As no single plant or part of plant has been found to supply eco- 

 nomically and efficiently to any considerable extent the wants of our 

 various kinds of farm stock, it becomes a matter of first importance 

 to learn how to supplement our leading farm crops, to meet the divers 

 wants of each kind. To secure the highest feeding value of each 

 article of fodder is most desirable in the interest of good economy. 

 The judicious selection of ingredients for a suitable and remunerative 

 diet for our dairy stock obliges us, therefore, to study the value of 

 the fodder articles at our disposal from both standpoints. 



The chemical analyses of the various articles used in the combina- 

 tion of fodder in our case, with the exception of that of carrots which 

 may be found in Bulletin No. 26, page 9, are stated in some succeeding 

 pages to show their character and their respective quality. To ascertain 

 the chemical composition of a fodder ration in connection with an other- 

 wise carefully managed feeding experiment, enables us to recognize, 

 with more certainty, the causes of the varying feeding effects of one 

 and the same fodder article, when fed in different combinations. It 

 furnishes also a most valuable guide in the selection of suitable com- 

 mercial feed stuffs from known sources to supplement economically 

 our home-raised fodder crops. Practical experience in feeding stock 

 has so far advanced, that it seems to need no further argument to 

 accept it as a matter of fact, that the efficiency of a fodder ration in 

 the dairy does not depend, aside from its general adaptation, on the 

 mere presence of more or less of certain prominent fodder articles, 

 but on the presence of a proper quantity and a certain relative pro- 

 portion of certain prominent constituents of plants, which are known 

 to be essential for a successful support of life and the special func- 

 tions of the dairy cow. 



Investigations into the relations which the various prominent con- 

 stituents of plants bear to the support of animal life, have rendered 

 it advisable to classify them in this connection into three groups, — 

 mineral constituents, and nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous organic 

 constituents. For details regarding this matter I have to refer to 

 previous publications-of the Station. Numerous and extensive prac- 

 tical feeding experiments with most of our prominent fodder articles in 

 various conditions, and with all kinds of farm live stock, have intro- 

 duced the p)ractice of reporting, in connection with the analysis of the 

 chemist, also the results of careful feeding experiments, as far as the 

 various fodder articles have proved digestible, and were thus qualified 

 for the support of the life and the functions of the particular hind of 



