222 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The science of feeding, then, consists, not merely in giving 

 hay or grain, but in furnishing the requisite amount of pro- 

 teiiie, carbohydrates, fats, and ash, daily, in amounts sufficient 

 for the growth of the animal, or the purpose for which it is 

 kept. With this view, hay cannot be looked upon as a per- 

 fect animal food ; for, while the maturing animal changes 

 at each period his relative demand for proteine, etc., that of 

 the hay remains fixed. I will give the following table, and 

 illustrate. 



The Germans recommend, from their experiments, the fol- 

 lowing amounts, daily, per thousand pounds live weight : — 



I find, as the result of much weighing, that seven steers, 

 weighing five hundred pounds each, will consume, in round 

 numbers, a hundred pounds of such Timothy-hay as we raise 

 on our College Farm. By the table it will be seen that these 

 steers need nine pounds and one-tenth of proteine daily, and 

 forty-seven pounds and six-tenths carbohydrates. Our hay 

 furnishes, by Professor Collier's analysis of it, five pounds and 



