3 



of any or of nil of tlie three esscMifinl roitilizinii- constituents [)revionsly 

 specilied, in one diet, us compared with that of anotluu' one, counts 

 in favor of that [)artieular diet, as far as net cost of feed is concerned. 

 Although it must be acknowledged, that even in one and the same 

 feeding experiment most likely no two animals would sliow strictly 

 correspo.iding relations in that direction, it remains not less true that 

 it is a most commendable practice in a general farm management, to 

 consider carefully the relative value of the fertilizing constituents 

 contained in the various fodder articles which present themselves for 

 our choice in the (compounding of suital)le foddei- rations. Our 

 allowance of a loss of 30 per cent, of the essential fertilizing constit- 

 uents contained in the feed consumed in consequence of the develop- 

 ment and growth of the animal is pucposelya liberal one The 

 adoption of this basis for our estimate tends to strengthen our con- 

 clusion that the raising of pigs for the home meat market can be made a 

 profitable branch of farm industry even with comparatively limited, 

 resources. 



It has been stated that during our III, IV, V, VI, and VII experi- 

 ments the same fodder articles, skim milk, coi'u meal, wheat bran and 

 gluten meal had been used to compound the daily diet ; and that the 

 seventh feeding experiments had yielded the highest profits on the 

 same basis of selling price. As the daily fodder rations thus in all 

 of these trials had consisted of the same kind of fodder ingredients, 

 and as at all periods of the experiments the call for food had been 

 attended to with equal care, it became evident that the particular mode 

 of combining at different times the same fodder ingredients to make up 

 the daily diet had to be considered, the princii)le cause of the differ- 

 ence in our results. 



To' test the correctness of this conclusion it was decided to insti- 

 tute a new experiment. The same mode of compounding the daily 

 fodder ration for different periods of growth, which had been adopted 

 during the seventh experiment, was to be carried out with a new lot 

 of pigs. 



Tlie following short abstract, taken from a more detailed descrip- 

 tion of the seventh feeding experiment in our late annual report, 

 cannot fail to assist in a desirable understanding of the question 

 involved. 



"Seven animals, crosses between White Cliester and Black Berk- 

 shire, served in this experiment ( .'11 ,. Their live weights were from 

 twenty-two to twenty-six pounds in case of different animals. The 

 same fodder articles were used as in third, fourth, fifth and sixth 

 experiments ; they were, however, fed in different proportions. The 

 daily ration of corn meal viv^.f^ gradually increased (\n\-'\\\g the jirogress oi 

 the experiment, for the purpose of altering the relative proportion 

 between the nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous matter in the feed. The 

 relative proportion of one part of digestible nitrogenous matter to 

 two and nine-tenth parts of digestible non-nitrogenons matter was 

 changed at stated periods until it reached 1 : 4.28 ; practically three 

 feeding periods. 



