72 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



"lu our cstiiiiatiou the Light Brahmas orthc Plymouth Rocks make by far the best 

 capona. The black Laug.slians are excellent also, albeit they are very slow grower.s. 

 Partridge Cochius are highly spoken of. The Indian games make fine capons, as 

 well as crosses of this species on other large breeds. A turkey was caponized here 

 the last season, but results are not definite enough to warrant a report yet. 



"As to age, many caponizeas soon asthey can distinguish the sex of the chick. The 

 important point is not to wait until the glands are large and the ribs become stiff 

 and unyielding." 



The formation of fat from carbohydrates and the relation of the 

 food to the excretion of hydrocarbons, (x. KtiiiN et al., icpoited by 

 O. Kellnek {Laiidw. Vers. iStat, IJ, pP- :.'-j/-581).—F(iQa\u<^ and res- 

 piration experiments are reported with mature oxen. These experi- 

 ments were made in the years 1882-'84, ISSo-'SO, and 1889-'90. They 

 included 4 series. In the first series meadow liay and wheat starch 

 were fed; in the second, clover hay, oat straw, Avheat starch, and wheat 

 gluten; in the third, meadow hay and wheat starch; and in the fourth, 

 meadow hay, ground meat from which the fat had been extracted, and 

 wheat starch. 



In an introduction the status of the question of tlie formation of fat 

 from carboliydrates is reviewed, and a description is given of the meth- 

 ods employed in the investigation, including an illustrated description 

 of the respiration apparatus. Owing to the extent of the investigation, 

 only a summary of the principal results can be given here. 



As in these experiments not only the digestibility of the food, but 

 also the albuminoid exchange, and the changes in the fat in the body, 

 were quantitatively determined, the data obtained furnish a means for 

 judging of the maintenance ration of oxen at rest. It was found that 

 0.7 kg. of digestible crude protein and G.G kg. of digestible nitrogen 

 free extract per 1,000 kg. live weight was the minimum food limit to 

 the maintenance of animals at rest. This agrees quite closely with the 

 figures given by Henneberg and Stohmann — O.G kg. of digestible crude 

 protein and 7 kg. of digestible nitrogen-free extract. When this limit 

 was exceeded, even by the addition of less than 0,5 kg. of digestible 

 crude protein, the animals laid on both fat and protein. 



Following the period in which coarse fodder was fed alone, there were 

 always several i)eriods in which a productive ration was fed, brought 

 about by adding starch, gluten, or ground meat. These productive 

 rations, as couq)ared with Wolff's ration for production, were very low. 

 In spite of this the feeding of the productive rations was followed by 

 an unmistakable effect, both in the storage of albuminoids and fat in 

 the body and in an increased live weight. 



With respect to the utilization of the digestible protein in the body 

 the experiments verified the rule that the albuniinoid supply gov- 

 erns the albuminoid exchange, but not the storage of albuminoids 

 in the body. In other words, when the i^rotein of the ration was 

 increased by the addition of gluten or ground meat, no more albumi- 

 noids were stored in the body than when an equal amount of digestible 

 organic matter containing only a small percentage of protein was fed. 



