vi PREFACE 



When this fact becomes thoroughly appreciated, an 

 effort will no doubt be made to extend the Act so 

 as to include fibre as well as albuminoids and oil in 

 the guaranteed analysis. Meanwhile, one will need 

 to rely on the average percentage of fibre found 

 in the particular food, when making up rations, etc. 



The building up of rations has been dealt with in 

 the " approximate method " from the farmer's point 

 of view. Generally speaking, the bulky part of the 

 ration is produced on the farm, and is fed more or 

 less ad libitum. The concentrated food, on the other 

 hand, has to be purchased to a large extent ; hence 

 the importance of knowing which foods to buy in 

 order to meet the deficiencies in the bulky food for 

 the particular object in view. A good deal of space 

 has therefore been devoted to the compounding of 

 rations for different animals, so as to give the feeder 

 as much help as possible in this direction. 



There is much confusion in the minds of farmers 

 as to the technical difference between crude 

 albuminoids and true albuminoids. In practice, when 

 albuminoids are mentioned on an invoice, the 

 percentage refers chiefly to true albuminoids ; hence 

 it was considered best in a book of this kind to use 

 the term albuminoids for true albuminoids only, and 

 the term nitrogenous matter or protein for crude 

 albuminoids. 



The general scheme of the book is to show the 

 relation between plants and animals how . plants 

 supply the needs of the animal ; then, after giving a 

 full description of the foods available, to show how 

 they may be utilised in a rational and economical 



