528 Report of the Department op Animal Husbandry op the 



This analysis of maize pith does not furnish any reason why 

 its removal from the stover should be favorable to increased 

 digestibility, or why the pith itself should not be nearly as di- 

 gestible as the remainder of the stalk, leaves and husks. 



The Comparative Digestibility op Maize Stover with 

 AND Without the Pith. 



It was deemed essential that in order to get reliable evidence 

 on this point the materials compared should be entirely alike in 

 origin and treatment. The well known variations in digestibility 

 caused with coarse fodders by the conditions of growth, the period 

 of harvesting and the manner of curing, demand that this prob- 

 lem shall be studied with the use of stover from a single lot of 

 corn, harvested at the same time and cured in the same manner. 

 The lot of stover used satisfied all these requirements. 



As before stated, the pith was removed from one-half of each 

 bundle of stover, the other half remaining in its ordinary condi- 

 tion. These materials were ground in an iron feed mill, not to so 

 fine a condition as is the case with the New Corn Product but 

 sufiflciently so to allow very thorough mixing and sampling. 



Four young healthy wethers were selected for the digestion 

 exiperiment. They were fed 600 grams of material daily. The 

 preliminary period of feeding occupied eight days and the feces 

 were collected during five days. 



The composition of the stover has already been given and the 

 other essential data are shown in the tables which follow. 



