MANUAL OW GATTLE-PEEDING. 269 



siderable quantity o£ biliarj products, etc., in the excre- 

 ments. 



4. Of two kinds of lucerne liay, tlie protein and nitro- 

 gen-free extract were equally well digested by the torse 

 and by sheep, while the crude fibre appeared to be rela- 

 tively somewhat better digested than that of meadow hay. 



5. The digestibility of straw (of winter wheat) was 

 found to depend somewhat on the amount of mastication it 

 received, but in general to be small. Under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances it seems to be hardly half as well digested by 

 the horse as by ruminants. 



6. Concentrated feeding-stuffs (oats, beans, and maize, 

 the two latter seated with water) are digested to the 

 same extent by the horse and by slieep. Similar observa- 

 tions have been made regarding the digestibility of con- 

 centrated fodders by the hog. 



All these conclusions apply, in the first place, only to 

 the conditions of these experiments, but, at the same time, 

 there is every reason to expect that they will be confirmed 

 by subsequent investigation, at least in their main features. 



Influence of Breed. — If the various species of rumi- 

 nants digest their fodder to the same extent, we should 

 still less expect to find important differences in this respect 

 between the breeds of one and the same species. 



In fact, repeated experiments in Dresden and Ilohenlieim 

 have agreed in showing that, e, g,, Merinos, Southdowns, 

 and the so-called Wurtemberg Bastard-sheep, both when 

 store-fed and on an exclusive ration of meadow or clover- 

 hay, as well as on a more or less rich fattening fodder, 

 digest the same feeding-stuffs about equally well. 



In these considerations we must not confuse the d Iff est l- 

 bility of a fodder with its nutritive effect The latter may 

 be very unequal in the different breeds, and is determined, 



