26 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



a third of a unit for every additional pound of milk. These findings are 

 expressed in the diagram (Plate III.). 



The use of this diagram may be illustrated thus : — A nine hundredweight 

 cow criving five gallons of milk needs about 24 food-units a day. This 

 number might be extracted from 96 pounds (24 x 4) of oat straw, or 60 

 pounds (24 x 2-5) of meadow hay ; but, since no cow can deal with even the 

 smaller of these quantities in a day, the total bulk of the ration must be 

 brought down to the cow's capacity by reducing the long fodder and 

 substituthig something whicli, by being readily digestible, passes quickly 

 from the stomach, or, by having its nutritive ingredients highly concentrated, 

 takes up little space. The necessary food-units might also be extracted from 

 240 pounds (24 x 10) of mangels, but, though some cows might consume this 

 quantity, few could do so and remain in good health. Besides, the digesti- 

 bility of the whole ration is lowered when roots or long fodder or both are 

 fed in large quantity. Thus, to keep the whole ration within the stomach- 

 capacity, a cow giving a lai'ge yield of milk must have concentrated foods in 

 addition to long fodder and roots. The following may be taken as an example 

 ration for a five-gallon cow weighing about 9 cwts., in which the limits of 

 total bulk are not overstepped : — 



Meadow Hay, 17§ lbs. = 7 units. 

 Mangels, 70 „ = 7 „ 



Concentrates, 10 ,, = 10 ,, 



24 



As the cow's yield decreases, or for a lower-yielding cow, straw may be 

 substituted for hay, and, first, concentrates then mangels decreased till, when 

 she is dry and far from calving time or not in calf at all, the ration may 

 consist of straw alone. Since cimcentrated feeding stuffs came into use, in 

 the first half of the nineteenth century, and winter fattening of stock became 

 possible, many fattening experiments have been carried out in England and 

 Scotland, some of which have been described in the Journals of the English 

 and Scotch Agricultural Societies, the Journal of the Board of Agriculture, 

 and reports sent out by agricultural colleges. A very carefully compiled 

 digest of these experiments was published in the 1909 volume of the 

 " Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland," by 

 Mr. Herbert Ingle, B.Sc. For each experiment Mr. Ingle gives, among 

 others, the following data : — 



1. The experimenter's name. 



2. The date of the experiment. 



