98 FORAGE CROPS 
lent form, for many times it is partially dried and 
not very palatable. That is, it is not possible, in 
pasturing, always to control the conditions in such 
a way as to secure reasonable uniformity in the 
proportion of contained water, or in the kind and 
duality of the nutrients in the food. 
BALANCED RATIONS 
Another consideration in feeding, important 
from the physiological standpoint, is the proper 
relation of the kinds of nutrients to each other in 
any given food; from the economical point of view, 
this principle cannot always be applied in soiling 
systems, although it should always be considered. 
It has been very clearly demonstrated that for 
the best results in stock-feeding, there should be 
a reasonably definite ratio between the digestible 
nitrogenous and the digestible non-nitrogenous 
nutrients. An excess of the nitrogenous nutrients 
usually causes a greater increase in the cost of the 
ration when feeds are purchased than when the 
carbohydrates, or non-nitrogenous nutrients, are 
in excess. In the ease of crops suitable for soiling 
purposes, it is often quite as economical, or even 
more economical, to feed a ration richer than the 
standard in its content of digestible nitrogenous 
nutrients than to attempt to widen the ration by 
the use of carbohydrate feeds. This is due to the 
