116 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



Each farmer ought to make his selection, from among the 

 various fodder plants, to suit his individual resources and wants ; 

 yet, adopting this basis as his guide, he ought to make his selec- 

 tion on the basis that the crop which is capable of producing, for 

 the same area, the largest quantity of nitrogen containing food 

 constituents, at the least cost, is, as a rule, the most valuable one 

 for him. 



Our prominent fodder plants may be classified, in regard to the 

 relative proportion of their nitrogenous organic food constituents 

 to their non-nitrogenous organic food constituents (nutritive 

 ratio) , in the following order : — 



1. Leguminous plants, clover, vetch, etc., . . 1 : 2.2 to 1 : 4.5 



2. Grasses, 1 : 6.0 to 1 : 8.0 



3. Green corn, roots and tubers, . . . . 1 : 6.0 to 1 : 15.0 



The composition of the various articles of food used in farm 

 practice exerts a decided influence on the manurial value of the 

 animal excretions, resulting from their use in the diet of different 

 kinds of farm live stock. The more potash, phosphoric acid, 

 and, in particular, nitrogen, a fodder contains, the more valuable 

 will be, under otherwise corresponding circumstances, the manu- 

 rial residue left behind, after it has served its purpose as a con- 

 stituent of the food consumed. 



As the financial success in most farm management depends, in 

 a considerable degree, on the amount, the character and the cost 

 of the manurial refuse material secured in connection with the 

 special farm industry carried on, it needs no further argument to 

 prove that the relations which exist between the composition of 

 the fodder and the value of the manure resulting deserve the 

 careful consideration of the farmer, when devising an eflBcient 

 and at the same time an economical diet for his live stock. 



Believing in the correctness of the previous remarks, it 

 has been one of the aims of the manager of the Station to 

 experiment with various new fodder crops, to ascertain 

 their adaptation to our climate and soil, and their fitness for 

 the support of the dairy industry at a period of the season 

 when good hay is scarce, and when the green fodder corn 

 has not yet reached a desirable condition to do its best. 



Some, as the vetch, Southern cow-pea and serradella, 

 have been cultivated for several years past on a compara- 

 tively large scale, with marked success. They yielded a 



