FEEDII^G RATIONS. 157 



centrated a food as sugar or butter, and therefore equally 

 injurious and disturbing to the system as these, when 

 fed in excess. But as forty-two and one-half per cent 

 of this meal consists of nitrogenous substances, and six 

 and three-fourths per cent of nitrogen, an excess of it 

 is even more disastrous to the animal than an excess 

 of carbonaceous food, because of its serious effect upon 

 the blood and also upon the kidneys, through which the 

 excess of nitrogen must escape. Hence the use of this 

 food especially, and all other concentrated foods gener- 

 ally, requires care and caution to avoid any excess beyond 

 the quantity that the animal can dispose of safely. 



The healthful proportion of the protein (albuminoids) 

 to the carbo-hydrates of the food, for the maintenance of 

 an animal in good health and thrift, is one of the former 

 to five and one-half of the latter, or, as the figures are 

 put, 1 :5.5. Of these foods mentioned wheat bran is seen 

 to be the nearest to this ratio. Fat is always taken as 

 two and one-half times as mucli as the other carbo- 

 hydrates, hence the richer a food is in fat the more the 

 relative value of the carbo-hydrates is, and the ratio is 

 made out accordingly. As wheat bran contains three 

 and one-half per cent of oil or fat, the carbo-hydrates are 

 increased by 8.75 instead of 3.50, and the ratio is thus 

 12.9 to nearly 68, or 1:5.3 nearly. This is a close approx- 

 imation to the normal ratio, hence wheat bran should 

 be, and is, practically, the best basis for a food for cows 

 and other animals kept for milk or flesh. Then we have 

 to consider what is wanted after the animal itself is 

 supplied with every healthful requisite for its main- 

 tenance. Clearly, if one desires butter, he should feed 

 some substances rich in fat ; if milk, those which are 

 rich in protein, to supply the nitrogenous matter of the 

 caseine, and others rich in cfirbon, to supply the sugar 

 and the fat. Malt sprouts and cotton-seed meal are 

 typical foods of these kinds, and in our dairy practice 



