554 Influence of Food on Milk. [dec, 



connection with some experiments at the Wisconsin Experi- 

 ment Station,* there is evidence to show that feeding-stuffs 

 of a nitrogenous character, like oil cake, &c, have a beneficial 

 effect on the quality of the milk produced, and that in general 

 the best quality and also the largest quantity of milk which a 

 cow is capable of producing will be obtained by the use of foods 

 fairly rich in protein. 



In the case of cows which have been insufficiently or poorly 

 fed, however, it is reasonable to expect that a more liberal feed- 

 ing would increase the percentage of fat up to a point limited 

 by the individual characteristics of each cow, beyond which no 

 additional feeding would be likely to have any effect. Experi- 

 ments in this direction were carried out by the Cornell 

 Experiment Station for four years from March, 1900. A herd 

 which had the reputation of being insufficiently fed was selected 

 containing twenty-one cows ; of these only four were more 

 than eight years old, all but one had calved within two months 

 of one another, and all were very thin. A record of the 

 production of the herd in milk and fat was then kept for one 

 entire lactation period on the farm of the owner without in 

 any way changing the conditions under which the animals had 

 lived. At the close of this lactation period, ten cows from the 

 herd were purchased and brought to the University, where 

 they were fed liberally for two years, records of production 

 being constantly kept as before. At the end of the two years, 

 seven cows (three had been disposed of) were returned to the 

 farm from which they were purchased and kept under con- 

 ditions practically identical with those of the first year, and 

 records kept as before. Thus the experiment was divided 

 into three parts: (?) on a private farm, one lactation period ; 

 (2) at the University, two lactation periods ; and (3) on the 

 private farm again, for one lactation period. 



The records were begun at the farm on March 28th, 1900. 

 From that date till May 16th the cows received a moderate 

 feed of timothy hay, with a very little clover in it, and about 

 4 lb. a day of a mixture of gluten feed and wheat bran or 

 middlings. They were then turned on to pasture which was 

 poor and became very scanty after July 1st ; the grain ration, 



• Journal^ Tune, 1905, p. 167. See also June, 1904, p. 166; June, 1902, p. 51. 



