56 The Bulletin 



stated, the hollow stemmed plants and legumes do not make the same quality 

 of feed as corn or allied plants or as they do when cured as hay. Taken as a 

 whole, corn, sorghum, kafir corn, with possible mixtures of these and other 

 crops at times, possihly the legumes, seem to be the wisest course to follow. 

 There may be objections or criticisms to these statements, but it is believed 

 in general they summarize the silage crop problem for the South. 



In general, what would be obtained from a crop cured as hay would be 

 true on a comparative basis when it was prepared as silage. Judging from 

 this the increase in value as a silage crop would in general be in direct pro- 

 portion to that of other crops. 



Feeding Dairy Cattle. 



R. L. Sloan. 



BOOT MAINTENANCE. 



The bcdy of any living organism, whether animal or plant, requires food 

 and drink for its maintenance. Withhold drink from a plant or tree dur- 

 ing its active growing period and it will wither the first day. Cease to water 

 and feed your cow or any other animal, man included, and the result will in- 

 evitably terminate in death. Such is the penalty nature has fixed for dis- 

 obedience of her laws and from which there is no appeal. 



In nature's laboratory, the body of the animal now under discussion, there 

 is a constant need for new food material to furnish fuel for heat and energy 

 which characterize the living from the dead. Just as water possesses power 

 for turning a water wheel but once, and the supply must be continuous in 

 order to keep the wheel turning, so the food consumed by an animal is soon 

 spent, and to keep the forces of life in motion a new supply must be forth- 

 coming. 



This food, after being taken into the body and undergoing digestion, is 

 transformed by some magic power incomprehensible to scientists into sensi- 

 tive living tissue. This transformation of inert material into living, as do 

 all the other processes of life, calls for the expenditure of energy and heat, 

 which can only be obtained from assimilated food. A part of the energy 

 value of food is consumed chewing, swallowing and digesting that which is 

 eaten, for no organ of the body can be induced to work without pay. The 

 heart must receive pay in advance through energy stored from food pre- 

 viously eaten for every beat which sends the life-sustaining blood into all 

 parts of the body. Likewise the contracting muscles which keep us involun- 

 tarily breathing day and night must burn their midnight oil collected from 

 food stored away in the body. The temperature of the blood must be main- 

 tained about the same throughout the year (98.6 F. in man) regardless of 

 atmospheric conditions. Add to all of this the energy required for tissue re- 

 pair when injured, for growth and reproduction. Now if work is to be per- 

 formed or milk produced or fat added, an additional amount of food must 

 be supplied after providing for all of the above. 



Plants take the elements and simple compounds and combine them into 

 substances which we have learned to call carbohydrates, fat, and protein. 

 These same compounds when eaten by an animal, after being taken into its 

 body, are separated, transported and rearranged according to the function 

 of the animal, thus completing another span in the transformation of erst- 

 while inert matter. 



Each class of compounds has a duty to perform in moulding the life of the 

 animal. Protein is necessary to the normal development of the framework — 

 bone, muscle, nerve, blood, hair, hoof and hide. Carbohydrates enter into 

 tissue formation, and greatest of all they form, when burned, the basis of 

 heat and energy for carrying on the work of the body. Fat is a reserve sup- 

 ply of heat and energy stored away, for economy of space, in a more con- 

 centrated form than carbohydrates, to be drawn on as needed. If for any 

 reason the fat is withheld from the feed of the animal enough of this com- 

 pound may be manufactured from protein and carbohydrates to sustain life, 

 or even to add fat to the body. Should the carbohydrates be deficient in the 

 ration energy heat may be obtained to carry on the processes of life from 



