62 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
dairyman, and in the second test a ration proposed by the 
Station. The rations fed in the first test were usually rather 
wide, that is, they contained relatively small quantities of 
protein. ‘The chief change made by the ration proposed by 
the Station was to increase the amount and proportion of pro- 
tein over that fed in the first test. It will be seen that in the 
majority of cases the yields of milk and of butter-fat were 
larger and the profit was greater with the second or narrower 
ration. In eight cases out of thirteen the estimated cost of the 
second or narrow ration was less than of the first or wide ration; 
in two instances the cost was essentially the same in each, while 
in the other three instances the cost of the second ration was 
slightly increased. In eight cases the cost of producing a 
hundred pounds of milk and in ten cases the cost of producing 
one pound of butter was less when the herd was fed on the 
second or narrow ration. 
The above statements refer to the total cost of the rations, 
and do not take into consideration the value of the manure 
obtainable in the different instances. The net cost to the 
farmer takes into account the value of the manure, and is the 
total cost less the value of that portion of fertilizing material 
in the feeding stuffs which can be saved in the manure. When 
the manurial value is taken into consideration, the net cost of 
the rations and the net cost of producing a hundred pounds of 
milk and one pound of butter was as cheap or cheaper in all 
cases except one, when the narrow rations were fed. 
One point to be especially noticed is that the tests with the 
narrower rations were made considerably later than those with 
the wider ration. Although a shrinkage in production nat- 
urally comes with advance in the period of lactation, and 
although the second test was made from one to four weeks 
after the close of the first test, the herds as a whole more than 
held their own when changed from the wider rations to nar- 
rower rations. In many cases there was a slight increase in 
the percentage of fat in the second test over that found in the 
first test. With some of the herds this was sufficient to cause 
an appreciable increase in the yield of butter-fat, even though 
the yield of milk remained the same or was even less. 
