647 



Feeding experiments with swine (pp. 85-105). — An account is 

 given of experiments Avith twelve pifts, six lots of two eacli, wliich were 

 variously fed as follows : Lots 1 and 2 received skim-milk and corn for 77 

 days, the skim-milk furnisUing two thirds of the digestible matter to lot 

 1 and one third to lot 2, the total amount of digestible matter being the 

 same in both lots; later lot 1 was changed to a ration of one third pea 

 meal and two thiixls corn meal, and lot 2 to water and corn meal. Lots 

 3 and 4 were fc-tl alike on skim-milk and corn meal for 5 months; after 

 this, for nearly 2 months, the skim-milk was replaced by pea meal in 

 the case of lot 3, but the feeding was continued as before with lot 4. 

 Fori month lot 5 received a ration of skim-milk, corn meal, and pota- 

 toes, and lot 6, corn meal and potatoes; for nearly 4 months following, 

 the skim-milk in the ration of lot 5 was replaced by pea meal, lot 6 

 receiving the same ration as at first; from March 20 until October 

 both lots received skim-milk, bran, and corn meal ; and following this 

 a mixture of gluten meal and corn meal, and corn meal alone were 

 fed to both lots in alternate periods. 



Data, including statements of the food eaten, gains in live weight, 

 and a general summary of all the results, are tabulated for each lot by 

 periods. These receive a full discussion, closing with the following 

 statement of the teachings of the experiments : 



(1) lu six feeding periods where the rations compared contained practically the 

 same digestible material, 2,G43 pounds of digestible food witli a nutritive ratio rang- 

 ing from 1 : 5.2 to 1 : 6.1 produced 890 pounds of growth, while 2,651 pounds of diges- 

 tible food with a nutritive ratio varying from 1 : 8.9 to 1 : 9.4 produced 617 pounds of 

 growth. It took nearly one half more food to produce a jiound of growth with one 

 set of rations than with the other. 



(2) A ratio of 1 : 6 was compared with one of 1 : 3.6, and one of 1 : 5.6 was compared 

 with another of 1 : 4.4, the resulting growth being practically the same. 



(3) The advantage of a nitrogenous food in the ration seems to pertain to the fatten- 

 ing period as well as to the period of growth. A mixture of pea meal and corn meal 

 or of gluten meal and corn meal proved to be much more efficient than corn meal 

 alone in feeding animals already well grown and quite fat. The relative growth was 

 from 20 to 60 per cent in favor of the ration containing one of the nitrogenous foods. 



(4) Nitrogenous vegetable food seemed to exert a favorable influence upon the 

 growth of swine, similar to that of skim-milk. Moreover the digestible matter of pea 

 meal and of skim-milk proved to have a nutritive value practically equivalent. 



(5) No marked effect was exerted upon growth by a wide variation in the amount 

 of drink given to the two lots of animals. 



(6) When skim-milk was substituted for part of a ration of corn meal without 

 changing the amount of digestible dry matter fed, the efficiency of the ration was 

 greatly increased. A still further sub.stitution of milk for meal appeared not to 

 materially increase the rate of growth. For instance, a ration one third of the nutri- 

 ents of which wore furnished by skiin-milk in a single trial proved to be worth 

 practically as much as a ration two thirds of the nutrients of which came from 

 skim-milk. 



Tests of several breeds of dairy cows (pp. 106-134).— This 

 is a reiK)rt of the first year's trial of three breeds of cows, Ayrshire, 

 Jersey, and Uolstein, to test their relative value for dairy pui'xjoses. 



