1892.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 93 



Market Cost and Food Value. — The value of an article 

 of fodder may be slated from two different stand-points, — 

 that is, with reference to its cost in the local market and with 

 reference to its nutritive feeding value. The market price 

 may be expressed by a definite sum for each locality ; it de- 

 pends on demand and supply in the market, and it is beyond 

 the control of the individual farmer. The nutritive value, 

 or commonly called food value, of the article cannot be ex- 

 pressed by a definite sum; it varies with a more or less 

 judicious application, and depends also, to a considerable 

 degree, on its adaptation under varying circumstances. To 

 secure the most satisfactory returns from feeding our home- 

 raised fodder crops is as important a question as that of 

 raising them in an economical manner. The great progress 

 which has been made of late in regard to the proper mode 

 of feeding plants ought to serve as an encouragement to 

 undertake the task of inquiring more systemmatically into 

 the proper mode of feeding our farm live-stock in the most 

 profitable way. 



Manurial Value of Fodder Articles. — Assuming a similar 

 degree of adaptation of the various fodder articles offered 

 for our choice, the question of cost deserves a serious con- 

 sideration, when feeding for profit. The actual cost of a 

 fodder article does not depend merely upon its market price, 

 but is "materially affected by the value of the manurial refuse 

 it leaves behind, when it has served its purpose as food. The 

 higher the percentage of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 

 potash a diet contains, the more valuable is the manure it 

 furnishes, under otherwise corresponding circumstances. 

 An excess, therefore, of any one or of all three in one diet, 

 as compared with that of another, counts in favor of that 

 particular diet as far as the net cost of feed is concerned ; 

 for it is admissible, for mere practical, economical purposes, 

 to assume that, in raising one and the same kind of animals 

 to a corresponding weight, or feeding them for the same 

 purpose, a corresponding amount of nitrogen, phosphoric 

 acid, potassium oxide, etc., will be retained, and, according 

 to circumstances, either stored up in the growing animal or 

 passed into the milk, etc. The commercial value of the three 



