152 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
A collection of such tables may be fou,nd in Johnson’s “ How- 
Crops Grow,” a most useful book of reference, that should be in 
the library of every farmer. By the use of these tables, rations 
containing the proper proportions of albuminoids and carbodydrates 
may be quite readily formed, by properly mixing different varieties 
of fodder. Such a course, accompanied with careful observation of 
its effect upon cows, modified as experience shall suggest, can not 
fail to increase the returns from a given quantity of food, even 
though it has not the precise composition given in the tables used. 
Another important question, closely related with the subject un¬ 
der discussion, is, the quantity of food animals should be allowed^ 
Ought a cow to eat all she will if food is kept before her, or is 
there a limit to her digestive powers, beyond which it is waste to- 
feed her? Experiments designed to test this question have been 
tried in Germany. Prof. Atwater (and I would commend to all 
farmers his articles on “Science Applied to ^Farming,” in the 
American Agriculturist)^ gives the following account of a trial at 
Moeckem, made by the celebrated Dr. Kuehn, with four cows^ 
“ During one period of several weeks, they received all the green 
clover they would eat. During another, a smaller ration was given,, 
and a part of the clover was replaced by straw. The fodder and 
milk w^ere carefully weighed and analyzed. Every precaution was- 
taken to insure accuracy. 
“The rations in the two periods were as follows: 
Kind of Food. 
The organic substan¬ 
ces contained. 
Albumin- 
iodfe. 
Carbo¬ 
hydrates- 
(1) 87 lbs. green clover, and 6.7 lbs. barley straw. 
lbs. 
3.8 
lbs. 
17.8 
(2) 123 lbs. green clover... 
5.6 
15 
“The result was that the cows gave as much milk, and milk as ricb 
in fat (butter) and caseine with the smaller ration, of which a part 
was straw, as they did with the larger ration of pure clover. The- 
cost of the milk, as based upon the value of the fodder, was just 
about 50 per cent, more with the clover alone than with the mixture- 
of clover and straw. The 3.8 pounds of albuminoids was sufficient. 
