246 MAl^TUAL OF OATTLE-FEEDIISrG-. 



The Weende Experiments, — The foundations of our 

 knowledge of the digestibility of feeding-stuffs were laid 

 by the labors of Ilenneberg & Stohniann, at the Weende 

 Experiment Station near Gottingen. Their experiments 

 began in the year 1858, and in 18G0 they published their 

 jBrst results, under the title '^ Beitmge zut Begrundimg 

 eine7' rationellen FvUerung dsT Wiederhauefy^ of which a 

 second volume appeared in 1863-64. Further experi- 

 inent3 were made in 1863-64 by G. Klilm, H, Schulze 

 and Aronstein,* under Ilenneberg's direction^ and in 1865 



by Henneberg.f 



All these experiments w^ere made on mature oxen, and 

 gave results regarding the digestibility of feeding-stuffs, 

 particularly of coarse fodder, which subsequent investiga- 

 tions on these and other animals have served only to con- 

 firm, while they still form the basis of our feeding stand- 

 ards for oxen. 



To these same investigators is likewise due the credit of 

 developing and perfecting methods of experiment adapted 

 to such researches, and which can hardly be said to have 

 existed before, so that the "Weende experiments may be 

 considered to mark the beginning of a new era in the 

 sfeience of feeding. 



Since their publication innumerable feeding experiments 

 have been made, involving determinations of the digesti- 

 bility of various feeding-stuffs, the results of which, in all 

 important points, have been the same as those reached in 

 Weende. It is far beyond the scope of this work to give 

 even a partial account of these experiments, and we must 

 content ourselves with selecting a few results to illustrate 

 each point as it is brought up. 



* Jour. f. Lanawirthsobaft, 1865, p. 283 ; 1860, p. 269, and 1867, p. 1. 

 f Neue Bextrage, etc., Heft 1, p. 287. 



