COMPOSITION OF FOOD. 



199 



Antoint;, in France, and is the result of experiments made by 

 the principal agriculturists on the continent, Thaer, Gemer- 

 hausen, Petro, Rieder, Weber, Krantz, Andre, Block, De 

 Dombasle, Boussingault, Meyer, Plotow, Pohl, Smee, Crud, 

 Schwertz, Pabst. It is unnecessary to give the figures which 

 each of these experimentalists hare set down, but the mean 

 of their experiments being taken, there is more chance of the 

 result being near the truth. Allowance must be made for the 

 different qualities of the same food on different soils and dif- 

 ferent seasons. In very dry summers the same weight of 

 any greeu food will be much more nourishing than in a drip- 

 ping season. So likewise any fodder raised on a rich dry 

 soil will be more nourishing than on a poor wet one. The 

 standard of comparison is the best upland meadow-hay, cut 

 as the flower expands, and properly made and stacked, with- 

 out much heating ; in short, hay of the best quality. With 

 respect to hay, such is the difference in value, that if 100 

 Ibs. of the best is used, it will require 120 Ibs. of a second 

 quality to keep the same stock as well, 140 Ibs. of the third, 

 and so on, till very coarse and hard hay, not well made, will 

 only be of half the value, and not so fit for cows or store cat- 

 tle, even when given in double the quantity. While good 

 hay alone will fatten cattle, inferior hay will not do so with 

 out other food. 



