No. 4.] GERMAN EXPERIMENT STATIONS. r,89 



This station is hy far the largest of its kind in the world, 

 and is situated in a most fertile a2:ricultural region, where a 

 very intensive system of farming is pursued. 



It would l)e impossible, in the very limited time at my 

 disposal this afternoon, to attempt to s})eak very nuich in 

 detail relative to the experiments carried on at this station ; 

 but in passing I wish to touch briefly on some experiments 

 carried out a year or two ago in feeding farm animals, viz., 

 milch cows, fattening steers and sheep. 



First, I might say that this station has no stables for its 

 feeding experiments, but that they are carried on under the 

 supervision of the station by intelligent farmers. The station 

 lays out the plan, analyzes the fodders and milk, and has a gen- 

 eral oversight of the experiments during their continuance. 



The experiments above mentioned,* undertaken for the 

 study of questions of local importance, are of more than 

 local interest, and have attracted considerable attention in 

 Germany. 



In the region about Halle large quantities of sugar beets 

 are raised, and the diffusion residue, or beet pulp, remain- 

 ing behind after the sugar has been extracted, is a very im- 

 portant feeding stuff. The manufacture of alcohol from po- 

 tatoes is conducted upon a large scale on many farms, and 

 the potato residue is also an important factor in the feeding. 

 The objects of the experiment were: (1) to find out how 

 much of the watery food could be fed to advantage ; (2) to 

 ascertain if more liberal rations than the current feeding 

 standards (such as Wolff's) call for, namely, 2.5 pounds 

 digestible protein, 0.5 pound fat and 13 pounds carbohy- 

 drates, might not be profitable; (3) it was desirous of test- 

 ing more thoroughly the influence of the relation of the 

 nitrogenous to the non-nitrogenous matter in the food, or, in 

 other words, the old question of wide or narrow rations. 

 The foods fed were hay, straw, pea-straw, lupines, corn 

 meal, barley meal, wheat l)ran, cotton-seed meal, peanut 

 meal, palmnut meal, poppy-cake, and the residue of sugar 

 beets and potatoes. 



Several experiments were made with herds containing 



• For a very excellent resume of these experiments see Experiment Station 

 Record. March, 1892. 



