108 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



farther from the time of calving, especially if she be again 

 in calf. 



Under this same principle comes the fact that if the food 

 of the animal is not relished the results cannot be good. 

 The reverse of this is also true, that if a cow is very fond 

 of what is given her she wnll give an unusually good return 

 for it, considerably better than would be expected from its 

 chemical composition. To the effects of these tw'o elements 

 in the problem of stock-feeding, the healthfulness of the 

 food and its relish by the animal, may be laid quite a part 

 of the good results obtained from feedino- roots and ensilage. 

 The best cattle feeders bear testimony that roots and ensilage 

 are worth more to them in comparison with hay, grain and 

 other dry fodder, than the comparative values given to them 

 by the chemical analysis. It is at least a striking coinci- 

 dence, though it may be purely accidental, that those feeds 

 that are best liked by the cow are also best digested. The 

 first green grass of the spring, roots of all kinds, corn fod- 

 der and all the products of the corn plant, foods which are 

 liked by all animals, are about three-quarters digestible ; 

 whereas hay and clover are but little more than half digested, 

 and straw still less. 



3. The Fodder must not he too Bulky. — Clover hay, 

 for instance, is in itself a perfect ration, and yet no one 

 would expect a cow to produce two or three pounds of butter a 

 day on nothing but clover hay. Large as is the digestive 

 apparatus of the cow% it would not hold enough of clover 

 hay to produce so large an amount of butter, and the mere 

 w^ork of eating and digesting so large a quantity would 

 overtax the system of the animal. It has been found best, 

 whenever a cow is producing heavily, to give part of the 

 food in a concentrated and easily digestible form, and many 

 of our best feeders think they are well paid for doing this 

 the whole year round. 



4. TJie Fodder should he giveti in the Proper Proportion 

 or Ratio. — This is the part of the subject that most persons 

 find difficult to understand. And yet there is nothing really 

 difficult about it. We first consider the food as made up of 

 two parts, the digestible and the indigestible. The indiges- 

 tible \fQ have nothino; further to do with, we leave that 



