70 Feeds and Feeding, 



"A highly liberal diet is absolutely necessary to preserve the 

 flesh and fat in the body, and at the same time to keep it in a 

 powerful condition. An addition of fat, which is the most intense 

 respiration material, is often a desirable addition and nearly as 

 important as albumen; and it is a suggestive fact that the working 

 classes have a decided taste for fatty dishes, and that oats — a 

 food proportionately rich in fat — are recognized as an excellent 

 food for horses."^ 



In the above we have the strongest statements possible in favor 

 of the importance of protein for the production of work. When 

 we consider the large proportion of carbohydrates and ether ex- 

 tract in the ration, and remember that fat contains more than twice 

 the heat units of protein, we must concede that these food-groups 

 furnish most of the energy developed in the animal body. (433- 

 445) 



n. Composition of Steers, Sheep and Pigs, and their Increase during 

 Fattening. 



99. Investigations of Lawes and Gilbert. — The only extended 

 investigations concerning the composition of the bodies of farm 

 animals and of the increase during fattening are those conducted 

 by Lawes and Gilbert of the Eothamsted (England) Station. 

 These investigations, which were begun in 1848, were first pub- 

 lished in 1859. 2 The second part, relating to the composition of 

 the ash of the entire animal and certain separate parts, was pub- 

 lished in 18G3. 3 This work will stand for all time a witness to 

 the high standard of painstaking research established by these 

 pioneer English experimenters in agricultural science. Only a 

 brief summary of their work can here be given, taken mainly from 

 their recent contribution on The Feeding of Animals. ■* 



To determine the ultimate composition of steers, sheep and pigs, 

 the entire bodies of ten animals of each group were subjected to 

 analysis. The findings are condensed in the table here given: 



> Farm Foods, p. 91. 



» Phil. Trans., Part II, ia59; Jour. Roy. Agl. Soc, 1860. 

 •Phil. Trans., Part III, 1883; Eothamsted Memoirs, Vols. II, III, IV. 

 < Jour. Roy. Agr. Soc, 1895. See also Bui. 22, Office of Experiment 

 Stations. 



