276 FORAGE CROPS 



Atlantic and north central states, according to the 

 census of 1900: 



All cereals except wheat, million tons 



All hay and forage, million tons 15.6 



Per cent of cereals, except wheat .... 

 Tons cereals except wheat, per animal unit 

 Tons hay and forage, per animal unit . . 



Total tons of food per animal unit (of 



about 1,000 lbs. live weight) . . . 2.50 2.65 



"The significance of this table is further em- 

 phasized when the superior feeding value of 

 concentrates is fully understood. For example, 

 experiments made by Zuntz, of Germany, show 

 that when clover hay w^as fed to horses, forty-one 

 pounds were digested out of each hundred pounds 

 of hay fed, while, when oats were fed, sixty -two 

 pounds were digested, or 50 per cent more. It 

 was found, however, that it required the energy of 

 twenty- four pounds of the forty- one pounds of 

 hay digested to chew and digest the hay, leaving 

 the net nutritive value at seventeen pounds. On 

 the other hand, it re(|uired only twelve pounds 

 of the sixty -two pounds of oats to masticate 

 and digest the oats, leaving fifty pounds of oats 

 available for producing energy or woi-k. In other 

 words, the oats had three times the value of the 

 clover hay for the production of work in horses. 

 The energy used up in chewing and digesting 



