27 



made in Europe which have led to definite conclusions, and seem to 

 have reached the truth in the matter. 



The rations fed consisted of different mixtures of corn, oats, hay, 

 and straw, and a number of experiments were made in which the only 

 condition which varied was the time of watering'. In some of the 

 tests the horses drank befoi'e and in some after eating, and in others 

 after the grain portion of the ration was eaten, but before the hay. 



So far as was observed the time of drinking had no effect on the 

 digestibility of a ration of grain and hay. When hay only was fed 

 there seemed to be a slight advantage in watering before feeding. 

 The general conclusion was drawn that horses may be watered before, 

 during, or after meals without interfering with the digestion and 

 absorption of food. All these methods of watering are equally good 

 for the horse, and each of them may be employed according to circum- 

 stances. It is obvious that certain circumstances may make it neces- 

 sary to adopt one or the other method. For instance, after severe loss 

 of water, such as occurs in consequence of long-continued, severe 

 exertion, the animal should always be allowed to drink before he is 

 fed, as otherwise he will not feed well. 



In this connection it is worth noting that many American farmers 

 believe that watering before feeding is best. Although all methods 

 of watering seemed in these tests to be equally good for the horse, it 

 is not desirable to change unnecessarily from one method to another. 

 Animals, or at least some of them, appear to be not altogether indiffer- 

 ent to such a change. In the experiments referred to above it was 

 found that whenever a change was made from the plan of watering 

 after feeding to that of watering before, the appetite fell off for some 

 days; not that the horses did not consume the whole of the food given 

 to them, but for some days together they did not eat with the same 

 avidity as before, and took a longer time to consume their rations 

 completely. A similar effect was not observed when the change was 

 from watering before to watering after feeding, or from watering 

 after to watering during meals, or when the change was in the oppo- 

 site direction to the last. It seems best, therefore, to avoid sudden 

 and unnecessary changes in the method of watering. 



DIGESTIBILITY OF FEEDING STUFFS. 



In the preceding pages reference has been made to the composition 

 of different feeding stuffs and to tests of the comparative value of 

 different concentrated feeds and coarse fodders. The real value of 

 any feeding stuff is determined, not alone by its composition, but also 

 by its digestibility; that is, by the amount of material which it gives 

 up to the body in its passage through the digestive tract. It is evi- 

 dent that if two feeding stuffs have practically the same composition, 

 but one gives up more material to the body than the other — that is, is 



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