116 BOAED OF AGRICULTUEE. [Jan. 



of corn stalks, two of corn meal, one of cotton-seed meal, 

 two of bran; and this would cost 13.10 cents, making a 

 difference in favor of the wider ratio of 4.65 cents per day, or 

 $9.30 per winter-feeding period of two hundred days. It is 

 not to be expected that the cheaper ration will produce so 

 large an amount of milk as the more concentrated and costly 

 ration ; yet it is doubtful wdiether the increased amount of 

 milk would pay for the increased amount of cost. 



But it will not do to make this rule of feeding too gene- 

 ral, — to think it will fit all cases. A man can raise corn for 

 some less than $20.00 a ton ; neither his corn stover nor his 

 hay ought to cost him those prices for production. The 

 nearness to the railroad is another important factor. As we 

 get back into the country, the value of the produce raised 

 on the farm decreases and the cost of bringing in grain 

 from outside increases ; so that what would be a paying 

 investment to the man near the railroad would be a losinor 

 one to his neighbor back in the mountains. Another class 

 of farmers would also prove an exception to this rule, and 

 that is the milkmen. They get such a large price per 

 pound for their milk that they can afford to pay a larger 

 price for the feed which they put into their cows, and with 

 them it pays to feed high and keep the cows producing 

 ahnost to the utmost limit of their capacity. A milkman 

 should feed, and, as a fact, most milkmen do feed, very close 

 to the German ratio. And still another class would prove 

 an exception to the rule, and that is those farmers who are 

 trying to keep more stock than their farms will carry, and 

 who must necessarily, therefore, buy a large quantity of 

 food. It will pay better for them to buy principally of the 

 concentrated feeds, and give their animals a ration very close 

 to the German standard. It will be seen, then, that no set 

 rule of feeding can be laid down for the various conditions 

 of farmers. The probability is that milkmen should feed a 

 ratio of 1 : 5.4. Those livin<r near a railroad and havino^ 

 plenty of land to produce about all that their stock need, 

 should feed a ratio of about 1 : 6.5 or 1 : 7 ; and in general the 

 farther back we get from the railroad the wider the ratio to 

 be most profitable, until back in some of the hill towns it is 

 undoubtedly true that the cheapest ration is the one we find 



