186 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



The standard diet consisted of three and one-quarter 

 pounds* each of corn meal and wheat l)ran, besides all the 

 hay the animal would consume (from 20 to 25 pounds). 



Two cows of corresponding milking periods served in the 

 first two series of observations, and three cows on each side 

 in the experiment with green crops. 



Our results may be summed up in the following state- 

 ments : — 



1. Dry corn fodder compares with English hay, pound for 

 pound of dry matter. 



2. Corn ensilage compares well with English hay, when 

 substituting the latter from one-half to two-thirds, pound for 

 pound, dry matter. 



3. Cora stover compares well with both corn ensilage, 

 fodder corn and English hay, pound for pound, dry 

 matter. 



4. Root crops (used pound for pound of dry matter) ex- 

 ceed in nutritive value that of corn ensilage ; they raised the 

 yield of milk about one-sixth, when fed in place of one-half 

 of the hay. 



5. Vetch and oats, serradella, and Southern cow-pea, 

 when fed as green crops, in place of three-fourths of the hay 

 (counting pound for pound of dry matter), had a similar 

 effect on the increase of milk as the root crops, — one-sixth 

 increase. 



6. The influence of the various diets used on the quality 

 of the milk has been more controlled by the constitutiontd 

 characteristics of the animals than by the particular composi- 

 tion of the feed ; the effect produced in one animal has been 

 not infrequently the reverse in case of the other. 



7. The manurial value left behind in case of the various 

 fodder rations used has amounted in most instances to more 

 than one-third of the cost of the feed, after allow- 

 ing a deduction of twenty per cent, lost in the .sale of 

 milk. 



A few subsequent tabular statements may serve as illustra- 

 tions of our results as above reported. 



* Three and one-quarter pounds of shorts are equal to four quarts; and three and 

 one-quurter pounds of corn meal are equal to two quarts. 



