559 



made were sugar beet farms, either with or without distilleries, and 

 the methods of inaiiagemeut were essentially similar aud the herds 

 not very different from one another, there was nothing in the wa^' of 

 experiments on a eommon plan. At the same time the authors are par- 

 ticular to warn against too general application of the results, the more 

 so as they have largelj^ to do with pecuniary profits. 



The concenti'ated feeding stuffs used in these experiments, namely, 

 cotton-seed, palm nut, peanut and barley meals, and the hay and 

 straw of the coarse fodder, were analyzed in advance. The beet and 

 potato residues had to be analyzed from time to time during the 

 l^rogress of the experiments. The digestibility of each feeding stufi;' 

 was computed by use of Wolff's coefficients (as given in Mentzel und 

 V. Lengerlie's landic. Kaleiider), except that for the protein in a consid- 

 erable number of cases determinations of digestibility were made by 

 Stutzer's method.* Using the proportions of digestible nutrients as 

 computed from the figures for composition and digestibility, the quan- 

 tities of the several feeding stuffs in each ration were calculated aud 

 fed to the animals. In thus making up the rations some difficulty was 

 experienced from the fact that the straw was fed ad libitum and the quan- 

 tities which the animals consumed were variable, hence changes were 

 required in the quantities of the other materials so as to make the 

 rations as a whole uniform. There was, however, only one instance in 

 which it was not practicable to make the rations satisfactory (series 

 B, p. 562.) 



One valuable feature of the experiments as tests of the economy 

 of tbe different rations was the method of estimating the financial 

 results. The accounts were kept on each farm by a system proposed by 

 a specialist in agricultural bookkeeping, Professor Howard of the Agri- 

 cultural Institute of the University of Leipsic, and carried out under 

 his direction on a considerable number of farms. In the reports of the 

 experiments estimates are made of the pecuniary gain or loss with each 

 ration. For this purpose valuations appropriate to the locality were 

 made of the feeding stuffs consumed, the milk, the increase of live 

 weight of fattening animals, and the manure produced. The valua- 

 tions of manui'e were based upon the quantities of nitrogen and phos- 

 phoric acid as estimated from the composition of the feeding stuffs. 

 Xo account was taken of the potash or other ingredients. In making 

 these estimates it was assumed that all of the nitrogen and phosphoric 

 acid of the fodder which was not stored in the bodies of tlie animals 

 or converted into milk would be saved in the manure. The estimates 

 of cost of care and keeping of the animals included interest on capital 



* The accuracy of the estimates of digestible protein in these experiments has 

 been called in question by Pfeiffer, Centralbl. f. agr. Chem., 1890, p. 424, but 

 explanations by Professor Maercker (ibid., p. 553), with details not given in the 

 report, sho^v that they were made as correctly as the circumstances would allow, and 

 are to be relied upon. 



