VALUE OF CLOVER AS STOCK FEED 



D, P. Witter, Berkshire, N. Y. 

 Farmers' Institute Lecturer 



THE FUNCTIONS OF FOOD 



The value of any one article of food 

 depends to some extent upon what is 

 desired to be accomplished, with what 

 other foods it is to be fed, its digestibility, 

 palatability, and many other conditions. 



As all animals need certain elements 

 to maintain life, if growth, production, or 

 labor are performed, additional food will 

 be required to meet these needs. All 

 plants contain all of the elements neces- 

 sary to maintain life and the added re- 

 quirements of growth, labor, and production; but the diiferent 

 plants contain these elements in greatly varying amounts. This 

 fact necessarily makes one plant worth much more than some 

 other plants for feeding. 



Generally speaking, we may say the plants that contain the 

 elements we desire in largest proportion, and, if fed alone as a 

 roughage, come nearest to being a balanced ration, are most valu- 

 able. The cost of production and condition of soil after the crop 

 has been removed should also be taken into consideration, but a 

 treatise on growing clover may be found elsewhere in this bulletin, 

 therefore that phase of the subject will not be considered in this 

 article. (See page 2854.) 



VALUE OF CLOVEIt AS A SOURCE OF PROTEIN OR NITROGEN 



It is very fortunate for the farmer that the plants containing 

 the most expensive elements of food in greatest amount also leave 

 most in the roots to rot and enrich the soil. The most expensive 

 element in food, for both plants and animals, is nitrogen. This 

 is found to greater extent in clover than in most other plants, 

 about one-sixth of the protein being niti'ogen. 



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