1890.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 103 



different crops. This is a subject that has received too little 

 attention from our farmers. They are too likely to judge of 

 the cost of a crop by its gross weight, without regard to its 

 feeding value. 



In order to know the comparative cost of crops, we must 

 know first the comparative cost of raising the crops per acre, 

 then the amount raised, and this is as far as most farmers go 

 into the problem ; l)ut this is not far enough. If it costs the 

 same number of dollars to raise two tons of hay and two tons 

 of corn stover, we cannot say that one is as economical as the 

 other. The two tons of hay may be dry and the corn stover 

 wet. The water of course has no feeding value, and we 

 must take that out of the weight before we can correctly 

 compare the two feeds ; but, having done this, we are not 

 yet in a position for a correct answer to the problem, for of 

 this dry matter not all is digested, and the indigestible part, 

 having no feeding value, must not be taken into account. 

 We do not then arrive at the proper basis for comparison 

 until we go down to the number of pounds of digestible 

 material per acre in the different crops, as compared with 

 the cost of producing them. We are then ready to calculate 

 how many dollars it has cost to raise one ton of digestible 

 feeding material in each of the different crops. 



Most of the experiment stations have published tables 

 which give the composition and the digestible parts of the 

 different crops ; so that it becomes a mere matter of arith- 

 metic for any one who knows how much it costs him per 

 acre to raise the different crops to figure out the real cost to 

 him of their feeding value, and which crops are for him the 

 most economical. 



The principal coarse fodders raised at the present time in 

 New England are the various soiling crops, hay and clover, 

 corn fodder, roots and ensilage. On subjecting these various 

 crops to the above-mentioned calculation, it will be found that 

 hay and clover are the cheapest, soiling crops next, then corn 

 and ensilage, and lastly roots. In most places in New Eng- 

 land pasture is still cheaper than any of these. But the 

 question of pasturage is governed so entirely by the local 

 condition of the farm that we may leave it out of account. 

 The price of labor in New England is so high that roots are 



