1895.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 401 



depend on the mere use of more or less of one or the other 

 reputed fodder article as on the presence of suita])le fodder 

 articles which contain the three essential groups of food con- 

 stituentSy i. e., organic nitrogenous, non-nitrogenous and 

 mineral constituents of 2^lants, in a desirable form, and in 

 such relative proportions and quantities as have been recog- 

 nized to be necessary to meet efficiently the food supply of 

 the dairy cow. Similar relations are known to exist in re- 

 gard to the diet best adapted in case of all kinds of animals. 

 A71 economical system of slock feeding has to select among the 

 suitable fodder articles those u-hich furnish the required qual- 

 ity and proportion of the three recognized essential food con- 

 stituents in a digestible form, at the lowest cost. 



Actual observations in stock feeding fully confirm the 

 correctness of the above statement, that a judicious selec- 

 tion from among the current commercial feed stuffs, for the 

 purpose of serving in connection with one or more of our 

 home-raised fodder plants as a fodder ingredient of the daily 

 diet, does, as a rule, tend not only to improve their food 

 value, but also lowers in the majority of cases the net cost 

 of the feed consumed. For more details regarding the de- 

 termination of the intrinsic value of fodder rations I have to 

 refer on the present occasion, for obvious reasons, to preced- 

 ing annual reports. 



TJie majority of commercial feed stuffs occupy in a rational 

 system of stock feeding a similar position to our home-raised 

 fodder crops as is cotnmonly conceded to the commercial 

 fertilizer with reference to the ham-yard manure for tJie pro- 

 duction of farm crop)s; they serve for the preparation of a 

 complete diet under different conditions and for different pur- 

 jyoses. The individual merits of each of them become in 

 the same degree better appreciated as the principles which 

 govern animal nutrition are more generally understood, and 

 find a due recognition in our modes of compounding the 

 daily diet for different kinds as well as for different condi- 

 tions of the same kind of animals. They are as a class to- 

 day considered indispensable for a remunerative management 

 of every branch of animal industry on the farm and elsewhere. 



Many of the connnercial feed stuffs contain, aside from a 

 liberal amount of phosphoric acid and potash, an exception- 



