134 The Feeding of Animals 



in definite and regular quantities. The belief prevails 

 more or less widely that an abundant consumption of 

 salt is beneficial. If this is true, the advantage arises 

 for other reasons than an increased digestibilit.y. The 

 verdict from earlier experiments by Grouven, Hofmeis- 

 ter and Weiske that the addition of salt to the ration 

 does not increase the digestibility has been confirmed 

 by more recent tests b}^ Wolff. Indeed, if we give to 

 the data collected a literal and perfectly justifiable in- 

 terpretation, salt diminished rather than raised the 

 proportion of digestible nutrients. 



INFLUENCE OP FREQUENCY OF FEEDING AND WATERING 

 ANIMALS 



Few experiments relative to this point are on rec- 

 ord. One by Weiske and others, relative to frequency 

 of feeding, and another by Gabriel and Weiske, in 

 which the effects of the time of watering and of the 

 amount of water were tested, give no indication that 

 the completeness of digestion is materially affected by 

 variations in these details of practice. It seems proba- 

 ble that the nutritive importance of these minor points 

 in managing animals has been much overestimated by 

 some, especially as affecting the utilization of the food. 



INFLUENCE OF CERTAIN OTHER CONDITIONS 



It is well known that the composition of fodder 

 crops grown on tlie same soil may vary somewhat from 

 year to year according as the season is wet or dry, cold 



