4 FORAGE CROPS IN DENMARK 



the limits of feeding which practical farmers would adopt ; you 

 must continue the different kinds of feeding for a sufficiently 

 long time to make sure that the difference, if any, between the 

 different groups in growth and production is maintained, and 

 that it really is the result of the different feeding ; and you 

 must conduct your experiments on several different farms, 

 working on each farm according to the habit or experience of 

 the farmer ; and finally, to eliminate the possible influence of 

 the seasons, you must repeat the experiments in different years, 

 to make sure that you always get the same result. 



These are sensible rules, but they can obviously be followed 

 only if one can induce a sufficient number of farmers to co- 

 operate in the experiment, to place a sufficient number of 

 animals at one's disposal, to provide the necessary premises, 

 and afford the necessary facilities for the Control to obtain the 

 required records of food consumed, of increases in weight, of 

 milk produced if working with milch cows and any other 

 data wanted according to the previously arranged scheme, in 

 the drawing up of which the farmers are to be largely consulted. 

 It means, in other words, that the feeding trials must be con- 

 ducted all over the country, not only for, but with, the farmers, 

 giving them a large share both in deciding how the animals 

 are to be kept and fed and in carrying out the work itself. The 

 direction or controlling of the experiments only must be the 

 work of the manager and his assistants, and he must have at 

 his disposal a large scientifically equipped and staffed chemical 

 laboratory, where the feeding-stuffs and the produce can be 

 analysed. A paid stockman must be placed on each farm, whose 

 duty it is to weigh out the food daily to each group of animals, 

 to weigh the animals every ten days, to weigh the milk from 

 each cow morning and evening, and to take samples of the 

 feeding- stuffs and of the milk. Travelling assistants must be 

 sent to visit each farm every five or ten days, to see that all 

 instructions are carried out, and to make tests of the fat in 

 the milk, and send samples of the mixed milk from each group 

 to the central laboratory, and to keep records of all particulars. 



I have dwelt so long on a general description of the scheme 

 of these feeding trials because the value of the results depends 

 on the way in which they have been obtained. 



