20 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



The manurial value of the feed consumed during the entire 

 feeding experiment, deducting twenty per cent, for the 

 amount of fertilizing constituents lost in the production of 

 milk, is, at the current market rates, in every instance, more 

 than equal to one-third of the original cost of the feed. 



To avoid misconstruction regarding the statement of net 

 cost of milk used in our description, I state once more that 

 it does not include expenses of labor, housing, interest on 

 investment, etc., but means merely net cost of feed after 

 deducting eighty per cent, of its manurial value. (For 

 details, see Fifth Annual Report, pages 11-34.) 



1888. — To verify as far as practicable the above-stated 

 conclusions, a new series of observations was decided upon. 

 The course adopted was essentially the same as in the pre- 

 ceding year. English hay, fodder corn, corn ensilage and 

 corn stover served as coarse fodder articles ; and corn meal, 

 corn and cob meal, wheat bran and gluten meal as the sup- 

 plementary feed stuffs to secure the desired relative propor- 

 tion of digestible nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous substances 

 in the daily fodder rations. The repetition of a comparative 

 test between roots and corn ensilage was left over for another 

 season, when a larger supply of sugar beets and carrots 

 would render the trial more decisive. The fodder corn, 

 corn ensilao^e and corn stover were cut to an even lena^th 

 (l|-2 inches) before fed. The daily average amount of 

 fodder corn left behind unconsumed was 5.55 pounds and 

 that of corn stover and ensilage, 3 pounds. 



Six cows, grades, served in the experiment, which was 

 subdivided into seven feeding periods, extending over a 

 period of four and one-half months. The same quantity of 

 corn and cob meal, wheat bran and gluten meal (three and 

 one-quarter pounds each) was fed daily from the beginning 

 to the close of the trial. Corn ensilage was fed in different 

 proportions with one-half or one-fourth of English hay. 

 Fodder corn and corn stover were fed most of the time by 

 themselves. 



The nutritive value of the different diets used has been 

 quite close, varying from 1:5 5 to 1:6.1. The adopted 

 rates of digestibility of the fodder ingredients are those 

 which have been published of late by E. Wolff. They are 



