-No. 4.] FEEDING OF DAIRY COWS. 153 



with the cost of other things, where is the economy in 

 raising the horse bean? The question has been asked 

 whether it has been tried here. Dr. Goessmann is in the 

 audience, and he can answer the question a little more 

 explicitly than I can. With all respect to Professor Robert- 

 son's opinion, if they cost as he states and give the return 

 Avhich he states, how can we afford to grow horse beans ? 



He says we ought to raise the precise materials which we 

 feed. Those materials can be purchased, and the price of 

 land, fertilizers and labor would all affect that question. I 

 believe that in many instances we could buy the nitrogenous 

 constituents of our food cheaper than we could raise them ; 

 so that, if horse beans are going to cost more to raise than 

 corn fodder, and do not produce as much, I would prefer to 

 buy the albuminoids in the shape of concentrated feed 

 stuffs. 



Then, as to roots, there have been a good many experi- 

 ments carried out in Massachusetts and in other States, as 

 to the economy of roots as compared with ensilage, and the 

 result has been, as far as I know, against the roots. We 

 cannot grow roots here to as good advantage as Professor 

 Robertson can in Canada, because our labor is so much 

 higher. 



Question. Have you tried scarlet clover? 



Professor Robertson. It did not stand over winter. 

 Permit me to make one observation. I very well know 

 that Indian corn by all odds is the best crop to grow for 

 feeding cows, but the nutritive ratio is too wide between 

 the albuminoids and carbohydrates in corn. I want to 

 narrow that down, and I do that with horse beans, in which 

 the nutritive ratio stands less than one to three and one half. 

 I merely try to get the albuminoids with a small quantity 

 of carbohydrates. If I could buy them cheaper than I could 

 raise them, I would buy them ; but on our side of the line, 

 and perhaps on this side, I find many farmers have not a 

 commercial talent for buying these things and feeding them 

 at a profit. But they have a talent for growing them, so I 

 prefer to raise the horse bean rather than buy albuminoids 

 in other form. At the same time, other matters are very 

 well pointed out by Professor Brooks, who is here with you 



