MANUAL OF OATTLE-FEEBIlSra. 371 



Amides. — Attention lias already been several times 

 called to the fact o£ tlie e\ihtence of considerable amoxmts 

 of amides in many fodders. Many of tlie experiments from 

 •which our feeding standards are derived have, doubtless, 

 been made with such fodders, and it becomes of interest to 

 inquire how their results are affected by this fact. 



It is to be remembered that these feeding standards ai^e 

 not deduced from any theoretical considerations, but are 

 simply the combined residts of more or less numerous 

 carefully conducted feeding-trials. In these trials, feeding- 

 stuffs have been used which liave subsequently been shown 

 to contain amides, and their results, when allowance is 

 made for this fact, might be expressed somewhat as fol- 

 lows: 



So much digestible albuminoids and amidesj along with 

 such and sixch amounts of digestible carbhydrates and fat, 

 proved a suitable ration for the purpose intended. 



Now in compounding a ration in accordance with a 

 feeding standard like the above, the farmer would natu- 

 rally use, to a considerable extent, feeding-stuffs similar to 

 those used in the original experiments, and in all probabil- 

 ity the proportions of albuminoids and amides in the two 

 rations would not vary very greatly. 



Moreover, it would appear from our present knowledge 

 that any difference which might exist would only affect 

 the value of a ration as a fat producer, whfle the two 

 rations would be on an equality as regards the formation 



of flesh. 



If we add to this the fact that the feeding standards 

 themselves are but approximations, and are not to be 

 blindly followed, but intelligently modified to suit varying 

 circumstances, we shall see that, in spite of some ambigu- 

 ity, a feeding standard may yet be a valuable aid in apply- 



