Colorado Fodders. 
51 
the conditions of the experiment. The corn fodder, however, con¬ 
sidering the coarseness of a large portion of it, one-third of it be¬ 
ing stalks which the sheep ate very reluctantly, produced excellent 
results. I endeavored to induce the sheep to eat as much of the 
corn fodder as possible, so their ration was not made large enough 
to encourage them in selecting the most acceptable portions of the 
fodder. I do not know how much virtue there may be in the corn 
stalks, but they are certainly in no manner comparable to the stems 
of alfalfa, whose composition indicates that, without any leaves, 
they constitute a better fodder than some hays which are held in 
fair esteem, but sheep will not eat even these when coarse and hard. 
§124. The amount of energy appropriated by the animal and 
the effect produced per unit of heat are the important points, es¬ 
pecially from the standpoint of the feeder. Each gram of water 
free alfalfa is equivalent to 4,363 calories, 62.43 per cent, of which 
is available, and each gram of corn fodder is equivalent to 4,244 
calories, 56 per cent, of which is available, i. e., is taken up by the 
animal. The sheep receiving alfalfa appropriated 30,955,663 calor¬ 
ies and those receiv-ing corn fodder appropriated 19,424,180 calor¬ 
ies, a difference of 11,531,483 calories. The former gained nine 
pounds in weight, the latter three and a half pounds, a difference of 
five and one-half pounds, which would indicate the consumption of 
2,096,634 calories in the form of alfalfa for the production of one 
pound of gain in the live weight, which corresponds to very nearly 
two pounds of alfalfa, taking 453 grams as a pound and 62 as the 
percentage of heat appropriated by the sheep. The energy actually 
necessary to maintain the animals is considered to be the same in 
both cases; this is an assumption whicli is probably not wholly justi¬ 
fied, neither is it shown that like amounts of energy in the corn fod¬ 
der and alfalfa will produce the same results in pounds of mutton 
as is here tacitly assumed. The calorific value of the urine was not 
determined in either case, neither was the nitrogen in it determined. 
§125. As already stated, the total dry matter consumed by 
the alfalfa fed sheep was 11,365 grams, v/hile those receiving corn 
fodder consumed but 8,289. The dry matter digested was 7,046 
and 4,642 grams, respectively. The coefficients of digestion found 
for this dry matter were 62.08 and 56.66, respectively. The per¬ 
centages of the heat appropriated were very nearly the same as 
these coefficients, viz : 62.43 and 56.00 per cent. One w^ould scarce¬ 
ly anticipate so close an agreement. 
§126. The distribution of the heat values in the different ex¬ 
tracts and the coefficients of these extracts, together wdth their re¬ 
spective amounts, show great differences betw'een the fodders. 
