Digestion Experiments With Wethers. 17 



EXPERIMENT I. 

 Alfalfa (Second Cutting). 



As alfalfa is a profitable crop in Wyoming, and as at 

 present a grfcat deal of interest is taken in it as a hay for 

 feeding purposes, it was decided to begin the digestion work 

 at this station with this forage plant. The alfalfa hay used in 

 this experiment was second cutting grown on the experiment 

 farm near Laramie ; cut August 24-27, 1904. It was a good 

 bright colored hay, well cured, and considered a fair sample of 

 second cutting alfalfa grown on the Laramie Plains. 



The wethers had been fed two weeks upon alfalfa hay 

 only, before the experimetn was begun, as that was the hay 

 used at the time for the flock. January 15, 1905, they were 

 put on the preliminary seven days' feeding of three-fourths 

 pounds twice daily. Sacks were put on January 22 at 3 p. m. 

 and emptied at 8 a. m. each day, except the last, when they 

 were not taken off until 5 p. m. by an oversight, making the 

 run five days and two hours. 



The feed was chopped as described elsewhere into sacks 

 holding about a pound. About one-fourth pound was taken 

 from every fifth sack, and from this a composite was obtained. 

 This was ground until the whole would pass a sieve having 

 circular openings one millimeter in diameter. This was an- 

 alyzed and taken as the average composition of the hay fed. 



