191 1.] Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 931 



A table is given in the report showing the number of times that 

 the weekly sample of milk of each cow contained less than 3 per cent, 

 of fat. The hours of milking were 5 a.m. and 4 p.m. throughout the 

 year, giving intervals of 13 hours and 11 hours between milkings. In 

 spite of these intervals being more nearly equal than is usual, the 

 number of times the milk of single cows contained less than 3 per 

 cent, of fat was 113 at the morning's milking, i.e., after the longer 

 interval, compared with 36 at the evening's milking. The cows varied 

 greatly in this respect; one fell below 3 per cent. 24 times in the 

 morning, and 8 times in the evening; another 11 times in the morning 

 and 4 in the evening ; while a number of others were deficient only 



2 or 3 times altogether. The weekly samples of the mixed milk of 

 this herd never contained less than 3 per cent, of fat, but when this 

 does occur with other herds it should apparently not be difficult to 

 make an improvement by getting rid of the cows that offend most 

 often. 



An investigation was also carried out as to the effect of the tempera- 

 ture and ventilation of cow-houses on the yield and composition of the 

 milk and the health of the stock. This was one of a series of experi- 

 ments organised by the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, 

 which was noticed in the Journal, October, 1909, p. 550, and December, 

 iW. P- 755- 



Miscellaneous Experiments. 



The Feeding Value of Different Kinds of Roots. — The following 

 note on this subject has been furnished to the Board by Mr. F. Bagge, 

 Commissioner to the Swedish Board of Agriculture. The experiments 

 are reported in Bulletin No. 16, published by the Central Swedish 

 Experiment Station. 



Roots take a very prominent part in the feeding of cattle in Sweden, 

 and many investigations have been made into their value for this pur- 

 pose. Extensive experiments were carried out during the winter 

 to ascertain if the yield of milk would be affected by feeding roots 

 containing varying percentages of dry matter. The total quantity of 

 dry matter in the roots given to the cows was the same throughout. 

 The experiments during two years were carried out with 120 cows, 

 divided into 20 groups. Of these groups 11 received beetroots, 4 swedes, 



3 turnips, and 2 carrots. In connection with the tests a great number 

 of analyses of the roots were made in order to ascertain the composition 

 of the dry matter in the roots. The general conclusions arrived at from 

 these tests are as follows : — 



1. Apart from the varying percentage of sugar in the roots, the 

 dry matter in the different kinds of roots has shown upon the whole 

 the same composition. 



2. The quantity of digestible albumen in turnips, beets, and swedes 

 seems, according to the analyses, to be between 0*4 and o'5 per cent. 



3. No difference was found in the influence of the various roots 

 upon the percentage of fat in the milk, nor upon the live weight of 

 the animals. 



4. The difference in the yield of the cows fed on different kinds 



3 T 2 



