22 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



economical methods of feeding. A saving of one cent a day 

 means $400,000 per winter in the State of Massachusetts, 

 and in the United States it means $30,000,000. I do not 

 mean to say that $30,000,000 will be saved in the United 

 States, or that $200,000 will be saved in New Hampshire, or 

 that $400,000 will be saved in Massachusetts ; but I do say 

 that these amounts can be saved in the cost of feeding our 

 cows. 



I will not take up any more of your time, unless there are 

 some questions asked. 



Secretary Sessions. I would like to call your attention 

 to one point. You spoke of feeding pigs with ashes and 

 bone. Would the same result follow where skim-milk 

 formed a considerable part of the ration? 



Professor Whitcher. No, I think not. But the great 

 mass of hogs in this country are fed on corn from the time 

 they are weaned until they are slaughtered. It would not 

 be true where skim-milk is a part of % the ration, because that 

 contains the ash constituents which are necessary. 



Mr. Elltott Moore. I would like to inquire of the 

 speaker whether manure that was spread on the field say 

 this last week, and is allowed to remain there until next 

 spring, will waste? 



Professor Whitcher. I am very glad to have that ques- 

 tion brought up. We have been studying it at our station 

 for the last four years, and I will say, to answer the question 

 as directly as possible, that I do not believe there is any 

 loss to speak of, and I do believe that the gain there is in 

 the condition in which the manure will be next spring will 

 more than offset, any little loss that there may have been. 

 Now, I must qualify that a little, because I know there are 

 some in the audience who will take exception to that state- 

 ment unless it is qualified. There is one way in which you 

 may lose. I would not put it on a steep hill-side, but, if the 

 field is level or comparatively level, I do not believe that 

 any loss results from that method of dealing with it, and for 

 this reason : the first thing that takes place in the spring after 

 the snow goes off is a softening of the earth under the 

 manure, the water dissolves the plant food that is contained 



