750 



EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



"Onr best covrs, the auuuiil butter product of which exceeds 40 per cent of the 

 live weight, are small or medium iu size, though good ones are found amoug the 

 larger." 



Feeding experiments with pigs, W. H. Jordan {Maine Sta. Rpt 

 1S93, pp. 82-95). — These exiierimeuts iiicliide comparisons of breeds 

 and a comparison of skici milk, j)ea meal, and corn meal with a mix- 

 ture of equal parts of pea meal, oat meal, and corn meal on 3 differ- 

 ent breeds of pis"s. The relation of the food to growth in different 

 breeds is shown in the following summary: 



lielatiou of food to growth in pigs (digestible organic matm-ial for each 2^ouvd of gain). 



"These experiments furnish no evidence of the superior producing capacity of any 

 one of the breeds tested. ... It is certainly true of the Tamworth-Berkshir.e cross 

 that the animals were finely formed and vigorous, and they certainly used food 

 more economically than either the pure bred Tamworths or Berkshires. This cross 

 has been admired by all who have seen it, and the market quality of their carcasses 

 was highly commended. 



"[The butcher's analysis of the carcasses] do not warrant the claim that any one 

 of the breeds compared possesses superior market qualities over all the others. The 

 Tamworth's gave a somewhat larger percentage of lean cuts and the Tannvorth- 

 Berkshire cross a larger prt)portion of salting pork. The difl'erences are small, we 

 may believe, compared with those which may be caused by age, food, or individual 

 variations." 



In a comparison of the dry matter of skim milk with the digestible 

 matter of pea meal 2 lots of pigs were selected from the same litters 

 and fed rations composed of skim milk, jjea meal, and corn meal, or 

 rations in which j)ea ijieal or oat meal was made to take the iilace of 

 skim milk in the proportion of digestible substance in the two. The 

 rations contained iiractically the same amounts of digestible matter. 

 Tamworths, Berkshires, and TamworthBerkshires were represented. 



"It is very plain that for young pigs the rations containing skim milk proved 

 superior to those containing the nitrogenous vegetable foods as a substitute. But 

 with the older animals the substitution of pea meal or pea and oat meal for the 

 skim milk, wholly or in part, did not materially change the rate of growth or its 

 relation to the digestible food consumed. 



"In a single case an exception occurs, viz: Period 3 with the Berkshires in the 

 1892 experiment, where the pure grain ration seemed to check the growth of the 

 pigs. In all other cases the amount of digestible food seems to be the practical 

 measure of efficiency, whether its source he animal or vegetable." 



