770 



EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



The tUila fur coui[)osition uiid digestibility iire summarized iu tlie following 



table on the dry matter basis : 



I 



Comiiosifiun (inil coefficients of dhjestihUitii of iJrii tiuitter of feeduifi staffs. 



Kind i)f feeil. 



Corn fodder: 



Comiiosition. 



Digostibility. 

 Alfalfa hay: 



Composition. 



Digestibility- 

 Timothy hay: 



Composition. 



Digestibility- 

 Native hay: 



Composition. 



Digestibility- 

 Saltbush: 



Comiiosition 



Digestibility- 

 Sorghum: 



Composition 



Digcstibility- 



80 per 



eent 



alcohol 



Per ct. 

 29.61 

 73.79 



27.50' 

 73.88 



21.12 

 61.08 



21.50 

 58.55 



22.06 

 70.49 



35.60 

 81.74 



Cold 

 water 



Per ct. 



4.. 59 



54.16 



6.95 

 85.06 



5.87 

 73.86 



6.94 

 73.15 



4.02 

 62.86 



Hot 

 water 



and 



malt 



ex- 

 tract. 



Per ct. 



54.37 



4.37 

 70.24 



2.98 

 49.21 



2.85 

 37.69 



5. 81 

 73.54 



7.55 



76.82 



1 per 

 eent 

 HCl 



Per ct. 



19.90 

 69.42 



12.23 

 60.20 



20.23 

 60.69 



20.80 

 64.04 



19.46 

 39.87 



18.22 

 48.95 



1 per 



cent 



NaOH 



Per 

 13. 

 36. 



16-. 

 67. 



17. 

 48. 



16. 

 32. 



10. 

 49. 



11. 

 24. 



Chlo- 

 rin, 



etc.. 

 ex- 

 tract. 



Per ct. 

 3.55 



8.76 

 25.39 



5.23 

 3.28 



10.28 

 6.28 



4.45 

 4.53 



Cellu- 

 lose. 



Per ct. 

 25.32 

 54.00 



22.29 

 52.67 



25.96 

 41.61 



27.11 

 50.57 



18.74 



28.97 



18. (U 

 47.41 



Energy of total 

 dry matter. 



Cal. 



per lb. 



4,iM4 



4,363 

 4,415 



4,;i49 

 3,886 

 3,890 



Pro- 

 portion 

 avail- 

 able. 



Per ct. 



.56.00 



62.43 

 "47^83 

 48.34 

 3<xi6 

 "55^72 



In the author's opinion, the methods which he has followed possess certain 

 advantages, and this question and other matters are taken up in his discussion 

 of the work. He calls attention to the fact that the extract obtained by boiling 

 repeatedly with 80 per cent alcohol is the most important part of the fodder 

 and contains a large, if not the largest, proportion of nitrogenous material and 

 very large quantities of other matters. Since water alone will extract as much 

 as 40 per cent of alfalfa hay the reason why such hay is easily damaged by 

 rain is obvious. The alcoholic extract, including its nitrogenous constituents, 

 is highly digestible and, according to the author's results with the feeding 

 stuffs studied, furnishes the animal with a larger proportion of energy than any 

 of the other constituents. Fairly large proportions of the cellulose residue were 

 found to be digestible, over one-half being assimilated in the case of fodders, 

 which gave good feeding results. The energy which it supplied was also large. 



According to the author, while his results do not in any way lessen the value 

 which should be placed f)n the nitrogenous constituents of fodder, they do show 

 that the value of a fodder depends largely upon the character of its other con- 

 stituents. The great difference in tlie value of the '1 fodders — alfalfa and salt- 

 bush — is that the former is excellent and the latter poor, owing to dift'erences in 

 the character of the carbohydrates present. In each case the prpteids are abun- 

 dant and well digested. 



On alfalfa hay the ^ sheep gained pounds in ^^ days. On saltbush there was 

 a loss of 8.5 lbs. 



Corn fodder was found to be a satisfactory feed, producing a gain of 3.5 lbs. 

 in the 3 sheep used. Timothy hay. native hay, and sorghum were not studied to 

 the same extent as the other materials. " Of these three, the native hay is the 

 only one on which the lot made a gain. One shee]) made a gain of 0.5 lb. on the 

 timothy, but each of the others showed a loss, so that the lot showed a slight 

 loss. . . . The native hay and corn fodder are apparently much more similar 

 than any other two of the six ; they gave the same feeding "esults and both 

 effected it at a comparatively small cost of energy. . . . 



