New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 



541 



Digestible Nutrients in Two Rations as Calculated and as Actually 



Detekminkd. 



Fats. 



Ration 1. j Actual.... 

 ^'*t'""2. ; Actual.... 



Lbs. 



0.57 

 .99 

 .83 



1.01 



The closeness of agreement between what was actually di- 

 gested from these rations and the calculated amounts is en- 

 couraging. Variations greater than those observed in these 

 trials doubtless occur, but if the calculated and the actual di- 

 gestible organic matter will agree within one-fourth or even one- 

 half a pound, such a calculation insures much greater accuracy 

 and certainty than could be secured by any other method. 



Two events do not establish a rule but these here noted are 

 regarded as important and significant. 



TJie influence of the quantity of food eaten upon its digestibility. — 

 The results of the comparison of the " full " and " half " ration 

 show the latter to be uniformly more fully digested. This out- 

 come conflicts with the teachings of certain former experiments. 

 Wolfif's experiments* with clover hay alone and with clover hay 

 and roots fed to oxen and sheep appear to demonstrate that the 

 digestibility of a ration is not influenced by its size. 



Later investigationf gave the same results when lucerne hay 

 was fed to both sheep and the horse. On the contrary WeiskeJ 

 found that when oats were fed to dogs the digestibility was in- 

 versely proportional to the amount eaten. 



In our experiment the difference between the large and small 

 rations is too large and too uniform to be explained by errors. 



* Die Ernahrung. 



fLandw. Versuchs Stationen, XXI, p. 20. 



% Landw. Versuchs Stationen, LXI, p. 145. 



