168 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Economical concentrates : (1) cotton-seed meal ; (2) lin- 

 seed meals ; (3) certain gluten meals and feeds ; (4) dried 

 brewer's grains, malt sprouts, etc. ; (5) bran, middlings, 

 etc. ; (6) corn meal (sometimes). 



Uneconomical concentrates (for purchase) : (1) corn meal 

 (usually); (2) oats; (3) oat feeds; (4) mixed feeds or 

 provenders; (5) condimental foods, etc. 



In the amount of time which we have at our command, it 

 will hardly pay me to indicate why I have listed some of 

 these materials as economical. It may not be amiss, how- 

 ever, for me to spend a brief moment in giving the reasons why 

 I have classified some of these as uneconomical. Late-cut 

 hay is relatively indigestible, its quality notably inferior. 

 Silage from immature corn contains but a small proportion 

 of the feeding value that may be obtained if the kernels are 

 allowed to reach the glazing period. Roots, while valua- 

 ble for dairy feeding, are relatively expensive sources of 

 digestible carbohydrates, as compared with the corn crop. 

 New and untried crops were better experimented with at the 

 stations than by farmers. Of the purchased concentrates, 

 corn meal is usually uneconomical, because it is rich in car- 

 bohydrates, and it is protein rather than carbohydrates 

 which we should buy. Oats are usually uneconomical at the 

 prices asked. Oat feeds are generally made up of oat hulls, 

 refuse oats and the like, fortified sometimes with other mate- 

 rials, and at the prices asked are relatively expensive. Much 

 the same may be said of many of the mixed feeds and prov- 

 enders. Touching condimental foods, it may be said that 

 they seldom if ever increase the production of or materially 

 better the condition of healthy animals. Of course, in select- 

 ing fodders and feeds and in making up the ration, one needs 

 to consider not only the digestible dry matter and digestible 

 nutrients, but likewise the effect which the various materials 

 may have upon the health of the animal, upon the quality of 

 product, upon the quality of manure, the relation of cost to 

 value and the dairy character of the herd. This latter point 

 in particular is worth considering. It is folly to feed high- 

 grade feed to low-grade cows. 



(c) Economy in Methods. — Shall New England dairy- 

 ing be private, or associate? Is the old-time idea of a 



