1905.] 



PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 88. 



77 



great loss in live weight during the period. Sheep III. ate 

 the ration clean, while Sheep II. refused a noticeable amount 

 of the coarser i)ortions. The following figures show the 

 results with the dry fodder; for comparison, the results 

 obtained with the ixreen corn are also stated : — 



The coefficients obtained are concordant, and the experi- 

 ment may be considered quite satisfactory. In comparing 

 the results of the two experiments, it Avill be noticed that 

 the dry fodder was not as well digested as the green material. 

 This ma}^ be accounted for partly on the ground that the 

 sheep received the green fodder in September, after having 

 been at pasture all summer, while the dried material was fed 

 in March, after they had been in similar experiments for six 

 months ; and partly because previous experiments have dem- 

 onstrated that in case of very coarse fodders sheep digest 

 the green substance a little more thoroughly than the cured. 

 For some reason the fiber in the dry material was more fully 

 digested than in the green substance. This may be due to 

 the fact that in the cured fodder some of the extract matter 

 had been converted into a hemi-cellulose, which resisted the 

 action of the chemical solvents, but yielded to the influence 

 of the digestive fluids. In general, it may be said that the 

 results obtained with the Eureka corn compare very favor- 

 ably with those obtained by other experimenters with the 

 southern varieties at a similar stag-e of g-rowth. 



