FERTILIZER CONTROL STATION. 



345 



The above figures show the total gain in live weight from feeding 

 the several rations. As the exact weight of food eaten in each case 

 is known, we are now prepared to calculate the cost of production 

 with the various kinds and quantities of food. The prices at which 

 the foods are reckoned are about the average prices for the season 

 of 1886-7, viz: Hay SIO per ton, corn meal Si. 20 per hundred 

 pounds, and cotton-seed meal at $26 per ton. 



There are two standpoints from which to view the matter of win- 

 ter feeding. We may consider the actual cost of a pound of growth 

 based upon the total quantitj- of food consumed, or we may compare 

 the relative advantages of ieeding merely a maintenance ration, and 

 a ration that produces growth, more or less. 



Some farmers wish to winter their young stock an}- way, and they 

 hesitate between the polic}' of feeding liberalh', and that of turning 

 out steers in the spring weighing about what they do when driven 

 to the barn in the fall. In this experiment we can calculate the cost 

 of a maintenance ration, and also the added cost of feeding enough 

 more or enough better food to produce more or less growth. If a 

 farmer purposes to winter young cattle, and wishes to know the most 

 profitable plan, he should consider whether the diflTerence between 

 the cost of a maintenance ration and a growing ration is balanced 

 by the value of the growth obtained. In presenting the financial 

 results of this feeding experiment, therefore, there is given in the 



