ToL. V. No. 107. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



171 



FOOD RATIONS. 



And finally, we must ascertain how to blend and 

 apportion tlie foodstuffs available on the West Indian 

 plantation in order to supply the amounts of digestible 

 protein, carbohydrates, and fats indicated as necessary in the 

 answer to the preceding question. 



The composition and digestibility of American and 

 European farm foods, and feeding standards for the varying 

 conditions of farm animals have been laboriously worked out 

 by chemical analysis and by carefully conducted experiments : 

 Lawes and Gilbert, at Ilothamsted, and a number of 

 eminent German and American scientists have contributed to 

 this important work. Two of tlie best-known books in 

 English upon this subject are the classical Farm Foods by 

 Wolff, translated by Mr. H. H. Cousins (Government and 

 Agricultural Chemist at Jamaica), and Feeds and Feeding by 

 Mr. W. A. Henry (Director of the Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, Universitj' of Wisconsin). 



The digestibility of the constituents of West Indian 

 green fodders has not lieen experimentally worked out. In 

 Table I the digestibility of cane meat has been assumed to be 

 approximately the same as that of American Guinea corn 

 meat, while the digestibility of West Indian grasses has been 

 assumed to be approximately the same as that of American 

 l^asture grass. 



Table II gives some of the feeding standards prepared 

 by Wolff, as recently modified by Lehmann. The rations 

 given by Wolff for the horse are here adopted for the mule. 



Table III gives a selection of rations suggested for trial 

 for West Indian plantations. They should not be accepted 

 as absolute but rather as suggestive of rations for cautious 

 trial, to be modified by the planter's own experience. 



The rations suggested for such trial with an ox or a mule 

 moderately worked, using cotton-cake-meal and either cane 

 meat or sour grass are of special importance to sugar planta- 

 tions and are therefore given below. 



For an ox moderately worked, as follows : — 



PER DIEM. 



Per 1,000 ft. live weight. Per ox of 600 ft. 



36 ft. 

 ■5 ft. 



24 ft. 

 4 ft. 



I 



(undecorticated) 



For a mule moderately worked as follows : — 



PEE DIEM. 



Per 1,000 ft. live weight. Per mule of 800 ft. 



Undecorticated, that is, with the hulls. 



40 ft. 

 3 ft. 

 lift. 

 2 -ft. 



DIGESTIBILITY OF GREEN FODDER A'ARIES WITH AGE. 



It should be borne in mind that cane meat and any 

 other green fodder varies very greatly in digestibility and 

 nutritive value according as it is green and succulent or old 

 and dry. 



In the latter case the amount must be increased, and 

 even then, in the absence of other green foddei', the animals 

 will not retain their sleekness. The same considerations 

 apply to grasses. Grasses should be cut just before they 

 burst into flower. What cannot then be used should be 

 made into hay or, in wet weather, into ensilage. In this way 

 the proportion of their ingredients that remain available is 

 greater than if they were allowed to grow old. 



It will be found necessary to introduce cotton seed or 

 cotton-cake-meal gradtially into the rations, in order to 

 accustom the animals to the change of flavour. At first 

 cotton-cake-meal might be mixed with linseed-cake-meal and 

 the quantity of the former gradually increased at the expense 

 of the latter until the full quantity of cotton-cake-meal 

 is used. It might also be flavoured with a little molasses. 



COTTON-CAKE-MEAt, SUPERIOR TO COTTON SEED AS A FEEDING 

 STUFF OR MANURE. 



An important question is the relative feeding value of 

 cotton seed (disintegrated) and cotton-cake-meal. In Table 

 III prominence is given to cotton-cake-meal because it is 

 believed that whenever an oil factory renders this course 

 possible, the planter will give preference to that form. 



The primary object of using any form of cotton seed 

 product for feeding purposes is to obtain protein to balance 

 the carbohydrates of the green fodder. This can be readily 

 effected by the use of cotton seed, but as a rule, only by 

 giving at the same time a large excess of fat. 



If, for example, with cane meat, cotton seed, whole or 

 disintegrated, is used in sufficient amount to balance the 

 carbohydrates and afford rations for the animals enumerated 

 in Table III, the accompanying excess of fat amounts to from 

 -i- ft. to 2-^ ft. of fat per diem. 



The objection to this excess of fat is not confined to the 

 waste of the oil, a valuable article of commerce. Such 

 authorities as Wolff, in Germany, and Henry, in the United 

 States, emphasize the fact that excess of fats (and they 

 specify the fat of cotton seed) when fed to working oxen and 

 horses causes digestive derangement. As a result, not only is 

 the fat lost but the digestive system is upset, and by purging 

 or other means parts of the protein and carbohydrates are 

 also lost. The e.xcess of fat is therefore not only a waste in 

 itself, but causes waste of other valuable constituents of the 

 food. 



This is the view of scientific authorities on farm foods. 

 Practical cotton farmers in the Southern States of America 

 show that experience bears this out by sending their cotton 

 seed to be crushed at central mills, either for cash (average 

 price, U.S.A. season 1900-3, $15'75 per ton, see Lam- 

 bornes' Cotton Setd Products) or for a return of 800 ft. of 

 decorticated meal (equivalent to about 1,800 ft. of undecorti- 

 cated cake-meal) per 1 ton of seed. That is, they give up 

 part of the oil just for extraction of that part of the oil from 

 the seed. 



