THE SELECTION OF FOODS 49 



in one class of nutrients, is relatively cheap and another 

 class, opposite in character, is relatively high. 



It has been found profitable, in some instances, to feed 

 corn out of balance rather than to go to the expense of 

 purchasing protein to feed it in balance. When corn is 

 fed thus it will not be possible to secure gains so satis- 

 factory as when it is fed in balance, but it is possible in 

 many instances to secure gain thus, more cheaply than 

 if it resulted from feeding balanced foods under these con- 

 ditions. When corn was so abundant that it was used as 

 fuel in running steam engines, it was in order to feed 

 such corn out of balance to both cattle and swine up to a 

 certain limit, rather than to purchase the protein needed 

 in order to balance the ration. 



It has also been found profitable in some instances to 

 feed protein in excess, as for instance in the western 

 valleys where alfalfa grows abundantly and carbohy- 

 drate foods as corn are scarce. The alfalfa thus fed out 

 of balance is in part to some extent wasted, but allowing 

 for this, the product resulting is more cheaply made than 

 it would be through the purchase of corn to balance up 

 the ration. 



There are localities in which it is not so easy to grow 

 foods in balance as out of balance, because of natural 

 adaptation. For instance, in western mountain valleys 

 it would be possible to grow alfalfa so as to obtain much 

 more food per acre than could be obtained from corn. 

 Likewise in certain areas of the western states it is 

 easily possible to obtain food nutrients from corn, greatly 

 in excess of those obtained from a similar area in the 

 form of clover or alfalfa or indeed of any other protein 

 food. In these facts and under these conditions, the 

 feeding of foods out of balance finds much justification. 

 Nevertheless it should be the aim where at all possible 

 to grow foods so that they can be fed in balance. It is 

 usually much easier to obtain a sufficiency of carbohy- 

 drates than of protein, because of their abundance, but 



