386 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



But I imagine some of you saying that I am taking you into 

 purely abstract research, and that you do not see just how 

 such investigations can help the farmer. Gentlemen, I 

 believe that work of this kind is helping and eventually 

 Avill help the farmer, perhaps even more than many of us 

 dream of. I have thought it best to call your attention to 

 this line of work, in order that you, as ])rogressive agri- 

 culturists, might see how closely, how deeply, how scientifi- 

 cally, if you please, this prol)lem of animal nutrition, of fat 

 and flesh production, is being studied by a German experi- 

 ment station. 1 have no time to describe to you the many 

 discouragements met with, and the many years of patient 

 investigation necessary, to enable these investigators to get 

 thus far towards solving the ])roblems of animal nutrition. 



If you will allow me very briefly to recapitulate, I thiidc 

 I can show you a record of progress made: (1) Methods 

 established for the analysis of the food consumed; (2) The 

 amounts of digestible matter \x\ the foods determined; (3) 

 Methods discovered and i)erfected to ascertain what becomes 

 of this digested food, and consequently as a result to ac- 

 curately determine the gain or loss of fat and lean meat in 

 the animal body. AVith these methods in hand, the problem 

 the G(")ttingen station is now studying is how to feed the 

 dirterent foods, in what })roportions we shall feed our protein 

 and carbohydrates, in order to feed them most economically, 

 in order to find out if })()ssible how to put more lean meat 

 and not so nnich fat on animals intended for ])eef, or, if you 

 will go a step further, how to produce flesh and fat at will. 

 Investigations thus far made with the respirations apparatus 

 indicate that avc nuist feed more protein, i. e., narrower 

 fodder rations, in order to })roduce beef with the greatest 

 economy. Still, the investigations have not })rogressed 

 far enough to enable us to draw any very certain conclu- 

 sions. 



I will not speak to you of other methods that have been 

 suggested, tried, and are now l)eing used with more or less 

 success to aid in solvin<; the problem of economical beef 

 production. As yet we are not at all clear, when we feed, 



