MAINTENANCE DIETS. 121. 



amount of work, as, for instance, a horse or ox in a 

 stable, the quantity of food required is reduced to its 

 smallest limits. A horse of 1000 Ibs. weight, at perfect 

 rest, will require, according to the German experiments, 

 8'4 Ibs. per day of digestible organic matter (reckoned as 

 starch) to maintain its condition. The French experi- 

 menters found 7'2 Ibs. sufficient. In their case 70 per 

 cent, of the food was corn, while in the German experi- 

 ments 42 per cent, was corn, and the rest hay and straw 

 chaff. An ox of 1000 Ibs. live weight, quiefc in the stall, 

 will require daily, according to the German experiments, 

 about 0*5 0*6 Ibs. of digestible albuminoids,* and 7*3 

 8*4 Ibs. of digestible non-albuminous food, reckoned as 

 starch, to preserve its condition.f With sheep the main- 

 tenance diet must be more liberal, as in their case the 

 growth of wool, with its accompanying fat, is always in 

 progress, and is practically independent of the abundance 

 or poverty of the diet. For 1000 Ibs. live weight (shorn), 

 sheep fed on meadow hay will require about I'O Ib. of 

 digestible albuminoids,* and 10'8 Ibs. of digestible non- 

 albuminous food, or 16 17 Ibs. of dry organic matter, 

 per day, to preserve their condition. If fed on mangels 

 and straw chaff the quantity of dry organic matter must 

 be raised to 20 25 Ibs. In these maintenance diets for 

 adult animals the albuminoid ratio of the food is but 



* These numbers represent true albuminoids, and are, therefore 

 smaller than the German figures. 



f In these experiments the food was chiefly hay or straw. By feed- 

 ing with maize meal only, and keeping the cattle in a warm stable, the 

 digested albuminoids have been reduced to O4 Ib., and the non-albumi- 

 noids, reckoned as starch, to 3-7 Ibs. per day. The economy of this 

 American system probably depends on the much smaller amount of 

 water drunk by the animal with this less bulky food. 



