FERTILIZER CONTROL STATION. 319 



The most of these feeding stuffs are those used in the digestion 

 and feeding experiments reported farther on. 



Explanalions. *The analysis of any plant or animal substance 

 with reference to its use as a cattle food does not go so far as to de- 

 termine the percentage of every single ingredient in the material 

 analyzed, but only aims to learn the percentages of certain classes 

 of compounds, the members of each class having a close resemblance 

 in composition and in nutritive effect. Thus we have in all fodder 

 tables several columns of figures headed by the following terms : 

 Water, Ash, Protein, Crude Fiber, Nitrogen-free Extractive Matter, 

 and Fats. As these terms are in constant use, not only in this re- 

 port but in all agricultural literature, the}' are made the subject of 

 such explanations as seem necessarv in order to show their relation 

 to animal nutrition. 



The water or moisture of cattle foods, of which all contain more 

 or less, is measured by the loss of weight which takes place when 

 the substance is dried for some time at the temperature of boiling 

 water, or 212° Fahrenheit. The percentage of water is ver\' large 

 in green crops, and comparative!}' small in all dried materials. In 

 all feeding stuffs which exist in the air-dry condition, the percentage 

 of moisture varies greatly according to the state of the atmosphere, 

 80 that in rain}' or moist weather a given quantity of hay or grain 

 that is at all exposed to the air will weigh considerable more than 

 during a time of dryness. Freshly cured hay and newly harvested 

 grain contain much more water than old hav and 2;rain, the differ- 

 ence being an important consideration in buying or selling by weight. 

 While the water in cattle foods has no nutritive value above water 

 that an animal drinks, its presence or absence often has a marked 

 influence upon the palatableness of feeding stuffs. 



The as/i, or mineral part of any food stuff, is that which is left 

 after the combustible portion is burned away, and includes quite a 

 number of compounds. The amount of ash in plants is influenced 

 in a marked manner by their age, and conditions of growth, such as 

 locality, kind of manuring, &c. The mineral compounds of cattle 

 foods fill an important place in furnishing the material for building 

 up the bony framework of the animal. 



Protein (or albuminoids) is a collective term that includes quite a 

 variety of compounds, which are distinguished from the members of 



♦These explanations arc quoted from the last report for the same reasons that seemed to 

 justify the repetition of the explanations in regard to fertilizers. , 



