New York AcricuLtturaAL Expertment Sration. 117 
fore been unable to do on rations wholly of vegetable food or on 
such rations supplemented by a liberal amount of skimmilk curd. 
The bone ash appeared therefore to partly supply a deficiency 
which had existed in some other rations, but it did not bring 
the ration anywhere near to the efficiency of the ration contain- 
ing animal meal. The contrasted rations were nearly alike in 
chemical composition so far as the groups of constituents are 
ordinarily considered in feeding. 
EXPERIMENT WITH LAYING HENS, SECOND SERIES. 
The two lots of laying hens which were fed the contrasted 
rations were Leghorns and had been laying well for two or three 
months before the experiment began. The two lots were alike 
at the start. The ration containing animal food was fed to Lot 
XXI and the vegetable food ration to Lot XXII. The hens 
were liberally fed but not more than was promptly and readily 
eaten. Chopped alfalfa hay was fed during the first period and 
green alfalfa during two others. or about three months the 
hens were allowed to get their green food from grass runs and 
the amount eaten was estimated from the amount of green forage 
eaten at other times when it was freely fed. An interrogation 
point accompanies the statement of amount of green fodder for 
the periods when it was estimated. The records of feeding and 
the results obtained are stated in condensed form in the accom- 
panying tables. 
RELATIVE EFFICIENCY AND ECONOMY OF THE RATIONS FOR HENS. 
The difference in food consumption under the two rations was 
practically nothing. For the thirty weeks there was only about 
one-half per ct. difference in the total dry matter of the food. Up 
to the beginning of the last period the total consumption was 
exactly the same. The rations were intended to correspond very 
closely in regard to the proportions of constituents, and this they 
proved to do, although there were slight differences. The animal 
