856 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



The many questions asked of tbe Experiment Station as to the 

 feeding value of roots and silage, clearly indicate that the value 

 of succulent food for dairy cattle is not fully appreciated by many 

 of the leading farmers iu Pennsylvania to-day. While feeding stand- 

 ards are probably used to-day with a broader and more general 

 application than formerly, yet the value of corn silage has been 

 estimated largely on its constituents as given in the feeding stand- 

 ards. This has had the effect of eliminating largely the proper 

 consideration of the value of silage as a succulent food when fed 

 in combination with other dried coarse fodders and concentrates, 

 both carbonaceous and nitrogenous. The modern tendency has 

 been to supply that form of food which will give the greatest imme- 

 diate returns for the least expenditure of money and effort without 

 ^duly considering the effect that the jiractice may have on the 

 future usefulness of domesticated breeds, which a few master 

 breeders have produced at a great sacrifice. 



The dairy cow by nature is fitted to use to the best advantage 

 large quantities of unripe fodder material iu a fresh condition. 

 This, in a genei-al and rather indefinite way, we have termed "suc- 

 culent food." Dairy animals may be said to be especially prepared 

 to use this juicy and tolerably dilute food to the best advantage, 

 not only for the production of milk and the many milk products, 

 but for the promotion of the general health of the animal which 

 best fits it for the prop'agation of the breed or species as the 

 case may be. Practice has unmistakably shown that the flush 

 of June feed approaches most nearly the ideal food for dairy cows. 



Man in his intense struggle for improvement finds many things 

 in nature that for his purposes may be improved upon. He there- 

 fore changes and shapes them that they may better conform to his 

 uses. In other matters he tries to imitate nature and approach 

 the natural as his highest standard. In supplying the wants of the 

 dairy cow he tries to imitate nature at its best, and thus far he has 

 not been able to make marked improvements on that which nature 

 provides. 



The standard conditions as to food and temperature, for which 

 the dairyman is continually striving to obtain for his herd, is best 

 provided by nature in May and June. 



Jt is said, with a good deal of emphasis by those to whom we look 

 for authority, that every breeder who has made marked improve- 

 ments in our domestic animals, those who have added something 

 material to that with which they were dealing, or in other v/ords, 

 have made some breed of live stock better than they found it, have 

 had a clear-cut standard or ideal toward which they were contin- 

 ually striving. 



High standards, better standards continually kept in mind are 



