624 



NUTRITION OF FARM ANIMALS 



same order that the green forage was. Armsby and Caldwell l 

 subsequently made a similar experiment upon a cow by sub- 

 stantially the same plan, using mixed grasses cut while still 

 young and corresponding substantially to pasture grass, and 

 Morgen z has reported comparisons of the same sort on three 

 sheep. The average results of the four comparisons are shown 

 in Table 181. While the earlier experiments are open to 

 criticism in some particulars, 'on the whole the conclusion ap- 

 pears warranted that the digestibility of forage is not very 

 materially diminished by the simple removal of water and that 

 the lower value of ordinary dry roughage as compared with green 

 forage is largely due to differences in maturity and composition. 

 730. Cutting of roughage. The digestibility of coarse fod- 

 ders is not increased by cutting, and, indeed, it would be dif- 

 ficult to conceive how that process could have such an effect, 

 since in either case the feed is comminuted during mastication 

 to practically the same extent. This is strikingly shown in 

 experiments by Kellner 3 in which the preparation of straw 

 and chaff was carried to the extent of grinding it to a fine meal. 

 Table 182 shows his comparison between wheat straw and barley 

 straw cut into inch and a half lengths or finely ground. 



TABLE 182. DIGESTIBILITY CUT AND FINELY GROUND 



731. Grinding of grain. The outer coats of seeds are re- 

 sistant to solvents, their purpose being to protect the seeds from 

 external influences. When whole grain is fed, especially in large 



J Penna. Expt. Sta., Rpt. 1888, p. 60; Agricultural Science, 3, 295. 



2 Landw. Vers. Stat., 75 (1911), 321. 



3 Ernahrung landw. Nutztiere, 6th Ed. p. 266. 



