NEw YORK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 13 
least the production of so-called body-fat from food rich in car- 
bohydrates is one of the accepted facts of those who feed for 
fattening. 
_ But there remains yet, supposing that the deficiency in fat is 
made up from carbohydrates, a large amount of carbohydrates 
and fiber which is unaccounted for, a trifle over seventy per cent 
of the organic food digested. 
This amounts to 175.8 ounces daily, but as we chine already 
seen, the greater portion of the food digested by the animal is 
expended in maintaining animal heat and as a source of muscular 
power, directly, as is more than probable, indirectly, as is 
not impossible, and yet it is to be remembered that the 
degree of muscular force exerted is more nearly measured 
by the amount of carbon oxidized and exhaled than by any 
other product. Now this cow would consume for such pur- 
pose, according to the estimate given (p, 22 , 159.2 ounces of 
carbohydrates daily, thus leaving of her digested food but a frac- 
tion over a pound, 16.6 ounces daily, unaccounted for, an amount 
certainly within the limits of error in such an experiment, as it is 
but five per cent of the digested, and 3.6 per cent of the total dry 
matter in the food eaten. 
New York is the leading dairy State of the Union. The annual 
report of the Department of Agriculture for 1888 gives the num- 
ber of milch cows in New York January 1, 1889, as 1,552,373, valued 
at $45,950,241, and Iowa stands next in the list with 1,293,095, 
yalued: at $28,861,880. The dairy products of the State are 
- estimated at $44,000,000, and the aggregate capital invested in 
dairying in the State, including value of animals, land, dairy 
buildings and implements, has been estimated as high as 
$400,000,000. ; 
- The Experiment Station was wisely established “for the pur- 
pose of promoting every branch of agriculture by scientific inves- 
tigation and experiment,” and it would seem that in no field of 
experimental investigation could the Station more wisely direct its 
_ efforts than in behalf of our daiyy interests. | 
The following circular was issued shortly after the present 
director entered upon his work, and was sent to the leading 
~~ breeders of cattle throughout this and other States, since it 
~~ appeared that the contemplated work of investigation could not 
but be of direct value to the entire dairy interests of the country. 
