306 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



cattle fatten faster upon grass 2 to 4 inches high than when 

 of ranker growth. Each of these numerous foods of which 

 we have given the analyses has some quality or combination 

 of qualities in excess of all the others. It is, therefore, 

 certain that the practical feeder will be much better quali- 

 fied for his task after he has made himself acquainted with 

 these qualities, and learned to combine them in the rations 

 for his stock. A little study in this direction will enable 

 the farmer to turn into money everything grown upon his 

 farm. Every refuse product will then have a definite value, 

 and swell the income of the farm. 



How TO FEED THE COKN CROP. 



Indian corn is the great American cattle crop. Any im- 

 provement in handling this crop has a wide degree of use- 

 fulness. A slight saving of labor upon each bushel fed 

 would amount to millions of dollars. It is but a few years 

 since that the general practice in the West was to let the 

 cattle harvest this crop. They fed through the fall and 

 winter in the .field, eating the ears and as much of the 

 stalks as they desired. By this plan much of the corn was 

 wasted ; but the saving of labor compensated for the loss. 

 The cost of shocking and husking the corn was more than 

 the value of the corn wasted. So it went on for many 

 years, and is still continued by some "Western feeders. In 

 the older States the corn has been shocked and husked, 

 and, in most cases, shelled and ground into meal, before 

 feeding. Here is a large amount of labor expended, 

 amounting to nearly as much in harvesting and feeding as 

 in raising the crop. If this great crop can be utilized with 

 a less expenditure of labor, the same result being rea'ched, 

 it will be so much added to the profits of cattle-feeding. 

 Fed in the ear, or, as it is in the West, in the field, the 

 greatest loss in grain occurs from want of proper mastica- 

 tion. Cattle perform the principal mastication of their 



