AGRICULTURE AND DENDROLOGY. 
stuffs, however, the matter is different. The concentrated 
feeding stuffs, such as grains, seeds, tubers and roots, seem, 
it is true, to be, fortunately, only very slightly concerned 
by climatic conditions as is sufficiently proved by the analys¬ 
es hitherto made, wherefore the respective results obtained 
in other countries can be safely made use of here also ; but 
the coarse fodders (green crops, day and straw) are greatly 
influenced by the climate. Not only does the same kind of 
a fodder plant show quite different nutritive properties at 
different conditions of heat, light and moisture (rain), but, 
as a matter of the greatest importance, the character of the 
vegetation, the kinds of the wild plants growing on natural 
uncultivated land, which so largely participate in the 
nutrition of live-stock, are quite dependent on the climate. 
The line to be followed in the investigations into cattle 
feeding in Japan is hereby clearly indicated : the first thing 
to be done is to examine and ascertain the composition and 
digestibility of the common, coarse fodders and of those 
concentrated feeding stuffs which are peculiar to this coun¬ 
try, in order to enable judicious feeders to avail themselves 
of the feeding standards. A few contributions to this 
subject are contained in the following pages.* 
Digestion Experiments. 
A. Coarse Fodders. 
The methods followed in these researches were those 
generally adopted by the German authors. Every trial was 
made in duplicate and the animals employed were sheep, 
partly Merinos, partly Southdowns. Until 1885 there were 
unfortunately only rams available, later on we employed 
wethers. Each animal was supplied three times daily with 
food, at 7 a.m. 12 noon and 6 p.m., the whole of the food 
* Some of these researches have already been published in German 
in “ Landwirthschaftliche Versuchsstationen,” vol. 32, 1885, p. 72, 
