580 



HANDY-BOOK OP HUSBANDRY. 



^' neglected for even a day, the yield of milk will immediately 

 " decline, and it will be very difficult to restore it. It may safely 

 " be asserted, as the result of many trials and long practice, that 

 ''a larger flow of milk follows a complete system of regularity in 

 '' this respect than from a higher feeding where this system is not 

 '' adhered to. 



" One prime object which the dairyman should keep constantly 

 " in view is, to maintain the animal in a sound and healthy con- 

 *' dition. Without this, no profit can be expected from a milch 

 " cow for any considerable length of time ; and, with a view to 

 ••' this, there should be an occasional change of food. But, in 

 " making changes, great care is required to supply an equal amount 

 " of nourishment, or the cow falls off in flesh, and eventually in 

 " milk. We should therefore bear in mind that the food con- 

 " sumed goes not alone to the secretion of milk, but also to the 

 '' growth and maintenance of the bony structure, the flesh, the 

 " blood, the fat, the skin, and the hair, and in exhalations from 

 " the body." 



So much of the value of any food depends on the condition in 

 which, and the circumstances under which it is fed,^ that it is 

 impossible to make a comparison which shall at all times hold 

 good ; but the following tables from Boussingault, giving as it 

 does the results of a number of carefully conducted experiments, 

 will be found valuable : — 



Table, showing the comparative difference between good hay and the 

 articles mentioned below, as food for stock — being the mean of 

 experiment and theory. 



equal to 



