6s6 



Journal of AgrkiiUure, Victoria. [ii Nov., 1912. 



" Alhuminoid ratio" is the ratio of tile digestible albuminoids (proteins) 

 to the digestible non-albuminoids in a food, the fat being multipled by 2.4 

 in making the calculation. Adopting Wolff's digestion coefficients for the 

 fodders concerned the ratios work out at i :3.3 for the fresh lucerne and 

 I :.4.38 for the silage on the basis of crude protein; calculating from true 

 protein the figures are 1:4.1 and 1:6.1 respectively. The American 

 standard is i :6 — 8, so that all the figures show the silage to be sufficiently 

 rich in protein. 



This result is obtained because fresh lucerne is particularly rich in 

 protein as compared to ordinary forage. This however offers no reason 

 why the protein should be wasted. Protein isjthe expensive constituent 



in a fodder. In the 

 case of maize or the 

 ordinary cereals there 

 is less protein to start 

 with — there is 66 to 

 50 per cent. less. 

 These therefore are 

 ■ rops which seem 

 •nore suitable for en- 

 siling. They will lose 

 less protein because 

 hey have less to lose. 

 Ensilage has its 

 advantages and its 

 disadvantages. When 

 succulent food fails or 

 at certain seasons in 

 ■he dairy its advan- 

 tages outweigh every- 

 thing else. For 

 ruminants succulent 

 fodder is necessary to 

 keep them in bloom, 

 and continued dry 

 feed is incompatible 

 with heavy milking. 

 The disadvantages of 

 ensilage are connected 

 with an inevitable loss 

 of food materials. 

 This indicates that it 

 is wasteful to make 

 silage to be u.sed at a time when satisfactory green feed will be available. 

 But the loss during ensilage falls more hea\-ily upon certain of the con- 

 stitutents of foods than upon others. From these experiments it seems to 

 fall heavily upon the proteins. Aaid as lucerne is particularly rich in 

 protein it seems better that lucerne should be cured as hay rather than 

 en.siled. Such hay would fo^rm an admirable addition to silage made from 

 less nitrogenous fodders such as wheat, oats or maize. 



There are few farms which do not produce a variety of forage crops. 

 If is proposed to continue these investigations from the chemical side in 

 order to find which crops can V)e converted into silage with greatest 

 econom\-. 



WEIGHING AT THE LABORATORY. 



