Investigatiotts Concernitig the Horse. 275 



rangeinents for coutrolling the work performed, are very com- 

 plicated and need not be described here. ^ In the first series of 

 experiments with the dynamometer conducted during the summer 

 of 1877, ' the daily work performed by the horse during the five 

 periods of the experiment amounted to 3,429,500, 6,864,000, 

 10, 288, 500, 6, 859, 000 and 3, 429, 500 foot-pounds. The ration fed 

 daily throughout the experiment was 13.2 pounds of oats, 11 

 pounds of hay, 3.3 pounds of cut winter- wheat straw, and .4 

 ounces of salt. The weight of the horse was 1,177 pounds. 



433. What was shown by the digestion trials. — Digestion trials 

 conducted during each period showed that the amount of 

 work performed by the horse did not exert any influence on 

 the digestibility of the ration fed. The digestion coeflicients 

 found during the five periods were: for dry matter, 57, 56, 56, 54, 

 53 per cent. ; for protein, 71, G8, 70, 67, 68 per cent. ; for nitrogen- 

 free extract, 68, 70, 68, 68, 64 per cent., etc. The somewhat lower 

 digestibility of the ration during the last period is accounted for 

 by the influence of the storing of the hay — the digestibility of 

 hay decreasing with age. The animal was never overworked 

 during the digestion experiments, the hardest labor being easily 

 within its capacity. The heavier work done during the third 

 period was accompanied by a greater quantity of water drank and 

 a decrease in the live weight of the animal. The results obtained 

 were corroborated in a second trial, when a highly nitrogenous 

 ration containing field beans was fed (16.5 pounds of hay and 

 8.8 pounds of beans), and also in still later experiments by the 

 same investigator. « The results obtained by Grandeau and 

 Leclerc with French cab horses (442) do not quite correspond with 

 those found by Wolfi" with German farm horses, as given above, 

 the former investigators finding a small depression in the digesti- 

 bility of rations fed to horses doing slow work compared with 

 that obtained when resting in the stall, and a somewhat lai'ger 

 depression when doling harder work. The differences obtained 

 were within three per cent, of those found by Wolff, and are not, 

 therefore, of much practical importance. 



1 For a detailed description of the apparatus, with iUiistrations, see 

 Ldw. Vei-s. Sta. 21, 1878, p. 21. 

 * Ldw. Jahrb. VIII, 1879, Suppl. I, p. 73. « Ibid., p. 78. 



