MANUAL OF OATTLE'FEEDI]^G. 327 



legumes, on the contrary, is relatively richer in protein 

 and has a narrower nutritive ratio, and hence is more ini- 

 tritions and more digestible. 



The digestion coetBcients for bean straw given in the 

 Appendix are deduced from only a few experiments made 

 in Weende, in which this feeding-stuff was fed to 0w\en, 

 In this substance, as in clover hay, the crude fibre is less 

 digestible and the nitrogen-free extract more digestible 

 than in the straw of the cereals. The coefficients for pea 

 fitraw are from a few experiments made in Ilohenheim, in 

 which only the more tender parts of the straw were eaten 

 by sheep. The portion actually eaten had the composition 

 of tolm^ably good clover hay (14.0 per cent, of protein, 

 31.9 per cent, of crude fibre), and the digestibility was 

 correspondingly high. 



In general, in the hay and straw of the legumes the 

 crude fibre is less digestible and the nitrogen-free extract, 

 on the contrary, more digestible than in the hay and straw 

 of the graminea3. The crude fibre of lupine hay forms a 

 striking exception to this, and that of lupine sti^aw (/. e.^ 

 the stalks and leaves remaining when the plant is culti- 

 vated for the seed) seems to show the same behavior. In 

 both feeding-stuffs the whole quantity of non-nitrogenous 

 matter digested exceeds considerably the amount of nitro- 

 gen-free extrac^f ound by analysis (see p. 310). 



I 8. Chaff, Pods, akd Maizb Cob. 



ChafiJ etc. — ^Wheat chaff generally contains more pro- 

 tein than the straw. The chaff of barley and oats, on the 

 contrary, is generally poorer in protein than the straw of 

 t^ie same plants* In the pods of the legumes w^e usually 

 find at least as much protein as in th^ir straw. 



