HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



255 



In another experiment tlie daily ration consisted of 17.87 pounds of 

 oat straw, and 1.82 pounds beau meal. 



The first digestion experiments were made some twenty years ago by 

 Henneberg and Stobmau, in the experiment station at Weende in Han- 

 over. Their example has been followed in other places. Four years ago 

 the number of digestion experiments amounted to over one thousand, 

 and they have been increasing rapidly in numbers every year since 

 then. These experiments, each one of which has been conducted with 

 an amount of labor and exactness never equaled by a single experi- 

 ment in this country, have led to many very interestiog and weighty 

 results. 



What is essential to economy in feeding. — Albuminoids and carbohydrates. 



317. The following are among the most important for our present 

 purpose: 



1st. Poor foods, like marsh-hay, late-cut hay, straw, cornstalks, and 

 chaff, contain good percentages of digestible material. Their low feeding 

 value is due, not to their lack of nutritive substance, but to its poverty 

 in nitrogen. By adding to them concentrated foods rich in nitrogen, 

 like oil-cake, cotton-seed, bean and pea meal, or nitrogenous animal mat- 

 ters, such as meat scrap and fish, rations are made equal in every respect 

 to the best grass, young-cut hay, or grain. 



2d. The digestion of foods, i)articularly of mixed rations, depends 

 upon the proportions of its constituents. With too little nitrogen the 

 digestion is incomplete. Adding concentrated foods rich in nitrogen to 

 coarse foods promotes digestion. Excess of carbohydrates decreases 

 it. Oil-cake, meat scrap, or fish added to poor hay or straw secures 

 the most complete digestion of the whole ration. But if potatoes or 

 other starchy food are used in considerable quantity the less of the 

 coarse food will be digested. 



There is still another principle of great importance to be noted. 

 Well-manured plants are much richer in albuminoids than poorly man- 

 ured. Bouutiful fertilizing not only increases the quantity of the crop 

 but improves its quality also. 



The farmer who keeps his land in good condition gets larger yields j 

 the produce contains more digestible substance for his stock, and the 

 nutritive material is richer in the most valuable ingredients of all, the 

 albuminoids. 



