56 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. | 
in the discussion, the herds entering into the tests and the 
rations fed are designated by these reference numbers. 
The experiments of the winter of 1895-96, which are here 
reported, were made with herds of: 
Mr. Simon Brewster, Jewett City. Test No. 35, December 3-14; and test 
No. 37, Dec. 22—Jan. 2. 
Mr. H. R. Hayden, East Hartford. Test No. 36, Feb. 11-22; and test No. 
38, March 6-17. 
EXPLANATIONS. 
The following brief explanation of nutrients of feeding stuffs 
and their uses is reprinted from the Report of this Station for 
1894: 
Uses of food.—The two chief uses of food are to form the materials of the 
body and make up its wastes, and to yield energy in the form of heat to keep 
the body warm and in the form of muscular and other power for the work it has 
to do. The principal tissue-formers of the food are the protein or nitrogenous 
compounds. ‘They build up and repair the nitrogenous materials, as the muscle 
and bone, and supply the albuminoids of blood, milk, and other fluids. The 
chief fuel ingredients of the food are the carbohydrates (such as sugar, starch, 
etc.,) and fat. These are either consumed in the body or stored as fat to be 
used as occasion demands. 
Fuel value.—Vhe value of food as fuel may be measured in terms of potential 
energy. The unit commonly used is the calorie. One calorie is the amount of 
heat necessary to raise the temperature of a pound of water about four degrees 
Fahrenheit.* From experiment it has been found that a pound of protein or 
carbohydrates yields, when burned, about 1,860 calories of fuel value, and that 
a pound of fat yields about 4,220 calories. 
Nutritive ratio.—There is a very important relation between the amounts of 
protein (flesh formers) and the amounts of fuel constituents of a food. This 
relation is expressed by the nutritive ratio. The fuel value of fat is about two 
and one-fourth times that of the carbohydrates and the protein, hence it happens 
that if the sum of the digestible carbohydrates and two and one-fourth times the 
digestible fat of a ration is divided by the amount of digestible protein in the 
ration, the quotient gives what is called the nutritive ratio. 
Wide ration.—Narrow ration.—lf the quantities of digestible fat and carbo- 
hydrates are large relative to the protein, the nutritive ratio will be a large num- 
ber and the ration is called a ‘‘ wide ration;” if the quantities of digestible fat 
and carbohydrates are relatively small, the quotient is a small number and the 
ration is a ‘‘narrow” one. A ration where the nutritive ratio is much more than 
1:6 may be called a ‘‘wide ration;” if much less, it may be called a ‘‘ narrow 
ration.” 
Nearly all of the grasses and hays have a wide nutritive ratio, and the same is 
true of corn and many of its products, such as meal and hominy chops. The 
use of such feeding stuffs will tend to make a ration wide. The legumes, such 
’ 

* The calorie is exactly the heat necessary to raise the temperature of one kilogram 
of water one degree centigrade. It is equivalent to 1.5 foot tons, or to the mechanical 
power that would lift 1.5 tons one foot. 
