174^ FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



of feeding stuffs is a table giving the chemical constituents 

 of food expressed in percentages. In some instances these 

 tables only give the relative proportions of the various fac- 

 tors that are digestible. In others the total percentages of 

 each factor is also given. 



It should be remembered, however, that these tables 

 are only to be taken as general guides. The chemist and 

 the scientist can ascertain the proportionate percentages of 

 nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous constituents in a feeding 

 stuff or in the feeding stuffs fed in a given instance. But the 

 following influences among others that may be named lead 

 to variation: (i) Plants of the same variety differ in the 

 nutrients which they contain at different stages of growth 

 and of maturity. (2) These percentages vary with the 

 inherent character of the soils on which the plants have been 

 grown, with the manures applied or withheld, and with the 

 cultivation given. (3) They further vary with the time and 

 method of harvesting, with the degree and nature of the ex- 

 posure while curing and in some instances in the way in 

 which they are prepared for feeding. Moreover, (4) the 

 various classes of animals differ in their ability to digest and 

 assimilate foods, more especially the crude fibre, and the 

 same is true of individual animals of the same class. These 

 tables, therefore, are only to be taken as approximate esti- 

 mates of the nutrients which the foods contain. But they 

 are reasonably close approximations since with the more im- 

 portant at least of the foods the constituents submitted are 

 the averages of a number of analyses and their digestibility 

 as stated represents as a rule the average of a number of 

 feeding trials. 



Table of feeding stuffs. Feeding stuffs vary greatly 

 in the more important feeding stuffs mentioned in this work 

 is now submitted and also their digestibility as far as both 

 could be obtained from American sources. This table is 

 based on the composition of feeding stuffs as given in the 

 revised edition of Farmer's Bulletin No. 22 issued by the U. 

 S. Department of Agriculture. Those who desire to follow 

 the subject further are referred to this bulletin. The figures 



