130 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[April, 
Science Applied to Farming—IV. 
By Prof. W. O. Atwater, Wesleyan University, 
Middletown , Conn. 
How Science is Saving Money and Increasing 
the Profits of Fariniug—further About Feed¬ 
ing Animals. 
In making boots and shoes, the shoemaker takes 
cowhide, kip, calf-skin, and sole-leather, and cuts 
them up into fronts, backs, soles and linings. Some 
of the leather may be too poor to use, and the 
skillful workman so considers his materials and 
lays on his patterns as best to economize what is 
good, and to leave the least possible quantity as 
waste. In keeping his stock the farmer takes hay, 
straw, grain, roots, and oil-cake, and mixes and 
deals them out that they may be made over in the 
body of the animal into bone, muscle, fat and milk, 
and be consumed in supplying heat to' keep the 
body warm, and the muscular force or strength 
needed for work. A portion of the food is digesti¬ 
ble, nutritious, and useful for these purposes. A 
part of the food is not nutritious, because the ani¬ 
mal can not digestit. This is voided as excrement, 
and is useful only as manure. The skillful and 
economical farmer should consider how much of 
the fodder is digestible, and so portion it out that 
the best use shall be made of this nutritious part. 
For unless care is paid to these points, much of the 
valuable material is wasted. Let us inquire then : 
How much of the ingredients of different foods 
will cattle and other stock digest when rightly fed ? 
During the last fifteen years many hundreds of 
feeding trials have been made to test these ques¬ 
tions. Here is an illustration. In the stables of 
the experiment station at Weende in Germany, two 
full grown oxen were fed during one period, of 
about two weeks, with good ordinary hay ; during 
another period with oat-straw mixed with crushed 
beans; during another with clover, and so on. 
The fodder in each case was carefully measured 
and analyzed, so that the amount of organic sub¬ 
stance,* and the albuminoids, carbo-hydrates, etc., 
which it contained, were accurately known. Of 
these a part was digested and the rest passed off as 
excrement. The latter was carefully collected and 
also analyzed, and the amount of organic substance, 
albuminoids, carbo-hydrates, etc., it contained, was 
likewise learned. This being done, the chemists 
had only to subtract the ingredients of the ex¬ 
crement, from those of the'food eaten, to find what 
was digested. 
Below are results of experiments during two of 
the periods. In one, the ox consumed daily 16.% 0 
pounds of ordinary hay, and in the other, 17. S7 /lOO 
lbs. of oat-straw, and l. 8S /ioo lbs. of bean-meal. 
Table 5. 
There was contained in 
S O 
The Organic Sub¬ 
stance consists of 
Co 
-C3 
« s 
r 
Albumi¬ 
noids. 
Crude 
Fiber. 
Other 
Carbo¬ 
hydrates 
and. Fat. 
(a)—16.9 pounds Meadow Hay... 
In Excrement from same.. 
tts. 
14.27 
6.33 
lbs. 
2.12 
.77 
Ibs. 
3.80 
1.G3 
lbs. 
6.48 
2.06 
7.94 
1.35 
2.17 
4.42 
(6)—17.87 pounds Oat Straw. 
In Excrement from same.. 
14.25 
7.15 
i.12 
.54 
6.41 
2.76 
G.74 
3.86 
There was, then, digested. 
7.10 
.53 
3.64 
2.88 
The oxen digested, then, from the 16.°/ 10 lbs. of 
hay about 7-Vio lbs., and from the 17.°/ 10 lbs. of 
straw about 7.‘/ I0 lbs. But let us not fail to notice 
that the material digested from the straw contained 
less than half as much of the nitrogenous ingredi¬ 
ents, or albuminoids, as that from the hay.—Not 
far from seventy such experiments as these have 
been performed at Weende with oxen, besides a 
number with sheep. And in the other European 
Stations hundreds of feeding trials have been made 
with oxen, cows, sheep, goats, horses, and swine, 
to test the digestibility of hay, straw, green fodder, 
roots and other kinds of food. We give some of 
the results in the following table ((5), which is se¬ 
lected from a larger one by Wolff. The figures re¬ 
* For explanations of these terms see: Science made 
Easy, and the third article of this series in March Agri- 
cwlturist. 
present general averages. The first column shows 
the number of pounds of organic substance in 100 
lbs. of the food, the rest being water and mineral 
matters. The third column gives the number of 
pounds of organic substance which are actually 
digestible. This digestible material is composed of 
albuminoids, carbo-hydrates and fats, the amounts 
of which are given in the fourth, fifth, and sixth 
columns. In these figures are condensed the re¬ 
sults of years of careful and costly labor of many 
men. Let us study them attentively, for the facts 
they express lie at the basis of economical foddering. 
Table 6. 
CQ 
8 
e 
I Digestible Organic 
Substance. 
The digest¬ 
ible organic 
substance 
consists of 
KINDS OF FODDER. 
100 Pounds Contain. 
Total Orga 
stance 
§•§ 
$■8 
■S 2 
U 
Carbo¬ 
hydrates. | 
co 
Ibs. 
lbs. 
Ibs. 
Ibs. 
Ibs. 
Ibs. 
(a)—nay. 
32.1 
Meadow Hay, average quality.... 
Timothy, cut at first bloom. 
79.5 
47.4 
5.4 
41.1 
.9 
81.2 30.6 50.6 
5.8 43.4 
14 
Red Clover, average quality. 
(b)—Straw, Chaff, etc. 
78.7 32.4 46.3 
7. 
38.1 
1.2 
Winter-Wheat...... 
81.1 48. 
83.1 
0.8 
31.9 
.4 
Winter Rye. 
81.6 47.7 
33.9 
0.7 32.8 
.4 
Summer barley. 
81.6 42.9 38.7 
1.4 36.9 
.4 
Oat. 
81.7,42.4 39.3 
1.3 37.4 
.6 
Corn Stalks. 
80.8 42.4 38.4 
1.1 37.0 
0.6 41.7 
.3 
Corn Cobs... 
83.2 40.5 42.7 
.4 
Wheat Chaff... 
73.7 
39.1 
34.6 
1.4 32.8 
.4 
(c)— Green Fodder. 
Grass, iust before blossom. 
22.9 
7,5 
15 4 
2.0 13.0 
2.4 9.9 
.4 
Pasture Grass. 
18,0 
5.3 
12.7 
.4 
Rye. 
22.4 
9.1 
13.3 
1.9 11.0 
4 
Fodder Corn. 
16.7 
5.8 
10.9 
0.8 
9.9 
.2 
Red Clover, before blossom. 
15 5 
5.3 
10.2 
2.3 
7.4 
.5 
Red Clover in full blossom. 
20.3 
8.4 
11.9 
1.8 
9.6 
.5 
(d)— Roots and Tubers. 
Potatoes. 
24rl 
1.1 
23.0 
2.1 
20.6 
.3 
Sugar Beets. 
17.8 
1.3 
16.5 
1.0 15.4 
.1 
Turnips. 
7.3 
.8 
6.5 
1.1 
5.3 
.1 
(e) —Grains and Seeds. 
Wheat. 
83 9 
7.9 
76. 
11.7 63.1 
1.2 
Rye. 
83 9 
8.4 
75.5 
9.9 64.0 
1.6 
Barley... 
83.5 
6.3 
67.2 
8.0 57.5 
1.7 
Oats. 
83. 
27.5 
55.5 
8.9 41.8 
4 7 
Indian Corn. 
84.1 
13.1 
71 0 
8.4 57.8 
4.8 
Peas.. 
84.3 10.7 
73.6 
22.0 49.9 
1.7 
Field Beans. 
82.414.4 
68.0 
23.0 43.6 
1.4 
t.f)—Refuse Products. 
Barley Slump (Distillery). 
Brewers’ Grains. 
9.7 
2.1 
7.6 
1.8 
5.4 
0.4 
22.2 
8.4 
13.8 
3.9 
9.5 
0.4 
Malt Sprouts. 
85.2 27.1 
58.1 
18.4 38.0 
1.7 
Wheat Bran. 
81.5 29.6 
51.9 
10.9 37.6 
3.4 
Linseed Cake. 
80.6 19.9 
60.7 
23.8 29.0 
8.9 
Cotton-seed Cake (decorticated). 
<82.2 26.5 
55.7 
28.8 17.0 
9.9 
Now let us compare the first and second and third 
columns of figures. 100 lbs. of average meadow 
hay (English grasses) contains, besides water and 
mineral matters, 79i pounds of organic substance, 
of which an ox, or a cow, or a sheep, will digest 
about 471 pounds, or little over one-half. 100 
pounds of straw contain a little over 81 pounds 
organic matter, of which less than half is digestible. 
The digestibility of green clover in full blossom is 
about the same as that of the clover hay. On the 
other hand, the digestible portion of roots, grains, 
and seeds, makes up from s / 4 to 19 / 20 of the whole 
organic substance. 
Notice again, by comparing the fifth column with 
the sixth and seventh, what a difference there is 
in the amounts of the nitrogenous ingredients, the 
albuminoids, as compared with the lion-nitrogenous 
ingredients, the carbo-hydrates and fats, in the 
digestible portion of these foods. In straw, pota¬ 
toes, beets and turnips, there is relatively little; 
while clover, peas and oil-cake contain a great deal 
of digestible albuminoids. This is a very important 
matter. Unless the food contains plenty of nitrogen, 
that is to say of albuminoids, cattle do not digest it 
completely. The oxen in the experiment at Weende 
digested so much of the straw only when it was 
mixed with bean-meal rich in albuminoids. 
There are two great sources of loss in our com¬ 
mon systems of feeding. One is that we often 
fail to have enough albuminoids in the food to 
secure the most complete digestion. Another is 
that forage crops are not cut when young and 
easily digested, but are allowed to stand until they 
are nearly ripe, and much of their material has 
become indigestible, and of course nearly useless 
as nourishing food. 
In another article we will explain these points 
more fully, and will perhaps describe experiments, 
which throw more light upon such subjects as mix¬ 
ing food, the proper time for cutting grass and 
clover, and the effect of cooking and steaming 
fodder. Meanwhile let the reader study attentively 
the tables and explanations above, and keep them 
where he can easily refer to them hereafter. 
Congressional Imposition—or Worse. 
Just at the close of the late session of Congress, 
a majority of the members of both houses did an act 
of ineffable meanness to characterize it in the mild¬ 
est terms. They passed an act to send free through 
the mails unnumbered tons of their own speeches 
printed at the peoples’ expense, and of that mixed 
effusion of sense and nonsense, yclept the “ Reports 
of the Agricultural Department,” and of seeds, etc., 
such as the so-called Agricultural Department sends 
forth for its own stultification—though intended 
for its glorification. And then, without a word 
of forewarning, doubled the postage on all seeds, 
plants, cuttings, etc., that anybody else should send 
through the mails—also on all books and agricul¬ 
tural and other newspapers except those paid for 
a year in advance. See how it works : Dealers ev¬ 
erywhere in seeds, plants, etc., had just sent out 
their Spring catalogues all over the country, with 
prices fixed for seeds, plants, etc., to be sent post¬ 
paid, based on the recent laws. Congress steps 
in and in an hour doubles the cost of this whole 
business, taking away a large part of the legitimate 
profits from the dealers, and increasing the cost of 
the articles to the people hereafter. A bulky 
document of self-glorifying speeches weighing 2, 3, 
4, or 5 pounds or more, must be carried anywhere 
free to willing or unwilling recipients, but if one 
of our readers wishes to send to a friend a copy 
of this journal, weighing only i lb. or 4 ounces, he 
must pay 4 cents for it, while heretofore he has had 
to pay only 2 cents, and so of all other reading mat¬ 
ter. A thousand publishers have offered their 
works to the public delivered free by the mails at 
low rates. These selfish Congressmen, in a clap¬ 
trap way, impose an additional and outrageous tax 
upon every such book, without a word of notice in 
advance, to allow dealers to prepare for it. These 
precious Congressmen knew how mean a thing they 
were doing, and were careful not to record their 
names, in voting on this matter. If we can get 
their names in any way we shall put them in a line 
of the blackest type. 
-■ tm - 
Ogden Farm Papers— So. 62. 
BY GEORGE E. WARING, JR., 
Mr. N. R. Jones, of Humboldt, Iowa, writes: 
“I have a cow, which dropped a heifer calf, 
January 20th, (her fifth calf in forty-five 
months, all at single births). Last week, from 
seven days’ milk, we made 10 lbs. of butter, as 
yellow as gold, notwithstanding the excessive cold 
weather—mercury at sunrise averaging 9° below 
zero, for the past seven weeks. Her feed is now, 
and has been since her calf was four days old, six 
quarts of bran and shorts in the morning, all the 
wild hay she will eat, water once per day, and twelve 
ears of com, the last thing at night, just to keep 
her warm. She is in good, thriving condition. 
Mr. M. T. Tilden, of New Lebanon, N. Y., sends 
me a report of the production of 22 head of Jersey 
cattle, for the yeai; 1874. Seven of these animals 
are 2 and 3 years old, and one is farrow. The herd 
averaged 247 days in milk, during which time they 
gave an average of 4,462 pounds, or 2,075 quarts of 
milk. On the 20th of November, he skimmed 1311 
lbs. of milk, yielding 211 lbs. of cream, which 
made 111 lbs. of butter ; so that 11.96, or 5.56 qts. 
of milk, make 1 lb. of butter. This was probably 
a very favorable time of year for making the 
experiment, and there may have been some shrink¬ 
age of the milk from evaporation, from the time of 
straining to the time of skimming. It would 
probably be fair to take 8 qts. of milk as the aver¬ 
age required throughout the year for 1 lb. of but¬ 
ter, and, indeed, Mr. Tilden wrote me several times 
during the summer, that even at the bight of the 
milking, only about this amount was required. On 
the basis of 8 quarts, the whole herd of 22, old 
and young, farrow and fresh, averaged, for the 
year, 25Si lbs. of butter. This result is not only 
very creditable to the Jersey breed, but equally 
