106 CLOVER CULTURE. 



weights the ratio would be 1:9.8, which, although still far from 

 the ideal requirements, is much more nearly right than the 

 corn and fodder without the clover. Substitute bran for half 

 the corn and the ratio would be still further narrowed to i :8. 5, 

 or substitute oil meal for half the corn and the ratio of the 

 mass would be narrowed to 1:7.5. 



Timothy hay has a wide ratio of 1:12. /,and every farmer 

 knows how the addition of clover improves it. The reason is 

 that the ratio, that is, the proportion between the albumi- 

 noids and the carbohydrates, is narrowed. Equal weights ot 

 timothy and clover hay cut as described will ha^e a ratio of 

 1:9.15. If to such mixed hay corn is added the ratio will not 

 be much disturbed. If an equal weight of corn and bran in 

 equal parts be added the ratio of the whole ration will be i :8, 

 and if the grains fed be half corn and half oil meal the ratio- 

 of the whole will be 1 7. i. If the mixed hay be added to an 

 equal weight of oats the ratio of the mass will be 1 7.8, where- 

 as timothy and oats alone in equal parts would have a ratio 

 i :g.6. These examples are given merely to illustrate the man- 

 ner in which clover hay may advantageously narrow the ratio 

 of other feed stuffs. Corn ensilage may in like manner be 

 narrowed with clover. Alone it has a ratio of about i :i i, but 

 if an equal weight of clover hay be added the ratio of the 

 whole will be narrowed to i :8. 3. A careful study of the table:; 

 on pages 101 and 102 will suggest other combinations of clover 

 hay suitable to the live stock of the farm. 



Where alfalfa hay is grown the hay can be used even to 

 better purpose than clover, for it is customary to cut it at an 

 earlier stage of growth, when if well cured its ratio is about 

 i :2. 8. It is the more valuable because in the district in which 

 alfalfa is grown there is a very great supply of carbonaceous 

 foods which require, for use for the highest profit, to be bal- 

 anced up with a more albuminous food. Some horse breeders 

 in the Eastern states have become so impressed with the value 

 of alfalfa as a producer of muscle that they send yearling colts 

 to the alfalfa districts of Kansas in order that they may be 

 grown largely on alfalfa pasture and alfalfa hay. This may 

 seem a mere conceit, but it is not impossible that they may 

 have more facts to sustain them than is apparent at first sight. 

 It is in entire harmony with feeding principles. While many 

 farmers see at a glance the value of the various clovers in the 

 ration the number will greatly increase as land and its pro- 

 ducts increase in value and the science and practice of com- 

 pounding balanced rations v/hich is yet in its infancy becomes 

 more completely understood. 



