EXPERIMENT STATION. 427 



As no single plant or part of plants has been found to supply 

 economically and efficiently to any considerable extent the 

 wants of our various kinds of farm stock, it becomes a matter 

 of first importance to learn how to supplement our leading farm 

 crops, to meet the divers wants of each kind. To secure the 

 highest feeding value of each article of fodder is most desirable 

 in the interest of good economy. The judicious selection of 

 ingredients for a suitable and remunerative diet for our dairy 

 stock obliges us, therefore, to study the value of the fodder 

 articles at our disposal from both standpoints. 



The chemical analyses of the various articles used in the 

 combination of fodder in our case are stated in some succeed- 

 ing pages, to show their character and their respective quality. 

 To ascertain the chemical composition of a fodder ration in 

 connection with an otherwise carefully managed feeding experi- 

 ment, enables us to recognize, with more certainty, the causes 

 of the varying feeding eifects of one and the same fodder article, 

 when fed in different combinations. It furnishes also a most 

 valuable guide in the selection of suitable commercial feed stuffs 

 from known sources to supplement economically our home- 

 raised fodder crops. Practical experience in feeding stock has 

 so far advanced, that it seems to need no further argument to 

 accept it as a matter of fact, that the efficiency of a fodder 

 ration in the dairy does not depend on the mere presence of 

 more or less of certain prominent fodder articles, but on the 

 presence of a proper quantity and a certain relative proportion 

 of some prominent constituents of plants, which are known to 

 be essential for a successful support of life and the special 

 functions of the dairy cow. 



Investigations into the relations which the various prominent 

 constituents of plants bear to the support of animal life, have 

 rendered it advisable to classify them in this connection into 

 three groups, — mineral constituents, and nitrogenous and non- 

 nitrogenous organic constituents. For details regarding this 

 matter I have to refer to previous publications of the Station. 

 Numerous and extensive practical feeding experiments, with 

 most of our prominent fodder articles in various conditions, 

 and with all kinds of farm live stock, have introduced the 

 practice of reporting together with analysis of the chemist, the 



