390 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub'. Doc. 



eio'ht to eleven milch cows and steers, and ^vith flocks of 

 thirty sheep, in lots often each. 



JiesuUs. — It was found (1) that as high as 80 to 90 

 pounds of heet refuse could be fed to advantage, giving a 

 total water consumption in the food of 100 pounds ; (2) the 

 increase in watery food Avas without discernible effect upon 

 the composilion of the milk; (3) the quantity of milk in- 

 creased regularly, with the increase of beet residue fed; (4) 

 all the highly nitrogenous rations, for example, those with 

 as high a content of digestible i)rotein as 3.5 to 4 pounds 

 per day, per head of cows and oxen, and per 1,000 pounds of 

 sheep, with a nutritive ratio of 1 : 4 to 1 :4.5, proved profit- 

 able, while all the rations with a large amount of non-pro- 

 tein gave financially unfavorable results. >yo b 



The general conclusions were : (a) an excess of carbo- 

 hydrates and fat is always to lie avoided in feeding, whether 

 for milk or fattening ; (^) there is no objection to feeding 

 ('()nsideral)le more protein than current usage and feeding 

 standards call for [i. e., 2.5 pounds per day) ; (c) the ad- 

 vantage rests i)artly in the increased production and partly 

 in the increased value of the manure. 



C. The Experiment Station at Bernburg. 



The experiment station at Bernburg in the dukedom of 

 Anhalt was established in 1882, with Prof. H. Hellriegel as 

 director, who is engaged in studying the effect of different 

 forms of plant food upon sugar l)eets and upon the cereals. 

 It was while eno-ao-ed in this work that Professor Hellrieiiel 

 and his assistant, Dr. AVilfarth, established for themselves 

 a world-wide reputation among scientific men by proving 

 conclusively the fact that the leguminous ])lants, such as 

 the clovers, jx^as, l)eans, lupines, etc., could assimilate the 

 free nitrogen of the air. 



The (juestion as to whether or not })lants were ca})able 

 of drawing ui)on the free nitrogen of the air for their 

 supply had been disi)uted for many years by scientific men. 

 Among the ancient Romans, for example, it was recognized, 

 accordinsf to J*linv, that the le<»:umes made a luxuriant 

 growth without the aid of manure. As early as 1780 

 Priestley and Tugendhauscr thought that they had proved 



