HOW PRACTICE SUPPORTS THEORY 241 



advantages of the Continuous Cropping ration are even 

 more striking than before the war. 



For instance, if roots are charged at £1 per ton, 

 cotton cake and maize meal at £20 and £19 per ton 

 respectively, and meadow hay at £3 per ton, then the 

 cost of the food for the production of a gallon of milk 

 in the case of a cow fed on Ration 1 and yielding 

 3 gallons per day is approximately 8|d. per gallon. 

 On the other hand by charging oat and vetch hay at 

 the same rate as meadow hay, £3 per ton instead of at 

 £2, as before the war, giant rape at 3s. 6d. per ton, 

 the cost of food to produce 1 gallon of milk on the 

 Continuous Cropping ration is still only approximately 

 3.58d. per gallon. 



THE PRICES CHARGED 



The publication of the results of the above experi- 

 ments caused a tremendous amount of interest in both 

 scientific and practical agricultural circles. The ques- 

 tion that was often asked in discussing the experiment 

 had reference to the prices at which the various food 

 stuffs were charged against the cow. 



A few explanatory words on this point are 

 necessary. The reason why in the experiment 

 the standard of prices was charged in the case of 

 the ordinary ration or Ration 1, was because 

 the Department of Agriculture for Ireland in a 

 winter dairy experiment which that body con- 

 ducted, adopted the same standard of prices as given 

 above, in the case of hay, roots, cakes and meals, and 

 the object of the writer's experiment was to make a 

 comparison between the cost of milk production as 

 ascertained in the Department's experiment, and the 

 cost when cattle were fed on a Continuous Cropping 

 ration . 



