370 



It will be at once seen that, as in 1889, we received no return in the production of 

 butter fat from the grain fed. In the whole experiment we have 1.58 pounds per 

 cow, or about 4f pounds in all to show for the consumption of 2,822 pounds of wheat 

 bran and cotton-seed meal by lot 2. The manurial value of the grain fed and the 

 saving in the amount of pasture consumed by the grain-fed cows would amount to 

 considerable, but not enough, by far, to counterbalance the extra cost of the grain ra- 

 tion. While in both years there was, as was to be expected, a continual decrease in 

 the flow of milk, in 1839 the decrease in the grain-fed lot was much greater and more 

 rapid than in the lot that had only j)asture ; but in 1890 the decrease was much more 

 nearly even and was slightly less in the grain-fed lot. There was also a difference in 

 the varying percentages of fat in the milk of both lots in the two seasons that may 

 be, and probably is, due to the difference in the state of the weather and the pastures. 



On one day of each alternate week a separate sample of the milk of 

 each of the native cows was taken and analyzed. The averages of the 

 total butter fat shown by these analyses, compared with the average 

 total amount of butter fat produced per cow by each lot during the en- 

 tire experiment, were as follows : 



Average total Vmtter fat produced per cow 



Total butter fat produced by thin cow (native) . 



It will be seen that not only did the thin cow fed on pasture and grain not yield more 

 milk and butter than her companion that had nothing but grass, but in fact she yielded 

 considerably less. At the time that the selection was made it was thought that the 

 former would in all probability be most likely to be favorably affected by the grain 

 ration. She was the younger, rather the thinner, and seemed to have rather more 

 vitality. For these reasons she was selected to receive the grain ration. She failed 

 entirely to respond to the grain feed in milk and butter, but did gain considerably 

 more in weight, as will be seen when we come to make a study of the changes in live 

 weight. 



This comparison shows the importance of numbers in eliminating individual pecu- 

 liarities. While each lot as a whole produced almost the same amount of butter fat, 

 in the separate members of each lot there were very considerable differences. 



The animals were weighed once a week, in the morning after milk- 

 ing. The table of these weights shows that " the thin cows, No. 3 in 

 each lot, were the ones that made the largest gains," the one in lot 1 

 (pasturage) gaining 07 pounds and the one in lot 2 (pasturage and 

 grain) gaining 208 pounds during the whole experiment. Except in 

 the case of one cow in lot 2 and these two native cows there was a loss 

 in live weight during the whole experiment amounting to from 10 to 93 

 pounds, so that the average live weight of lot 1 (pasturage alone) was 

 37 pounds less per animal, and that of lot 2 (pasturage and grain) only 

 77 pounds more than at the beginning of the experiment. 



Grain wJien cows are soiled. — In this experiment, which was similar 

 to the one detailed above and which was carried on at the same time, 

 the cows were kept in the barn and fed freshly cut grass instead of 

 being at pasture. Two lots of three cows each were used. " The ex- 



