162 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



These comparisons of value by the ton of these very dis- 

 similar foods is very instructive. We find clover-hay worth 

 $1.7.82 and oat-straw $9 per ton; but it cannot be inferred 

 that oat-straw would be as cheap at that price as clover- 

 hay to make an entire food for cattle, or other animals, 

 because clover-hay is a well-balanced food for cattle, and 

 oat-straw is only a partial food, containing so little albu- 

 minoids and fat that cattle would starve to death upon it if 

 fed long enough. The muscles and nerves could not be 

 nourished upon it ; and yet a good article of oat-straw may 

 be worth the price named, because of the digestible heat 

 and fat-formers it contains. Now, put a ton of the best 

 oat-straw with a ton of the best clover-hay, and you have 

 a fairly-balanced food. It compares well with common 

 meadow-hay. The digestible albuminoids, in clover 10.7, 

 in straw 1.4, making the two added 12.1, and the average 

 per cent, of the mixture is 6.05, whilst meadow-hay is only 

 5.04. The digestible carbo-hydrates in the mixture is 

 about 39.0 to 41.0 in hay, and the fat is 1.4 to 1.0 in 

 meadow-hay. The parallel is very close; and as the mix- 

 ture has slightly more albuminoids and fat, it may be con- 

 sidered the better ration. These valuations of the different 

 elements simply mean that each is worth the relative price 

 named when fed in due proportion with the other ele- 

 ments. Oil-cake, for example, is as far from being a bal- 

 anced ration as oat-straw, for it contains as much too large 

 a proportion of albuminoids as straw too small. It has 

 also oil in excess. Like straw, it must be fed with other 

 foods. If 400 Ibs. of oil-cake be mixed with a ton of oat- 

 straw, the mixture will make a ration equal to meadow- 

 hay. 



WASTE PRODUCTS. 



The waste products, so called, from different manufac- 

 tures are accumulating so rapidly, from the great increase 

 of the several manufactures, that they assume a degree of 



