36 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



FARM-MANAGEIklENT. 



ESSEX. 

 COMPAKATIVE VALUE OF CROPS FOR FODDER. 



BY ANSEL W. PUTNAM. 



The feeding-value of crops depends upon the conditions 

 under which they are fed, as well as upon the character of 

 the crops. There may be conditions under which a ton of 

 meadow hay, worth in market fifteen dollars, has a higher 

 feeding-value than a ton of upland hay, worth in market 

 twenty-five dollars. 



Fodder-crops are now classified according to their ratio of 

 albuminoids to carbo-hydrates. Animals to be fed are divid- 

 ed into two classes, — those at work and those at rest. Ani- 

 mals that are being fatted, or that are giving milk, are 

 classed as work animals. The fodder tables, founded upon 

 German experiments, published by Professor Atwater of the 

 Connecticut Experiment Station, show that it is not good 

 economy to feed animals at rest with food rich in albumi- 

 noids : such food should be saved for animals at work. 



The results of a winter's experience with these tables may 

 interest some members of the society. The summer of 1876 

 was very hot and dry: the hay-crop and crops for soiling 

 were short, and, when winter came, there was very little in 

 the barn. Whether to sell stock, or buy food, was the ques- 

 tion to be answered. After a careful study of the tables, 

 and of the market-price of the different kinds of fodder, it 

 was decided to buy food. A comparison of the tables with 

 the price-list showed that carbo-hydrates would be furnished 

 at much lower rates in bog-meadow and salt-marsh hay than 

 in good upland hay; and that albuminoids were lowest in 

 shorts and cotton-seed-meal. A car-load of shorts was 

 bought at sixteen dollars per ton, and four tons of cotton- 



