202 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 



many analyses have been made of the more important 

 feeding stuffs, and the average of all the analyses of 

 each food gives its average composition. Nearly 

 everything that can be used as a cattle food has been 

 analyzed, and the results recorded. In Table V of the 

 Appendix are arranged the averages of a number of 

 analyses of the more important feeding stuffs. These 

 figures are intended to show what these different foods 

 contain under average conditions. 



197. Nutrients. — The various compounds in plants 

 that are useful for building up the animal body are 

 called nutrients, because they nourish the animal 

 body. The nutrients of plants are protein, and non- 

 nitrogenous matters; the non-nitrogenous matters being 

 divided into fat, nitrogen-free extract, and fiber. 



Questions 



1. Why is it best to know exactly how much food stall- 

 fed animals require to keep them in good condition? 

 2. How do animals build up their bodies? 3. What becomes 

 of the food the animal takes into its body in eating? 4. The 

 change that food undergoes in the animal's body is called 

 what? 5. How are the nitrogen compounds in animal bodies 

 built up? 6. How is the non-nitrogenous matter of animal 

 bodies built up? 7. Can the non-nitrogenous matters of 

 plants build up nitrogen compounds in animal bodies? 

 8. Can the nitrogen compounds of plants build up the non- 

 nitrogenous matters in animal bodies? 9. What is meant 

 by an analysis of a food? 10. How is the amount of water 

 determined in a food? 11. How is ash determined? 12. How 

 is protein determined from nitrogen? 13. How is fat deter- 

 mined? 14. How is woody matter determined? 15. What is 

 meant by nitrogen-free extract, and how is it determined? 

 16. What is a proximate analysis? 17. What are nutrients? 



