12 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



Several feeding experiments with milch cows have been made 

 during the year. The results are reported by Mr. Bartlett in 

 another part of this report. 



Digestion experiments with sheep are in progress but are not 

 completed. It is expected that these results will be printed in 

 the report for 1897. 



These experiments, involving as they do a great deal of chem- 

 ical work, are time-consuming in their details, and a not incon- 

 siderable portion of the time of the Station chemists has been 

 given to their carrying out. 



INVESTIGATION OF THE NUTRITION OF MAN. 



The investigation of the nutrition of man, begun three years 

 ago by the United States Department of Agriculture under a 

 special act of Congress, was placed in the immediate charge of 

 Professor W. O. Atwater of Wesleyan University, Middletown, 

 Conn. The director of this Station was then associated with 

 Professor Atwater and shared in the planning and carrying out 

 of these investigations. On coming to this Station, his commis- 

 sion in the United States Department of Agriculture was con- 

 tinued and he still has an active part in this work. 



The study of cereal foods, including experiments in digesti- 

 bility and metabolism, which are in progress at several experi- 

 ment stations and colleges, is under the immediate care of the 

 director of this Station. The work at the Maine Station in the 

 study of human food during the year has been chiefly on the 

 digestibility of breads made from entire wheat flour, graham 

 flour, and ordinary bread flour. These experiments are not 

 finished. They involve, in addition to the study of the nutri- 

 ents, the estimation of the fuel values of the foods and of the 

 undigested residues. The metabolism of matter forms an 

 important part of the investigation. These results will be pub- 

 lished in bulletins of the Department of Agriculture. Abstracts 

 of these bulletins giving the results will be printed in later 

 reports of this Station. The present report contains an account 

 of studies made by this Station in 1895. 



