1896.] 



PUBLIC DOCUMENT — Xo. 33. 



41 



Moisture : soja-bean meal, 11.61 per cent. ; meat meal, 

 13.68 per cent. 



In the second experiment linseed and cotton-seed meal 

 were used as the vegetable substitutes for animal foods. 



In both experiments the fowls received a variety of foods, 

 but the nutritive ratio was always kept substantially the 

 same for the two coops under comparison. In the first ex- 

 periment the ratio was one flesh former to four and one-half 

 fat and heat formers ; in the second it was one to four and 

 seven-tenths. The foods used in the first experiment, in ad- 

 dition to the soja-bean meal and meat meal, were : cut alfalfa, 

 wheat, oats and middlings in one coop ; in the other, boiled 

 potatoes, ground clover, wheat, wheat middlings and cut bone. 



In the second experiment the supplementary feeds were : 

 wheat, oats, bran and middlings for the vegetable coop ; and 

 wheat, oats, wheat meal, bran and linseed meal for the animal 

 food coop. 



Both coops had pure water, artificial grit and ground 

 oyster shells always before them ; and all other conditions 

 were made as nearly as possible alike. 



The result in both experiments has been favorable to the 

 animal food, as shown by the following summary : — 



Vegetable v. Animal Foods for Hens. 



In the above estimate of cost no charge is made for labor 

 and no allowance for the droppings. The production of 

 eggs is, of course, very small, even in the best period; but 

 it should be remembered that, at the very time when hens 

 always lay most freely, our fowls were taken out of this 

 experiment for breeding purposes, viz., from February 12 

 to June 1. 



The results are, however, decisive against the vegetable 

 food and in favor of Hit 1 animal in so far as effect upon egg 



