io8 



if the 'digestive process does not extract the nutriment, 

 why to be sure it can do the animal body no good. Me- 

 chanical lightness or porosity has much to do with the 

 ease with which a food digests. Corn meal for example 

 is so solid and heavy it does not digest well by itself. 

 Add bran to it, however, and there is a marked improve- 

 ment, since then the particles of meal are largely separated, 

 and their exposure to the action of the digestive fluids of 

 the stomach greatly increased. Grinding gi-ain is an ex- 

 l^edient to render its mastication and digestion by the an- 

 imal more easy and more sure. Old animals with [voor 

 teeth especially require ground feed. As the dairy cow 

 has work enough to do in chewing the large amounts of 

 fodder she must consume in order to yield a good met^s of 

 milk, it is profitable to give her some assistance b}' grind- 

 ing all her grain feed and to some extent cutting her fod- 

 der also. 



HAY AND COARSE FODDER. 



It is a Avell known fact that a certain proportion of 

 every stock ration should consist of hay or other coarse 

 fodder. While good hay contains considerable nutriment, 

 its value is largely to be attributed to the aid it furnishes 

 proper digestion by distending the stomach and by dilut- 

 ing the more concentrated grain feed. It is important to 

 feed enough hay but not too much. The farmer very 

 readily falls into the practice of feeding too much hay and 

 too little grain. This happens because hay is largely pro- 

 duced upon the farm, whereas grain is more foreign and 

 requires the expenditure of cash for its purchase. It will 

 no doubt pay upon a farm where hay is largel}^ grown, to 

 sell a portion of it and devote the proceeds of the sale to 

 the buying of grain. The remarkable cheapness of all 

 kinds of grain, when compared with hay, has been very 



