116 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
experiment stations, the results when viewed from a financial 
standpoint are nearly always in favor of narrow rations, or in 
other words, of the use of large quantities and proportions of 
protein. Of course, account must be taken of the fact that the 
relative value of feeding stuffs high in protein and high in car- 
bohydrates varies at different times, and especially in different 
parts of the country. For example, feeds containing large 
proportions of carbohydrates are relatively cheaper in the West 
than in New England. The ration that would be most eco- 
nomical in Connecticut might be far from economical in Wis- 
consin. 
Average Feeding Rations as found in practice.—Attempts 
have been made from time to time to construct so-called 
‘“standards’’ for rations upon the basis of the actual practice 
of intelligent feeders. A formula of this kind, which has been » 
designated as ‘‘An American Standard Ration for Dairy Cows,”’ 
has been published by the Wisconsin Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station, and widely circulated.* The data for amounts 
of feeding stuffs used and of milk produced were taken from 
replies made by dairymen to letters of inquiry. The figures 
given represented the estimates made by the persons report- 
ing. The feeding stuffs were neither weighed nor analyzed. 
The composition and digestibility were estimated from aver- 
age analyses. The reports from a large number of dairymen 
in the United States and Canada gave 128 rations, which were 
estimated to supply per day from 1 to 4 pounds of digestible 
protein, from .1 to 1.3 pounds of digestible fat, and from 8 to 
19 pounds of digestible carbohydrates, the nutritive ratio vary- 
ing from 1:4 to 1:13. ‘The average of these was taken for the 
standard. 
Another ‘‘ standard’’ has recently been published.{ This is 
based upon the actual practice of an expert in the feeding of a 
small herd of cows at the Experiment Station in Michigan 
through the greater part of two winters. The quantities of 
the different feeding stuffs making up the daily rations were 
regulated by the judgment of the feeder. The feeds were 

* Bulletin 38, Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station. 
+ Reference was made to this standard in the Reports of this Station for 1895, pp. 
62, 63, and 1896, pp. 71, 72. 
t Bulletin 149, Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station. 


