1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 423 



(4.) The care bestowed upon collecting and preserving 

 the entire liquid and solid excretions. 



Assuming, for our. present purpose, in both instances, 

 identical conditions, as far as the kind of animal, the mode 

 of collecting and the care of keeping the manure are con- 

 cerned, it will be apparent that the relative values of the 

 two kinds of barn-yard manure stand essentially in a direct 

 relation to the amount of nitrogen, potash, phosphoric acid, 

 etc., which was contained in the feed consumed. 



The loss of fertilizing constituents contained in the fodder 

 of milch cows, in consequence of the production of milk, 

 varies quite naturally more or less in case of different cows, 

 as well as of one and the same animal at its different stages 

 of milk production. Whether the whole milk or only the 

 cream is sold off from the farm deserves here not less 

 serious consideration. 



We have adopted thus far in our calculation a loss of 

 twenty per cent., which may be considered quite a liberal 

 allowance in case of a fair average production of milk, and 

 where the whole milk is sold. 



1886. — From the description of our earlier feeding 

 experiments with milch cows (see Fourth Annual Keport, 

 page 11), it may be observed that the relations of the diges- 

 tible nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous organic constituents 

 in the different combinations of fodder articles which con- 

 stituted, during the various feeding periods, the daily diet 

 of the cows, varied on that occasion from 1 : 6.7 to 1 : 10.17. 

 The closer relation was obtained by feeding, on an average, 

 daily,— 



3^ lbs. of wheat bran, ") 



15 lbs. of hay, y Nutritive ratio, 1 : 6.7. 



40 lbs. of Lane's sugar beet, ) 



and the wider ratio by feeding daily, on an average, — 



3 J lbs. of com meal, ") 



5 lbs. of hay, V Nutritive ratio, 1 : 10.17. 



41| lbs. of corn ensilage, ) 



1887. — As most well-conducted experiments with dairy 

 cows endorse the use of a diet which has a closer relation 



