368 EXPERIMENT STATION RECOKD. [Vol. 36 



lu digestion experiments sheep readily ate a mixture of English hay, gluten 

 meal, and finely ground vegetable ivory, 10 : 3 : 4 by weight. The average per- 

 centage digestibility of vegetable-ivory meal in two experiments in which five 

 sheep were involved was dry matter 84, protein 36, fat 51, fiber 72, and nitrogen- 

 free extract 92. As another means of testing the digestibility of vegetable- 

 ivory meal an experiment was conducted with sheep in which a basal ration 

 of hay and gluten feed was compared with a ration of the same feeds in like 

 quantities plus 200 gm. of vegetable-ivory meal. Each ration was fed for 14 

 consecutive days and the feces were collected for the last seven days in each 

 period. The feces were tested for total sugar after acid hydrolysis, to note 

 whether the percentage of sugar was higher in the ivory-meal period than in 

 the period without the meal. On a dry-matter basis it was found that the 

 average carbohydrate content, estimated as dextrose, for the feces of the hay, 

 gluten, and ivory-meal period was 2.5.46 per cent and that for the hay and 

 gluten period was 24.68 per cent. From these results it is concluded that very 

 little of the carbohydrate of the vegetable-ivory meal escaped undigested. 



In feeding experiments with cows vegetable-ivory meal was compared with 

 corn meal. In one experiment three pairs of cows were fed on the reversal 

 plan for periods of 5 weeks each a basal ration per cow daily of about 2.5 

 lbs. of wheat bran, 2.5 lbs. of cotton-seed meal, and 20 lbs. of hay. In addi- 

 tion either 3 lbs. of vegetable-ivory meal or 3 lbs. of corn meal were fed. Dur- 

 ing the 70 days the cows gained in weight an average of 15.6 lbs. each on the 

 corn meal ration and 1 lb. each on the vegetable-ivory meal ration. During the 

 35 days the 6 cows were fed the corn meal ration they produced 5,243.5 lbs. of 

 milk, containing 701 lbs. of solids and 239.2 lbs. of fat ; and during the 35 days 

 on the vegetable-ivory meal ration they produced 5,072.7 lbs. of milk contain- 

 ing 681.3 lbs. of solids and 236.1 lbs. of fat. 



In another test with three cows in which a basal ration somewhat below that 

 needed for maintenance and milk production was used the addition of 3 lbs. 

 per cow daily of vegetable-ivory meal for two weeks increased the milk flow 5.7 

 per cent. When the cows were returned to the basal ration the milk decreased 

 4.2 per cent. In another test in which a basal ration with and without vege- 

 table-ivory meal was fed for 81 days the addition of the meal was followed by 

 an increase in milk flow and its removal by a decrease in milk flow. 



In another experiment six cows were fed for eight weeks, exclusive of a pre- 

 liminary period of ten days, a low basal ration of hay, wheat bran, cotton-seed 

 meal, and hominy. In addition three of the cows were fed 2.79 lbs. of vegetable- 

 ivory meal each daily during the first four weeks and the other three cows 

 a like amount of vegetable-ivory meal during the second four weeks. On the 

 basal ration plus vegetable-ivory meal, the six cows produced 3,959 lbs. of milk 

 containing 534!61 lbs. of solids and 190.02 lbs. of fat ; and on the basal ration 

 alone they produced 3,826.6 lbs. of milk containing 492.49 lbs. of solids and 179.84 

 lbs. of fat. 



In another experiment eight cows were fed by the reversal system, each period 

 continuing five weeks. Hay, bran, and cotton-seed meal composed the basal 

 ration to which were added like amounts of dry matter in the form of corn meal 

 and vegetable-ivory meal, i. e., 4.01 lbs. daily per cow of corn meal and 3.75 lbs. 

 daily of vegetable-ivory meal. During the experiment the cows on the ration 

 containing corn meal lost 38 lbs. in weight as compared with a loss of 95 lbs. 

 on the ration containing ivory meal. On the corn meal ration the cows pro- 

 duced 6,931.3 lbs. of milk containing 935.85 lbs. of solids and 337.72 lbs. of fat, 

 and on the vegetable-ivory meal ration they produced 6,403.3 lbs. of milk con- 

 taining 862.23 lbs. of solids and 315.83 lbs. of fat. 



