PREFACE 



THE manner in which the subject of the nutrition of farm 

 animals is presented to the student will naturally differ ac- 

 cording to the ultimate end in view. If the prime purpose is 

 to impart practical skill in the feeding of live stock, the study 

 of the principles of nutrition is likely to be regarded as pre- 

 liminary and to partake of the nature of an information course, 

 and chief stress will be laid upon familiarity with the results 

 of experience, particularly as related to the business aspects 

 of the subject, and to the acquisition of practical skill. 



But while by no means disposed to minimize the significance 

 of this aspect of the subject, the writer is nevertheless convinced 

 that for the students of our agricultural colleges a somewhat 

 different procedure is desirable. He believes that greater 

 emphasis than they sometimes receive may wisely be laid upon 

 the chemical and physiological laws which underlie the practice 

 of feeding, both on account of their intrinsic importance and 

 because the subject may thus be made a real collegiate disci- 

 pline which shall contribute to the training as well as to the 

 information of the student. 



Accordingly, the present volume attempts to deal primarily 

 with the natural laws governing the nutrition of farm animals, 

 as distinguished from the broader field of animal husbandry, 

 and only secondarily with the specific details of practice. It 

 seeks to avoid so far as may be mere dogmatic statements, and, 

 although not attempting complete citation of literature even 

 upon important points, to present the experimental evidence 

 with sufficient fullness to indicate something of the limitations 

 of present knowledge and of the opportunities for further in- 

 vestigation. Its aim is to discuss the fundamental principles 

 upon which successful stock feeding is consciously or uncon- 

 sciously based in the firm persuasion of the truth so pithily 

 expressed almost half a century ago by the father of agricul- 

 tural science in the United States, Professor Samuel William 



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