THE GENESEE FARMER. 



ous food will produce, when eaten in conjunction with nitrogenous substances. We are, 

 however, by no means to suppose that the rate of increase is in exact proportion to 

 the per centage of nitrogen in the food, for it is not ; rapidity of increase being 

 attained only at an increased proportional consumption of nitrogenous substances. 



By available non-nitrogenous substances, we mean such substances as sugar, starch, 

 oil, gum, (fee, which are readily dissolved in the stomach, and easily assimilated ; and 

 not such substances as woody fibre, which, though a non-nitrogenous substance, and 

 composed precisely of the same elements as sugar, &c., is not available as food, being 

 incapable of solution in the stomach, and is passed through the body of the animal 

 unchanged. 



In providing our store stock with food, especially in a season of scarcity, our object 

 will be to give them a sufiicient amount of available non-nitrogenous substances in the 

 least expensive form. That is, leaving out every other relative question, such as value 

 of manure and increase of animal, and aiming only at keeping the animals in a normal 

 condition without work, we should prefer those foods, the price being the same, which 

 contain the most sugar, starch, &c., supplying the necessary bulk with some cheap sub- 

 stance, such as straw. 



The prices of some of the substances used as food for cattle, taking Rochester whole- 

 sale prices as the basis of calculation, will be an indication of the value practical 

 farmers put upon them. We give the price per ton ; for it is weight, and not bulk, 

 that we desire in purchasing food, or in estimating its value. 



Bran, at 7 cents per bushel of 10 pounds, $14 00 per ton, 



Bhorta, at 9 cents per bushel of 14 pounds, 12 86 " 



Coarse middlings, at 14 cents per bushel of 20 pounds, 14 00 " 



Fine " at 20 cents per bushel of 27 pounds, 14 07 « 



" " at 30 cents per bushel of 84 pounds, 17 64 " 



Indian com, at 60 cents per bushel of 60 pounds, 20 00 " 



Oats, at 38 cents per bushel of 32 pounds, 23 75 " 



OUcake, 20 00 • 



Had we complete analyses of these substances, it would be easy to decide accurately 

 which would be the cheapest food for our purpose. We have no doubt, however, that 

 Indian corn contains much the most available non-nitrogenous matter, and that 100 lbs. 

 of ground corn meal mixed with the required bulk of cut straw, will be of more avail in 

 sustaining animal life during the winter than any other food that can be obtained at the 

 same price. We have no doubt, too, that horses can be kept in the same way, at a 

 much less cost than feeding them hay. If, however, they be worked much during win- 

 ter, they would require a more nitrogenous food, to supply the wear and tear of muscles, 

 and a little oilcake meal, pea meal, or oat meal, might be mixed with the cut straw, &c., 

 — instead of, or in addition to the corn meal — with advantage. 



BoussiNGAULT estimates, from experiments and chemical analyses, that 100 lbs. of 

 good meadow hay may be replaced by 



^ 



Bran, 85 pounds. 



Oats, 68 " 



Barley, 65 « 



Maize, 59 « 



Kyo, 77 « 



Linseed cake, 22 " 



Beans, i» " 



Peas, 27 pounds, 



Totatoes, 280 " 



Carrot 882 " 



Wheat straw, 426 " 



Oat straw, 383 '• 



Barley straw, ... 460 " 



Pea straw, 64 " 



If this table of equivalents can be relied upon, it appears that 100 lbs of hay is equal 

 to 426 lbs. wheat straw, and that 22 lbs. of oilcake is equal to 100 lbs. of hay, 68 lbs. 

 of oats, 58 lbs. of bran, &c., &c. Boussingault found that his 17 horses, averaging 

 1,0*70 lbs. in weight, eat and did well on a ration of 33 lbs. hay per day, working eight 

 hours regularly every day. To obtain the same amount of nutritious food in straw, a 

 horse must eat 165 lbs. of straw per day — a feat he is incapable of performing: but 

 if we give him 30 lbs. of straw, equal to 6 lbs. of hay ; 5 lbs. oilcake, equal to 22 lbs. 

 of hay ; and 3 lbs. corn meal, equal to 5 ll»s. hay ; he will receive the same amount 



