. EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT. 315 



As both are known to exert a decidedly beneficial influence 

 on the absolute and relative nutritive value of a single article 

 of fodder, may it be an entire plant, or a particular part of 

 it, it needs scarcely any farther argument to prove that 

 an economical system of feeding our farm stock ought to 

 begin with an intelligent cultivation of our leading fodder 

 crops. We ought to raise them with a view to promote the 

 special development of their most valuable nutritive constitu- 

 ents ; and to select the crops for cultivation with reference 

 to the particular adaptation of soil, climate and location 

 to favor the j^t'oduction of (he best of its kind. The intro- 

 duction of a greater variety of fodder crops cannot fail to 

 assist materially in gaining the desirable end. To raise 

 good potatoes for family use, or good sugar-beets for the 

 sugar manufacturer, requires a different condition of the soil, 

 as far as the character of its accumulated plant-food is con- 

 cerned, than to raise both crops of a superior quality for 

 feeding purposes. 



A mealy potato is usually rich in starch and, compara- 

 tively speaking, deficient in nitrogenous matter ; and sugar- 

 beets, best adapted for the manufacture of sugar, are rich in 

 sugar, and contain a low percentage of nitrogenous consti- 

 tuents ; they yield to the manufacturer the largest amount 

 of sugar at the lowest expense. 



The gardeu-ftirmer and manufacturer of sugar judge the 

 quality of their respective crops by a standard quite differ- 

 ent from that of the farn-er who, ens^aofed in general farm- 

 ing, considers stock- feedi.ig an important part of his in- 

 dustry. 



To compound an economical and suitable diet for any class 

 of farm animals requires not only a general knowledge of 

 the composition of the fodder on hand, but also a fair 

 acquaintance with the relative proportion of the three groups 

 of essential nutritive constituents they are apt to contain 

 under different conditions of the soil. This kind of infor- 

 mation is as essential for the guidance of the experimenter as 

 the knowledge of the special wants of the animal w'ith re- 

 ference to its organization, age and functions. The wide 

 range of variations in composition which has been noticed 

 in our leading fodder crops when raised upon rich or ex- 



