New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 541 



Digestible Nutrients in Two Rations as Calculated and as Actually 

 Determined. 



The closeness of agreement between wliat was actually di- 

 gested from these rations and the calculated amounts is en- 

 couraging. Variations greater than those observed in these 

 trials doubtless occur, but if the calculated and the actual di- 

 gestible organic matter will agree within one-fourth or even one- 

 half a pound, such a calculation insures much greater accuracy 

 and certainty than could be secured by any other method. 



Two events do not establish a rule but these here noted are 

 regarded as important and significant. 



The influence of the quantity of food eaten upon its digestibility. — 

 The results of the comparison of the " full " and '' half " ration 

 show the latter to be uniformly more fully digested. This out- 

 come conflicts with the teachings of certain former experiments. 

 Wolff's exp<^riments* with clover hay alone and with clover hay 

 and roots fed to oxen and sheep appear to demonstrate that the 

 digestibility of a ration is not influenced by its size. 



Later investigationf gave the same results when lucerne hay 

 was fed to both sheep and the horse. On the contrary Weiske$ 

 found that when oats were fed to dogs the digestibility was in- 

 versely proportional to the amount eaten. 



In our experiment the ditference between the large and small 

 rations is too large and too uniform to be explained by errors. 



• Die Ernahrung. 



tLandw. Versuchs Stationen, XXI, p. 20. 



% Landw. Versuchs Stationen, LXL p. 145. 



