Real Value of Practical Observations 187 



well-established facts and to exercise caution in ac- 

 cepting the verdicts either of science or of practice 

 before they are thoroughly justified. 



There are three general ways in which we may be 

 said to have acquired knowledge in regard to feed- 

 ing animals: 



1. The observation of ordinary practice. 



2. Practical experiments, so called. 



3. Scientific investigation. 



CONCLUSIONS OF PRACTICE 



Until within recent years, the practice of cattle- 

 feeding has been entirely governed by the conclu- 

 sions drawn from ordinary practice. Among the many 

 men engaged in animal husbandry, certain ones pos- 

 sessed of more than average powers of observation 

 and business ability have secured good results with 

 certain feeding stuffs and methods of feeding, and 

 their practice has been accepted by their neighbors 

 with no further demonstration than that these success- 

 ful farmers sold fat cattle and obtained large returns 

 from the dairy. During the centuries that man has 

 had domestic animals under his care, certain results 

 have appeared to follow from certain systems of feed- 

 ing or the use of certain foods, and upon these so- 

 called practical observations the feeder has built his 

 creed. 



In these ways there have come to be accepted, 

 sometimes locally and sometimes generally, standards 

 of feeding as to quantity, kind of ration, and times 



