2nd. The cost of a hundred pounds of dry matter is sUghtly 

 less in corn than in hay. 



In our experience we have found the following figures to be 

 substantially true : 



I GO lbs. dry matter in ensilage cost 42 cents. 

 100 lbs. dry matter in hay cost 44^ cents. 



3d. Green food is especially favorable to the production 

 of milk. The succulent pasture grass in May and June is with- 

 out an equal as a milk producing food. Mangels and other 

 roots, when fed in combination with dry fodders, are known to 

 have a very beneficial effect, and with ensilage the same has 

 been observed. 



In an experiment, carried on at this Station, where hay and 

 ensilage were compared, the following averages were obtained : 

 Ensilage ration, containing 16.45 ^^s. digestible dry matter, pro- 

 duced 21 lbs. milk. 

 Hay ration, containing 16.83 ^^s. digestible dry matter, produced 

 18.4 lbs. milk. 



There are those who claim that a pound of digestible mat- 

 ,ter in one substance is as good as a pound in any and all other 

 substances, and that succulence adds nothing to the value of 

 a food. This I do not regard as proven by practice. In Bul- 

 letin No. II of this Sation it was shown that one hundred pounds 

 of digestible matter in a ration made up of skim-milk and corn 

 wm/was equal to 146.6 lbs. of digestible matter in a ration 

 chemically identical, but made up of corn meal and middlings. 

 Practically, there can be no doubt that a pound of food material 

 in the skim-milk ration was superior to a pound in the mixed 

 grain ration, and I believe this was due largely to the favorable 

 condition in which the digestive and assimilative organs were 

 kept by the former ration. This being true of skim-milk, 1 see 

 no season why pasture grass, roots, or ensilage, may not be like- 

 wise more valuable than dried fodders. In fact, 1 am convinced 

 that foods containing a large per cent, of water keep the ani- 

 mal system in such tone that it is able to make better use of the 

 food digested. I'he efficiency of the steam boiler is very largely 

 affected by the deposit of soot on its flues, not that the boiler or 

 its flues are changed, or that the combustion of the coal is less 

 perfect, but, rather, that the heat produced by this combustion 

 is not utilized in steam making. So, although the same amount 



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