126 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



calves are exceedingly delicate. During the first two months 

 of their lives they are not able to digest any large quantities 

 of grain ; but if the grain is placed before them in a dry 

 state, they will not consume enough to injure them. Begin- 

 ning with one-fourth of a pound per day, the calves consumed 

 as high as one pound daily by the time they were eight weeks 

 old. These calves drank ten to twelve quarts of milk daily 

 in addition to the grain consumed. The object in feeding 

 the grain was to furnish in a measure the carbohydrates 

 necessary to prevent the rapid destruction of the albuminoids 

 in the animal system that would otherwise follow. 



Skim-milk has a nutritive ratio of about 1:2. With a 

 ratio of but two carbohydrates to one of protein, it would 

 not be possible to produce any amount of fat ; neither is a 

 feed with such a narrow ratio the most economical one. 

 The calves, how^ever, were not able to consume m-ain enouoh 

 to widen the ratio sufficiently to enable them to put on the 

 fat desired. 



Scours were noticed in case of calves 2 and o, which pro- 

 vented the best results, l)ut the trouble was eventually over- 

 come. 



Calves Nos. 5, 6 and 7, wnth the exception of the first ten 

 days, when equal parts of whole and skim milk were fed, 

 had no other food than skim-milk during the entire experi- 

 ment. Calf 5, however, for a brief period received a small 

 amount of grain, and calf 7 a small quantity of cod liver oil, 

 to see if any benefit could be observed from its use, both 

 from its general effect upon the system and from its fat-pro- 

 ducing qualities. A small quantity (tablespoonful) of lime 

 water was added to the skim-milk at each feeding. 



At the beginning of the experiment they consumed six 

 quarts of milk daily, wdiile at the end, wath skim-milk as an 

 exclusive food, they drank from sixteen to twenty quarts per 

 day. 



The time required to teach the calves to drink was about 

 three days. The calves were kept in separate pens, and 

 weighed weekly. They were kept until they were eight to 

 eleven weeks old. 



