hie STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
to meet the physiological demands of the cow for producing ~ 
milk, liberal quantities of protein are essential. 
2. With liberal feeding, and especially with food containing 
sufficient protein, both the total milk yield and the percentage 
of total solids in the milk may be brought to the maximum 
which the cow is capable of producing. With insufficient 
quantities of food, and especially with insufficient protein, both 
the total yield of milk and the percentage of total solids may 
be considerably less. 
3. At times the ratio of butter-fat to other milk solids, in 
other words, the composition of the dry matter of the milk, 
appears to change with changes in the feeding. But the data 
obtainable from the experiments made up to the present time 
do not suffice to show exactly when or how these changes may 
be brought about. 

STANDARD RATIONS AND FORMULAS FOR FEEDING DAIRY COWS. 
There has been considerable discussion by agricultural 
writers in this country regarding the best standards or formu- 
las for guidance in feeding farm animals, and there is no little 
misunderstanding as to the true meaning of a ‘‘standard’’ ra- 
tion. To make the subject clear we must distinguish between 
three kinds of standards or formulas.* 
One, which may be called the physiological standard, ex- 
presses the proportions of nutrients and energy which best fit 
the needs of the animal and the purpose for which it is fed. 
Such a physiological standard takes no account of the cost of 
the ration; it considers simply the needs of the animal for the 
work it has to perform. 
The term ‘‘standard ration’’ is also commonly used to sig- 
nify the ration which gives the best financial returns. ‘This 
‘“‘standard’’ may take into consideration the physiological 

* See discussion of this subject under title of ‘Standards for Rations and Dietaries,”’ 
by W. O. Atwater, Report of this Station, 1894, pp. 205-221. 

