CHAPTER III 
FORAGE CROPS FOR SOILING 
THE principles of feeding are the same whether 
animals are fed dried or succulent foods. That is, 
the relative values of the actual digestible nutri- 
ents are not changed, nor are the functions of the 
nutrients different in the one case from the other; 
yet, in comparisons that have been made of the 
feeding-value of nutrients contained in dry-forage 
rations with those in green and succulent forage, it 
has been found that a unit of digestible food of 
the same kind in the succulent ration has a greater 
efficiency than a unit of the same kind in the dry 
ration. This is thought to be due to the fact that 
a slightly greater expenditure of the total energy 
contained in the food is required in the utilization 
of a unit of food than of its equivalent in dry 
succulent food, with a corresponding increase in 
the net energy. This fact has a bearing on the ques- 
tion of soiling, because it enables the feeder to 
utilize more completely the nutrients that are raised 
on his farm. The same facts, however, apply in 
pasturing as well as in soiling, although, in the 
case of pasturing, animals do not always have at 
their command the ration in its best or most succu- 
(27) 
