874r 
AMJiRICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
same time, eo that the whole ration may contain the 
proper proportions of albuminoids and carbo-hy- 
drates, the animals will digest all its digestible 
material, and there will be no loss. This matter is 
so important that I will illustrate it by some 
More Ft-ecliii^ Ex|ieriiii(.-litM. 
Some years ago, a Gcnnan chemist, Grouven, fed 
oxen for a time upon straw, giving them what he 
styled a "hunger-ration," though in fact it mi^ht 
almost be called a staivation-ration, for there was 
jiMt enough of the straw to keep the animals from 
Btar^-ing. He then added, in successive trials, 
quite small quantities of sugar, starch, and other 
non-nitrogenous materials, determining in each 
case just how much was digested. And though 
with starch or sugar and straw together, the o.ten 
had little more than enough to sustain life, yet they 
digested less from the straw, than when nothing 
was add'.'il to it. 
It is a very interesting fact, that of the different 
kinds of coarse foods,— as clover, hay, straw, corn- 
stalks, — those which are richest in nitrogen, siifter 
the least loss when mixed with non-nitrogenous 
foods. This principle is very plainly set foi'th in 
some experiments by Wolil. Four sheep (two-year- 
old wethers) of 100 to 105 lbs. weight each, were 
used. As coarse food they received aftermath, 
("rowen"), and Vetch hay, and as concentrated 
food, sugar-beets. The vetch, it may be said, is a 
leguminous plant, like the bean, or clover. The 
stalk, or hay, is rich in nitrogen, and is highly 
valued in Europe as food for cattle. The sheep 
were fed for a period with aftermath hay, or vetch 
hay alone. Then, during a second period, a small 
amount of sugar-beets was added. During a third, 
a larger aroount of beets was given, and during a 
fourth, still more, while during a fifth period the 
beets were omitted, and the hay fed alone once 
more. The result was that whenever beets were 
used, less of the coarse food was digested. The 
loss increased with the amount of beets, and was 
greater with the aftermath than with the vetch 
hay, as appears from the table below : 
I 2'he addition of Beeta caut^ed 
lonji (7eAf (lige^tion) in fncfi iu- 
^gredient of hap, as in figures 
I below. 
Table ir. 
Each Sheep Received as 
Food per Day about 
A3 Below. 
Vetch Hny. 
I. 2'4 lbs. 
II. 3'i lbs. 
III. 2',- Bis. 
IV. 2'4 lbs. 
1 p'rcent p'rcent p'rcent percent 
Sugar Beet^. of loss, of loss, of loss, of loss. 
None. 
3)4 lbs. 
4y Its. 

1.2 
3.5 

6.3 
6.3 
8.5 


1.4 


2.2 
6.6 
12.« 
Aftermath. 
"I. 21,- lbs. 
II. 2H lbs. 
III. 2'4 lbs. 
IV. V4 lbs. 
Sugar Beets. 
None. 
1« lbs. 
3H lbs. 
4:V lbs. 



2.4 
1.3 
2.3 
6.7 
6.0 
S.6 
14.4 
7.3 
7.9 

1.9 
1.3 
12.8 
It is easy to see that in each column of figures 
the numbers increase downward, which shows that 
as more beets were fed, more of the material of the 
hay passed off undigested, and was lost as food. 
It will be well worth our while to study these 
figures closely. In trial B, IV, for instance, in the 
column of albuminoids, opposite the 4} lbs. beets, 
is the number 14.4. This means that of every 100 
parts of albuminoids in the 2r lbs. of hay, 14.4 
parts less were digested, with the 4J lbs. of beets, 
than when the hay was fed by itself. From the 
detail figures, (not given above), in the description 
of the tiiperiments, it appears that the aftermath 
hay contained 14.26 per cent of albuminoids, that 
is, 100 lbs. of hay contained 14i lbs. In the ex- 
periments with hay alone, the slieep digested on an 
average 64 per cent of this 14i lbs. With the 
4S lbs. of beets, they digested only 49.6 percent, 
(64-49.(J=14.4), 30, 14.4 per cent of the albuminoids 
of the hay was lost. To put it in another way ; of 
every 100 lbs. of albuminoids contained in the hay, 
the sheep coi;Id digest and use 64 lbs., but with tlie 
beets they digested only 49=/5 lbs. In short from 64 
lbs. of digestible albuminoids in the hay, I4V5 lbs., 
or between ',', and '5 was lost bv adding the beets, 
It should be remembered, that bv loss hore..ie to 
be understood less as food, and not as manure. So 
far aa the oarbo-hydrateis, fiber, and fat are Cnquern. 
ed, the wasta is practically total, tis theso oawtain 
no pitrpgen, acd have yery little fertilizing value. 
AVIiat Is to be Done with Polutoesnnd Roots. 
It seems from the experiments described, that if 
we feed any considerable quantities of these with 
clover, there will be some loss, with the better 
qualities of hay more, while with poor hay, straw, 
and cornstalks, the case will be still worse, for they 
contain very little nitrogen. It would be very 
wrong, however, to give up the use of roots on 
this ground. The proper course is rather to use 
them so as to get all the benefit that can come from 
their use, and have little or no waste. This can be 
done. Indeed it is done continually. The method 
has been repeatedly pointed out, to wit : Use potatoes, 
"beets, or other roots, with Itay, straw, or other eoarae 
fodder ; hut at the same feed oil-cake, bran, bean-meal, 
or malt sprouts, etc. , each one of which contains consid- 
erable albuminoids, and each will add needed food cle- 
nwnts, and enable the animal to diyest and xise a much 
larger part of the coarser hay, straw, etc. 
I should be glad, if there were space, to describe 
experiments in which it is most conclusively 
shown that when rich nitrogenous and non-nitro- 
genous foods together, are mixed with hay and 
coarse foods, the latter sutler little or no loss in 
digestion. A great many feeding trials have been 
made in the German Stations, to determine in what 
proportions different food materials may be mixed 
to secure economy in feeding. The fodder tables 
in previous articles are based on these. And, so 
soon as we shall have prepared the reader by study 
of the principles upon which they are founded, to 
understand and rationally use them, I hope to give 
a considerable number more. 
Late pasturing Meadows. — As a general rule 
it is better to avoid pasturing meadows, after the 
growth has ceased for the season. But there are 
exceptions to this rule, there being some cases in 
which we would pasture as closely as possible. 
Where the soil is rich, and the aftermath heavy, 
there may be a mass of dried dead stuff in the bot- 
tom next year, which will interfere much with the 
mowing, unless it is pastured down now. In this 
ease we would pasture the meadow closely, and 
give some top-dressing, if necessary, taking care 
to spread the droppings of the stock evenly. Again, 
strong but thin clover and grass meadows will be 
benefited by close pasturing, by which the stubble 
will be eaten off. the coarse growth rendered finer 
and closer, and the yield of next season be im- 
proved in (|uality. A moderate top-dressing of fine 
manure will be of more value than all the stubbly 
aftermath. 
Ogdeu Farm Papera.— No. 68. 
BT GEUKQB £. WARUCO, JR., 
It is a very simple calculation for any farmer to 
make-to decide the comparative profit of a crop of 
15 tons to 10 acres, and of one of 30 tons to the same 
area. To secure the latter return by any ordinary pro- 
cess of American farming is both difficult and costly. 
It is evident, however, from the experience of many 
parts of Europe, that such crops may be obtained by 
the aid of well-managed irrigation; and there 
seems to be no good reason why this valuable agent 
of fertility may not be as well applied here. Any 
farmer who has observed the effect upon grass of 
an occasional natural overflow from a brook or river, 
will readily accept the testimony of those who as- 
sert the profitableness of the systematic fiooding of 
grass lands by artificial means. It is not easy to 
see why a system which has from time immemorial 
been so successfully used in so many parts of the 
world, has thus far failed of anj-thinglikea regular 
introduction into American farming; it must be 
because its processes and results are not under- 
stood, and it seems worth while to describe them 
here with some care. '''" 
The great effect of irrigation is due chiefly to the 
water itself, and pure spring water made to flow 
over the land at proper times and in a proper man- 
ner, produces nitonishing effects. The more foul 
the walor is with either organic or earthy matters, 
the more good will It do, bocauae in addition to Its 
Offu effect In dUBO)Tl$)g tbe plODt-feediDK mattera 
of the soil, it deposits in its slow course any impu- 
rities that it may contain ; therefore, a muddy stream 
is better than a clear one, and a stream that re- 
ceives the drainage of barn-yards is better than one 
flowing clear from the hills. An ordinary brook, 
having its source in wooded uplands and among 
pastures where cattle drop manure, is especially 
valuable. 
The water supply for irrigation will be sometimes 
from a running brook which, at least during the 
irrigating season, (spring and fall), will have asuffl- 
cient flow ; and sometimes from the storage of rain- 
water floods, held back by artificial dams with gates 
for letting on and shutting off the flow at pleasure. 
While the natural supply is available in avastnum- 
ber of cases, there are many others where artificial 
storage must be resorted to, but this is so simple 
and, compared with the results to be gained, so in- 
expensive, that no one need be deterred from mak- 
ing the improvement who has tolerable conve- 
niences for storing the water of heavy rains. 
The following directions will be confined to the 
use of brook water, where there is a constant sup- 
ply without artificial storage. The modifications 
necessary for an artificial supply will suggest them- 
selves. If the brook delivers directly upon the 
highest part of the land to be irrigated, some trou- 
ble and engineering will be saved ; if the water has 
to be led to a distance before beginning its work, it 
should usually be carried in a nearly horizontal 
gutter running along the side of the hill after the 
manner of a mill-race ; and it should always be led 
into the irrigation field at a low velocity ; if the 
brook approaches the field with a rapid slope, It 
should empty into a small pond or basin to check 
the flow. "Wherever convenient, the main course 
of the stream should be led outside of the field, lest 
in time of floods it should wash away or disturb the 
irrigation gutters. It is desirable to keep these 
always intact, and to have them grassed to their 
very bottoms, so that they may retain their form 
and relative depths. The time during which it will 
be necessary to have water flowing through them, 
will not be long enough to injure the grass. 
In the preparation of ground for irrigation, the 
first desideratum is to secure proper drainage, 
(either by surface gutters or under-draius), for any 
parts that are inclined to retain water. After this the 
conformation of the land must be studied, and it 
must be so laid out with leading gutters and catch 
water-drains that the irrigating flow may be spread 
evenly over the surface, and finally withdrawn to a 
suitable outlet. In this view all fields may he re- 
garded as belonging to one or more of these three 
classes ; 1st. Those having irregular slopes. 2nd. 
Those having a uniform slope in one direction. 
3rd. Those whicli are quite level. All three of 
these conditions will sometimes be combined in the 
same field. 
1st. Where the inclination is irregular, the ar- 
rangement will have to depend, of course, upon 
the conformation of the surface, but the accom- 
panying illustration, fig. 1, will indicate how such 
cases are to be treated. The field is supposed to 
contain 10 acres. The land slopes in the direction 
of the shading lines ; the dotted lines are lines of 
equal elevation, the dotted line 5 5, for instance, 
shows where a horizontal plane at an elevation of 
5 feet above the outlet would intersect the surface 
of the ground ; 10, 10, indicates the intersection of 
a plane 10 feet above the outlet. And in like man- 
ner the levels are indicated up to 30 feet. J3, JS, is 
the main irrigating channel, (either natural or arti- 
ficial). The lines of equal elevation having been 
staked out on the ground by the aid of a surveyor's 
level, the irrigating gutters should be located on or 
near to these lines. They should be only so deep 
as may be necessary to carry a stream deep enough 
to fiow smoothly, (8 inches will be enough). Hav- 
ing been made as accurately as they can be with a 
spirit level, they may still need a little correction 
after the water is let on, by raising or reducing 
their banks slightly. In the field in question there 
are five pairs of these gutters, 1. 1', 2. 2', 3. 3', 4.4', 
S. Si. At the lower edge of the field two drains, 
(0.0-), should ho arranged to collect the effluent 
water and return It to the main channel. If the 
(low o( water la eufflcient to run In a thin aim over 
