722 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
T n K 8 CIE N C K OF FEEDING STOCK. 
Part 111 . 
We have now g'one far enough to know 
that all foods for man or beast contain 
certain distinct substances that are neces¬ 
sary to produce in the body lean meat, 
muscle and fat. We know that lean meat 
cannot be made out of the fat-formers, 
and that an excess of either kind of food 
will not only result in waste, but in injury 
to the animal. That is the point where 
the “ balance ” of the ration comes in, 
and we have now to consider the proper 
proportion of fat-formers to muscle- 
makers. 
In order to get at this, a great many 
experiments with feeding animals have 
been conducted. In these experiments, 
different combinations of food were fed, 
the weight of the animals recorded, and 
the amount of this food which passed 
through the animal as urine and manure 
carefully considered. The average of 
the best results in hundreds of cases was 
taken as a standard. It must be said 
right here, though, that these “ standard 
rations ” are not to be accepted as cast- 
iron rules of feeding. They are the best 
average guide we can get, but as in every 
other thing, a feeder must use his judg¬ 
ment and consider somewhat the char¬ 
acter and condition of the animal. We 
shall explain what we mean by this later. 
It is evident to any thinking man, that 
the food of an animal must be varied ac¬ 
cording to the actual work it does, or 
whether it does no work at all. We all 
know that an idle horse in winter does 
not need so much grain as he does in the 
spring when hard at work. We know 
that, but we do not always realize just 
why that is so. When you come to think 
of it, you will see that the hard-working 
horse needs extra strength. Where is 
the strength ? In the muscles. These 
must be repaired and built up constant¬ 
ly, and we know that nothing will do 
that but the muscle-makers in the food. 
The horse in spring needs more grain be¬ 
cause he needs more muscle-makers, and 
grain is rich in these substances. As well 
try to repair the iron work in a bridge 
with wood as to give the horse sound and 
strong muscles on a feed composed large¬ 
ly of fat-formers. To give a yet more 
practical illustration, it is evident that a 
cow compelled to travel all over a 10-acre 
field to hunt food, needs more muscle- 
makers than one in good pasture with 
plenty to eat close at hand. 
Or, take a cow and a steer of the same 
age. We do not want to make the cow 
very fat, because we would prefer to 
have her put the fat into the milk as 
butter. On the other hand, the object 
in feeding the steer is to produce a big, 
fat carcass, with the meat and fat laid 
on the bones instead of being made into 
milk. You can readily see that from 
the way foods are composed, the cow 
must be fed on a different system from 
the steer in order to obtain the best re¬ 
sults. Or if you still do not see it, take 
youi’ own case. You are at home on the 
farm chopping wood this winter. The 
hard work and the keen, biting air, give 
you such an appetite chat you can hardly 
eat enough to satisfy you. Meat, beans 
and other strong food must be supplied 
in abundance. Very well, you conclude 
to go and visit in town 10 days or so. 
You put on your good clothes and start 
—taking that appetite along with you. 
After a few days of sitting around and 
“visiting,” you begin to feel dull and 
the food doesn’t taste so good, and you 
eat less and less. Why is that ? In a 
general way, you know that a lack of 
your accustomed exercise caused the 
change ; but now we are in a condition 
to see the real trouble. When you were 
hard at work in the woods, the waste 
and repairs of your muscles demanded 
large quantities of muscle-makers, and 
you were forced to eat lots of strong 
food in order to get it. When you went 
indoors to visit, you did not need this 
quantity of muscle-makers, and by con¬ 
tinuing to eat heartily for a time, you 
made yourself feel uncomfortable. Re¬ 
member, too, that while warmly shel¬ 
tered, you did not need so much of the 
fat-formers as before. Think of that, be¬ 
cause we shall bring it up again to show 
how dry, warm shelter for animals will 
save feed. 
Now we can’t help understanding why 
different proportions are needed for dif¬ 
ferent classes of animals. Let us first 
take up the “ balanced ration” for milch 
cows. That is probably what most of 
us are interested in. As a result of 
much study and feeding, the tlerman ex¬ 
perimenters conclude that the average 
cow giving milk should consume every 
24 hours, food enough to provide 123^ 
pounds of fat-formers, 23^ pounds of 
muscle-makers and two-fifths pound of 
pure fat for 1,000 pounds of live weight. 
That is the amount suggested for a cow 
weighing 1,000 pounds, and we would 
use more or less as the cow was heavier 
or lighter. This is the German ratio. 
Certain American scientists think that 
the conditions are such in this country 
that cows making butter will do better 
on a little different proportion. We 
will take that up later. You remember 
that we stated that the pure fat in a food 
is worth more than the plain fat-formers 
—we explained why that was so. A fair 
estimate of its value is 23^ times that of 
the fat-formers—that is, a pound of fat 
would be counted the same as 23 ^ pounds 
of the food out of which pure fat can be 
made in the body. According to this, 
the two-fifths pound of pure fat allowed 
for this 1,000-pound cow, is equal to 23 ^ 
times as much, or one full pound of fat- 
formers. This gives a total of 133^ 
pounds of fat-formers and 23i pounds of 
musde-makers, or one pound of the lat¬ 
ter to 5 2-5 pounds of the former as the 
‘ ‘balanced ration.” The first thing, then, 
is to see that, no matter what the 
amount fed, the food of a milch cow 
should contain 5 2-5 pounds of fat- 
formers (with pure fat figured in) to 
each one pound of muscle-makers. That 
is called the nutritive ratio. That isn’t 
all of it by any means, but only the first 
and easiest step. Now take your chalk 
and go to the blackboard, and see if you 
can figure out this sum. 
A farmer has these foods in his barn, 
with the following average analyses. 
How can he mix them so as to make sev¬ 
eral standard rations ? 
POUNDS DIGESTIBLE IN 100. 
Protein. Carbohydrates. 
Muscle-Makers. Fat-Formers. 
Pure Fa1 
Ensilage. 
.. 1.20 
12. 
U.b3 
Corn meal... 
.. 7.27 
63.40 
3.29 
Timothy hay 
.. 3.67 
41.25 
1.03 
Clover hay... 
,. 7.82 
40.25 
1.49 
Bran. 
,. 11.72 
44.66 
2.58 
A “standard ration” contains 2^4 pounds muscle- 
makers, 121/4 pounds fat-formers and 2-5 pound of 
pure fat. 
1. Make a standard ration out of ensiiage, clover 
hay and bran. How many pounds of each needed? 
2. Make another out of Timothy, corn meal and 
ensilage. 
3. Make a third out of clover, bran and Timothy. 
The object is to figure how many pounds 
of ensilage, clover hay and bran you 
must take to obtain 123^ pounds of fat- 
formers, 234 of muscle-makers and 2-5 
pound of pure fat. ISIake the combina¬ 
tion that you think from your practice 
would be best for the cow—that is so as 
not to give too much ensilage or too 
much hay. Figure these as best you can 
alone, and next week we will give our 
figuring and we can all compare notes. 
You will notice that we give some new 
figures in this table. Last week we gave 
the full amount of these substances in the 
foods ; now we give only the portion of 
them that is considered digestible. This 
amount is determined by “ artificial 
digestion”—that is, dissolving these foods 
in weak acids as close as possible in 
strength to those found in the stomach. 
We will say more about this when we 
come to talk about digestion or how the 
food is changed after it is eaten. First 
figure out these rations and then we w ill 
go on. 
^Hbrctlanfoujs; gnU’crtiiainj). 
In writing to advertisers, please always mention 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
/s Potash Needed ? 
Do clay soils, as a rule, need potash ? I have a 
friend in whose judgment I have great confidence 
in ali matters, especially in agricultural chem¬ 
istry, who says that they do not, yet I can 
scarcely agree with him, for I think that continued 
cropping must take potash out of any soil, asw-ell 
as nitrogen and other fertility. My friend says 
that the potash in clay is practically inexhaust¬ 
ible. Who is right? I experimented on this mat¬ 
ter the past season, but, owing to the excessive 
rains soon after planting, a portion of the crop on 
both plots was injured and I was unable to obtain 
exact results, but as far as the eye could judge 
the plot with potash gave a better crop. w. l. 
Ridgeland, N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—The heavier soils as a rule 
contain more potash than the lighter 
ones and in a general way it is safe to 
assume that potash is not needed on such 
soils so long as they produce fair crops. 
It will not do, however, to .say that the 
potash in clays is “ practically inex¬ 
haustible.” A recent bulletin from the 
Rhode Island Station shows very clearly 
that the actual composition of soils is of 
less importance than their physical con¬ 
dition. Several Rhode Island .soils were 
analyzed and found to contain more than 
the average amounts of pota.sh and 
phosphoric acid. Yet good crops were 
impossible unless these substances were 
applied. Two explanations are given for 
this. The soil may be naturally rich, 
yet so hard and compact that the roots 
of plants are restricted in their move¬ 
ments and cannot reach and assimilate 
enough plant food. Again some soils 
are so damp and full of acid as to be 
“ sour” and in this condition plants can¬ 
not thrive. The first trouble may be 
greatly improved by thorough tillage— 
the mellowing and fining of the soil 
giving the plants a better chance to put 
out their roots. The “sourness” may 
be corrected by drainage and the 
use of quick-lime. All this shows 
that the actual amount of fertility 
in the soil is not the true index of 
its capacity to produce a crop. There 
may be tons and tons of potash in an 
acre of soil and yet the crop may be a 
complete failure unless a bag of muriate 
of potash or a quantity of wood ashes 
is applied. Analysis of soils as a guide 
to their fertility, is ofted misleading. 
The safer way is to ask the soil if it 
really needs potash, by using different 
quantities on different plots and compar¬ 
ing results with yields where none was 
used. Sometimes a dressing of quick¬ 
lime on .such soils gives a large increase 
of crop. This does not necessarily mean 
that the crops needed lime. It may be 
that the soil needed it and that lime 
cured the sourness or liberated plant 
food that was previously out of reach of 
the plants. 
Whoever else may be elected. The R. 
N.-Y. has been elected, by a large 
majority, as the best, most progressive, 
brightest agricultural paper for the 
business farmer. 
Leather 
gets hard and old fast enough ; to keep 
It new and soft, use 
Vacuum 
Leather Oil. 
It saves half the money spent for leather. 
It’s food and life to leather. 
25c. worth is a fair trial—and your money back 
if you want it—a swob with each can. 
For pamphlet, free, “How to Take Care 
OF Leather,” send to 
VACUUM OIL CO., Rochestfr, N. ” 
CUT RATES 
For good reading, to The Rural New- 
Yorker Subscribers only. 
Our Price 
Publishers’ with 
Price. R. N.-Y. 
Arthur’s MaRazlne.$1.00 $1.90 
Century. 4.00 4.(55 
Cosmopolitan. 1.50 2.40 
Harper’s MaRazine. 4.00 4.25 
Munsey’s. 1.00 1.90 
Peterson’s MaRazine. 1.00 1.90 
Scribner’s. 3.00 3.(’>5 
Godey’s. 1.00 1.90 
Good IIousekeepinR. 2.00 2.75 
Harper’s Bazar. 4.00 4.40 
Ladies'Home Journal. 1.00 1.90 
Household. 1.00 1.90 
Harper’s Weekly. 4.00 4.40 
JudRe. 5.00 5.50 
Puck. 5.00 5..50 
Scientific American. 3.00 3.(55 
New York I/CdRer. 2.00 2.(55 
Poultry Monthly. 1.25 1.90 
Farm Poultry (semi-monthly).1.00 1.75 
Harper’s YounR People. 2.00 2.05 
St. Nicholas. 3.00 3.(55 
Youth’s Companion. 1.75 2.75 
Christian Work. 3.00 3.00 
Nerve 
Tonic 
500. 
per box. 
• for sa.so. 
Blood 
Builder 
Dr.WILLIAMS* 
MEDICINE CO., 
Schenectady,N.Y. 
and &rockylUe,Onti 
DOUBLE 
BREECH LOAUEK 
$5.00. 
RIFLES $1.75 
WATCHES 
GUNS 
BICYCLES $15 
All kinds choAper tbsn els^ 
where. Before you buy send 
sump for 60 pa^e caulogue. 
POWELL & CLEMENT CO. 
ir>enKin8t..anrinnati,0. 
A doe 14k Kold pU* 
r H F P Ud watch to every 
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Cut this out and send it to ub with 
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will send you one of these defiant, 
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price, $3.2.5, and ills yours. We send 
with the watch our guarantee that 
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one year if not satisfactory, and if 
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THE NATIONAL M’F’Q 
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331 Dearliorn St., Chicago, lU 
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I 
