378 MATTUAL OF CATTLE'FEEBIKa. 



lose heat; more rapidly, just as several small liot bodies will 

 cool faster than one large one of equal weight. 



Coavenienoe of the Feeding Standard. — Any ration 

 which contains the amounts of total dry matter and of di- 

 gestible nutrients called for by the standard will serve the 

 desired purpose* 



The convenience of possessing such a standard is obvi- 

 ous. On page 375 we have given five rations^ any one of 

 which was found to keep the animals in good condition ; 

 but these alone would be of litt]^ benefit to a farmer who 

 did not have at his disposal exactly the fodders there called 

 for. If he chanced to wish to use hay, or wheat straw, or 

 stover, or not to have rape cake, he would be left entirely 

 in the dark as to how nmch of these to use, or how to com- 

 bine them, or what to substitute for them. JBut with the 

 feeding standard he has simply to calculate, by the ai<l of 

 a table such as is given in the Appendix, what quantities 

 of the materials at his disposal will give the amounts of 

 the various constituents and the bulk which the standard 

 calls for. 



The aid which such a method of calculation gives in 

 comparing the experience of different observers is not 

 easily overestimated ; it reduces the heterogenous observa- 

 tions to a comparable form, and to one A\hich shows ex- 

 actly in what direction the ration is defective, if it is so at 

 all, while a simple statement of the kinds and quantities 

 of fodder used is of only local value. This will appear 

 more strikingly when we coine to consider productive 

 feeding. 



It may be added in regard to the above standard that it 

 agrees well with the practical experience of German agri- 

 culturists. 



Exclusive Meal Feeding. — All the experiments hither- 



