448 



EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



The milk of each cow at each milking was weighed ami in each 

 period a 3-days' composite sample was taken for testing. The fat found 

 was calculated to butter by adding one fifth. 



The results of the trial are tabulated and the following summary 



given : 



Siimmarij of milk and huttcr 2»'0(hiced. 



Digpstiblo mattf^r eaten 



INIilk in-o(lucc,l 



Butter inoducfd 



Milk per 100 lbs. digestible matter 



Butter per 100 lbs. digestible matter. . 



Period I. 



Lot 1. Lot 2 



Pounds. 



837. 60 



1, 256. t:0 



54.10 



150. 00 



6.46 



Pounds. 



832. 20 



1, 156. 00 



56.47 



139. 00 



6.79 



Lot 1. 

 roots. 



Lot 2, 

 silage. 



Pounds. 



945. 80 



1, 299. 20 



61.88 



137. 36 



6.53 



Pounds. 



813.20 



1, 072. 80 



58. 61 



131.92 



7.21 



Period III. 



Lot 1. Lot 2 



Pounds. 



1, 373. 20 



1. 328. 10 



62. 66 



96.71 



4.56 



Pounds. 



1, 375. 80 



1, 170. 50 



62. 49 



85.07 



4.54 



"Lot 2 produced 5.1 per cent more butter per 100 lbs. of digestible matter cou- 

 suiiicd tbau lot 1 in period i, A\ben all animals were fed alike on a ration of combined 

 roots and silage; in period ll, being fed the same amount of dry matter in tlie 

 form of silage, and lot 1 an equal amount of dry matter in the form of roots, tbe 

 difference in tbe butter produced per 100 lbs. of digestible matter was increased to 

 10.4 per cent. In other words, lot 1 should have produced in period ii 6.86 lbs. of 

 butter per 100 lbs. of digestible material consumed; when, as shown by the table, 

 it only produced 6. .53 lbs., showing a net gain in favor of silage of 5.0 per cent. . . 



"In periods i and iii the amount of digestible nutrients consumed by each lot of 

 cows was very nearly equal, but in period ii, in which roots were fed against silage, 

 there is a material difference, due mainly to the higher digestibility of the roots, but 

 in a small part also, to the greater quantity of coarse fodder consumed in this period 

 by the cows receiving roots. . . . 



"In period ii, when silage was fed against roots, every animal receiving a silage 

 ration made a gain in live weight, while 4 of the 5 animals receiving the roots ration 

 lost weight. The silage lot made a total gain of t)0 lbs. and the roots lot lost 62 

 lbs., making a total difference of 152 lbs. in favor of silage. The loss sustained by 

 tbe cows receiving roots was i>raclically regained within the same number of days 

 in the next period, when they were fed an equivalent amount of dry matter in 

 silage." 



Potatoes for stock feeding (Jo^fr. [British] lUJ.Agr.^ 1 {189 4), No. 1., 

 pp. ^5-2s). — This is an abstract of a paper i)rinted in French by M. 

 Girard, describing au experiment in feeding potatoes to steers and 

 sheep. In the case of both steers and sheep lot 1 received a normal 

 ration of beets, lot 2 a normal ration of potatoes, and lot 3 a large 

 ration of potatoes. The normal ration for steers was 110 lbs. of beets 

 or 55 lbs. of cooked potatoes, with 11 lbs. of chopped straw, 16^ lbs. of 

 hay and 10.^ oz. of salt; and for sheep, 8.8 lbs. of beets or 4.4 lbs. of 

 cooked i>otatoes, with 1.1 lbs. of chopped straw, 1.G5 lbs. of hay, and 

 10 J oz. of salt. The large ration of potatoes was CO lbs. for steers and 

 G.6 lbs. for sheep, the other fodder remaining unchanged. The feeding 

 was continued a numl)er of months. The steers and sheep on the 

 potato rations made much larger gains than those on the beet rations, 

 the gains being largest with the lots on the larger potato rations. 

 The results with one lot of sheep fed raw potatoes were very inferior 

 to those where cooked potatoes were fed. 



