GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 233 



ample, one of the foods is not above suspicion, then 

 the amount which finds its way into the daily 

 ration is so small as to have no bad effect, whereas 

 a larger quantity might cause injury. 



It is further important not only to draw the foods 

 which contain chiefly starch or sugar from 

 various sources, but also to give the nitrogenous 

 portion of the ration in as many different forms as 

 possible. Some foods are digested principally in 

 the stomach, others in the small intestine, whilst 

 others again undergo the chief digestion in the 

 large intestine. A mixture of several food-stuffs 

 therefore spreads the work of digestion over 

 various parts of the digestive tract, and for this 

 reason such a ration is more suitable than one made 

 from large quantities of a single material. 



A satisfactory ration must further be adjusted 

 to the size of the stomach and intestines, for if it 

 occupies too little space the animal will not be 

 satiated, even though it gets sufficient nutrient 

 material, and so it will be in a restless and unsatis- 

 factory condition. On the other hand, a ration 

 should not be too voluminous, for the danger then 

 is that all is not eaten, and so fattening does not 

 proceed. An idea of the amount of food to be given 

 can be gathered from the feeding standards in 

 Table III of the Appendix, where the daily supply 

 of dry matter is calculated per 1000 Ibs. body 

 weight. These figures, like others of the same 



