370 REPORT OP THE COMMISSIONER OP AGRICULTURE. 



to give a full yield. One hundred and fifty-four pounds of young clover 

 contain about the same amount of digestible material, but this is richer 

 than it need be in nitrogen. On the other hand, it would require 40 

 pounds of poor quality hay to furnish as much nutritive matter as the 

 30 pounds tine quality hay or 120 pounds of young grass, and tliis would 

 contain only about one-half as much albuminoids as the cow needs for 

 production." In the better hay and young grass there is one pound of 

 albuminoids to about 5^ of carbo-hydrates, in the poorer hay one to 10^, 

 and in the young clover one to 3|. Cows will do well on young grass, 

 and probably very little better on young clover, but they will not do as 

 well on poor hay. 



An experiment in ad libitMm foddering, i. e., giving the animals all 

 they would eat, showed that the cows which consumed a ration of 87 

 pounds of green clover and 6.7 pounds of barley straw, i^roduced the 

 same quantity of milk as they did when given 123 pounds of green clover 

 alone, while the composition of the milk in both cises was the same. 

 The green clover was over-rich in albuminoids, and when it was fed 

 alone there was a waste of valuable material. In this especial case a 

 part of the waste was due to the fact that the cows were led ad libiinm 

 and ate more than they could well utilize. The result shows that the 

 nutritive material of the fodder will be more or less profitably utilized 

 in proportion as the composition of the ration approaches more or less 

 nearly to that most naturally adapted to the special demands of the 

 animal. 



The experiments conducted by Professor Haubner in ad libitum feed- 

 ing are alluded to, and his conclusions quoted as follows : 



The ad libitum foddering has proved nnsatisfactory both with milch-cows and in fat- 

 tening sheep. The nutritive etfect, as expressed in the rpiantity and quality of the 

 niilk and in increase of weight, was proportionate neither to the quantity and coat of 

 the fodder, nor to the nutritive ettect obtained from a smaller but properly-measured 

 ration. 



In answer to a question asked during a discussion which followed the 

 reading of this paper. Professor Atwater stated that by increasing the 

 ration up to a certain point the yield of milk may be increased, and not 

 only the total yield but also the richness of the milk. The amount of 

 dry substance, fat, casein, sugar, &c., may be thus increased ; but at the 

 same time the composition of this dry substance, the relative percent- 

 ages of fat and casein, remain even, though the proportion of fat or 

 albuminoids iu the food may be changed. He further said : 



To feed milch-cows the largest amounts of the richest fodder may be very wasteful. 

 Too meager fodder is etlll less economical. Here as elsewhere a fair mean will be found 

 best. As regards the effect of different foods on the composition of the mi'lk we may 

 not hope by variation in the fodder to change a "casein" (cheese) cow to a "butter" 

 cow. We must rather depend for the quality of the milk— the relative richness in fat 

 or casein, its special fitness for butter-making or cheese-making — upon the peculiarities 

 of different breeds or different individuals, and for quantity upon the peculiarities of 

 the animals themselves ; or, in few words, for quality of milk select proper breeds ; for 

 quantity, good milkers, ttnit the food to the animals and feed well, but not over-richly. 



At the annual meeting of the board, held in May, 1874, Gov. Charles 

 R. lugersoU was elected president; T. S. Gold, secretary; Profs. S. I. 

 Smith, entomologist; W. H. Brewer, botanist; S. W. Johnson, chemistj 

 and Mr. P. M. Augur, pomologist. 



INDIANA. 



The twenty-fifth annual report of the State Board for 1875 is a vol- 

 ume of smaller dimensions than its immediate predecessors, owing to the 



