34 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Every animal has a limit beyond which profitable feeding 

 may not be carried ; and, while this limit varies in different 

 individuals, yet we must content ourselves with averages in 

 dealing with the principles, and must leave it to the intelli- 

 gence of the feeder to discover the variation from the general 

 rule. 



It has been quite well established in the mechanical world, 

 that certain amounts of certain kinds of coal under boilers 

 of known efficiency will develop a horse-power ; and these 

 results, chiefly obtained experimentally, are figured upon 

 with a good degree of certainty in estimating the cost of a 

 given product. In much the same way has it been found 

 that certain amounts of food are required in producing given 

 results under average conditions ; and we are able to predict 

 with some degree of confidence what results will follow from 

 certain rations, as compared wdth others of different char- 

 acter. 



But to establish the quantity of food required involves a 

 knowledge of what food is, and this brings us to the subject 

 of the chemical composition of fodders. There are certain 

 substances found in all feeding stuffs, but the quantity or per 

 cent varies greatly. Starch is always found, but it may 

 be present in small quantity, as in cotton-seed meal (less than 

 six per cent), or as in cornmeal, constituting three-quarters 

 of the weight. Sugar is always found, and oil, fibre, water 

 and albuminoids. The chemist is able to tell us the com- 

 position of any of our foods ; and as an object lesson I have 

 in these two series of bottles the chemical constituents of a 

 pound of cornmeal and a pound of cotton-seed meal. I have 

 taken these two foods because they are very common ones, 

 and because they represent two distinct general classes of 

 food. You will see that the cornmeal has a very large 

 amount of starch, while the cotton-seed has very little ; of 

 the albuminoids the cornmeal has but little, while the cotton- 

 seed has a large amount. Here, then, is the great distinction 

 between the foods. One is starchy, the other is nitrogenous 

 or albuminous ; and we may class the bulk of our fodders 

 and grains under one or the other of these heads ; and, as will 

 be seen later, this classification is of great importance in 

 making up rations. 



