50 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



depends on the individuality of the cow and the coarse fodder 

 used. We can formulate a ration for certain purposes, but we 

 cannot tell you how much of it to feed. 



Question. — Is gluten meal better than oil meal or oil cake, 

 and where can we get it? 



Mr. Smith. — • jSTo; it will not take the place of oil meal. It is 

 a good food, when mixed with bran, but there is but little gluten 

 meal on the market; what we buy for gluten meal is mostly 

 gluten feed, in which, as a rule, corn bran has been mixed, a food 

 having only 10 or 11 per cent, of protein. This greatly adulter- 

 ates the gluten feed. If you can get good gluten meal at $20 

 to $21 per ton. it will be more profitable than will oil meal at 

 $29. But there is a lack of mineral matter in gluten meal, and, 

 when too much is fed, the " cow soon goes off her feed." We 

 mix it half and half with wheat bran for our cows at the Geneva 

 Station. 



Question. — How about cotton seed meal? 



Mr. Smith. — It is very rich in protein and constipating in its 

 nature; therefore, it is unsafe to feed too much of it. I should 

 not start with more than half a pound and would not increase it 

 beyond two pounds per day. 



Question. — Would it pay best to sell oats at 32 cents a bushel 

 and buy bran at $17 per ton, to mix with gluten meal? 



Mr. Witter. — I do not like to answer the question, for I dis- 

 like to sell anything off the farm which I know is good. Oats 

 have a ratio of 1 to 6, nearly perfectly balanced, while wheat 

 bran has one of nearly 1 to 4; but oats have another value 

 known by some as nerve power, something the bran does not 

 have. But, from a money standpoint, if a man has to draw his 

 oats to the mill, it would, no doubt, be better to sell the oats and 

 buy bran — at the prices named — if he has ensilage to feed. 



Question. — Do you raise oats and peas on the Geneva Station 

 farm to feed cows in summer ? 



Mr. Smith. — Sometimes, when we have a piece of land for 

 which we have no other special use. We had such a piece last 

 summer, but the dry weather nearly ruined the crop. We get 

 more value from our alfalfa. If oats and peas are sown, the 

 peas should be sown deeply, and there should be several sowings 

 at intervals of 10 days to secure best results. 



Question. — Which is most profitable, bran at $17 per ton or 

 gluten feed, containing 27 per cent, protein, at $22 per ton; or 

 should one use a combination of the two? 



