108 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL 



One hundred pounds of digestible protein, fat and starch, costs 

 in 



Protein. Fat. Starch. 



Timothy Hay, $6.70 |6.70 $L40 



CloverHay, 4.30 4.30 .90 



Corn Meal, 4.90 4.90 1.00 



Brewers' Grains, - -- 2.80 2.80 .60 



Cotton Seed Meal, 2.80 2.80 .GO 



The second table shows that digestible protein in Brewers' 

 grains and cotton seed meal can be bought for about $'2. '75 per 

 hundi-ed pounds, while in corn meal it costs nearly 15.00 per hun- 

 dred pounds, and in timothy hay 16.70 per hundred pounds. A 

 farmer who can sell his Indian meal at $1.12 per hundred, will see 

 that he is receiving live cents per pound for his protein, and can 

 buy for his own use the same material for 2f cents per pound. 



The point now to be explained is how^ to use cotton-seed meal 

 in place of corn meal. By looking at the first table it will be seen 

 that 100 lbs. of cotton seed meal contain 33 pounds of digestible 

 protein ; that we know is enough to last a cow over thirteen days ; 

 it contains too, fat enough to last twenty-one days, while the 

 digestible starch in one hundred pounds is just enough for one 

 day. To express the same idea in another way, we w^ould need 

 only eight pounds of the cotton seed meal to furnish the cow with 

 the 2^ pounds of protein, while the 8 pounds would give twice as 

 much fat and only about ^ as much starch as is necessary. We 

 see then that the cotton-seed meal must be mixed with something 

 which contains a large quantity of digestible starch, and a very 

 small quantity of protein and fat. Wheat straw which contains 

 in one hundred pounds only ^ lbs. of digestible protein and ^ 

 lbs. of digestible fat, while it yields 37^ lbs. of digestible starchy 

 matters would seem to answer our purpose exactly. Tt would do 

 exactly, if a cow were simply a milk machine, but a living crea- 

 ture is much more complicated than any machine can possibly be. 

 One objection would be a difficulty to induce the animal to eat 

 such a large amount of coarse fodder. Another w^ould be a fact 

 not yet mentioned, viz : the digestible food should be contained 

 in a ration which when perfectly free from all traces of moisture, 

 should not w^eigh more than from 24-2S pounds. If the food be 

 mixed with a larger amount of indigestible matter, it is scarcely 

 to be expected that it can be digested and assimilated. Now our* 

 ration of eight pounds of cotton-seed meal and thirty-three pounds 

 of wheat straw would contain almost thirty-five pounds of dry 

 matter, nearlv ten poimds more than is allowable. 



