Nov. 2 7f 1916 Energy Vdines of Red-Clover Hay and Maize Meal 383 
INFLUENCE OF QUANTITY OF FEED CONSUMED ON LOSSES OF 
CHEMICAL ENERGY 
A study of the percentage losses of chemical energy substantially 
confirms the earlier results regarding the influence of the quantity of 
feed upon these losses. If Periods I and II, in which a large and a much 
smaller hay ration were fed under similar conditions, are compared, it 
is seen that with the smaller ration the losses in the urine and in the 
methane were decidedly greater and the loss in the feces less than with 
the larger ration. 
Periods III, IV, and V are similarly comparable, the rations of hay 
and maize meal being fed under the same conditions but in varying 
quantities. Here, as in the periods when hay alone was fed, the lightest 
ration shows the greatest loss in urine and methane and the least in the 
feces, while with the heaviest ration the reverse was true. The losses 
computed for the maize meal alone show differences in the same direction. 
As regards variation in the percentage of total energy which was me¬ 
tabolizable there were slight differences. In the case of both the hay 
rations and the mixed rations the largest feed gave the smallest per¬ 
centage, but with the mixed ration the smallest feed did not give the 
largest percentage. As in the experiments previously reported, the 
quantity of feed failed to show any definite effect upon the percentage of 
energy metabolized. 
METHANE PRODUCTION 
The relation of the methane to the digestible carbohydrates has been 
found to be fairly constant, so that an average figure may be used to 
estimate the combustible gases in the absence of the costly apparatus 
necessary for their actual determination. 
Table VI gives this relation as actually found in these experiments. 
TablK VI .—Quantity of methane per 100 gm. of digestible carbohydrates 
Feed and period No. 
Carbo¬ 
hydrates. 
Methane. 
MeUiane 
per icAgm. of 
digestible 
carbohydrates. 
Average. 
Clover hay: 
I . 
Gm. 
2,940. 6 
2,054.4 
2, 689. 2 
4 ; 249 -3 
1, 832. 4 
Gm. 
127.9 
89.8 
121. 7 
Gm. 
4 * 35 
Gm. 
} 4-36 
II . 
4 * 37 
Hay and maize meal: 
III. 
4 - 53 
] 
IV. 
169. I 
98.6 
3 - 9 8 
4.63 
V . 
S' 38 
If these figures are compared with those of the previous experiments 
it is seen that while Periods I and II agree very closely, the average is 
somewhat lower than the earlier average for clover hay, 4.6 gm. The 
results from Periods III, IV, and V vary rather widely, although their 
average, 4.63 gm., is only a little lower than the average of the previous 
experiments, 4.8 gm. 
