal. 



It is important to notice certain points of comparison in these ra- 

 tions : 



(1) Ration A was intended for a maintenance ration. 



(2) Rations B and C were intended to produce moderate growth, 

 are alike in quantity, but C differs from B in being much more ni- 

 trogenous. 



(3) Ration D was intended to produce liberal growth. It differs 

 from ration C but little except in quantity. 



(4) Ration E has oat straw substituted for the mixed hay, the 

 grain fed being an increase of one-half pound of cotton-seed meal 

 over the grain of ration C. 



The steers were fed on the experimental rations during two pe- 

 riods of sixty-nine (69) days each, and the various rations were fed 

 to different animals in the second period than in the first, this being 

 done in order to eliminate the errors due to the differences in ani- 

 mals. In all cases the food offered was completely consumed, and 

 throughout the feeding period the animals were well and ate heartily. 



