CHEMISTRY OF FOODS AND FEEDING. 1189 



pounds of food. The difference was not due to any superiority 

 in the English swine, but to the fact that the English feeder 

 used a mixture of barley and pea meal, while the American used 

 corn alone. Corn is superior as a fat producer to barley, and 

 had the English experimenter used corn and pea meal he would 

 doubtless have secured still better results. 



Farmers do not generally appreciate the high value of skim 

 milk when fed in connection with corn, as a diet for fattening 

 hogs. Its albuminoid ratio is very high. One hundred and 

 fifty-seven pounds of skim milk contain about as much albumi- 

 noids as a bushel of corn. Added to any diet it greatly improves 

 its albuminoid ratio. Skim milk and corn fed in equal weight 

 form a perfect ration for fattening pigs. 



In determining on the diet for any fattening animal one 

 should be selected in which the albuminoids are a little in ex- 

 cess, rather than one in which they are deficient. In the former 

 case the only loss will be that incurred from using a food that 

 was more expensive than was absolutely required; in the latter, 

 however, there will be an actual waste of the excess of carbo- 

 naceous matter supplied, and the digestibility of the whole food 

 will be impaired. 



Feeding as Influenced by Age. Animals of different 

 ages do not make the same amount of increase from a given 

 amount of food. Other things being equal, the older the animal 

 the larger the amount of food that will be required to make one 

 pound of increase in live weight. Many experiments have been 

 made in this direction, all with similar results. In one case a 

 number of pigs four weeks old were put up and fed on corn 

 meal. The food was weighed and the pigs were weighed at the 

 end of each four weeks. The number of pounds of meal required 

 to make one hundred pounds of increase in live weight for each 

 period of four weeks is shown in the following table : 



Pounds of meal required to make 100 

 pounds Inrreane In live weight. 



First period, 381 



Second period, ........ 405 



Third period, 422 



Fourth period, ........ 524 



Fifth period, 598 



