—_—- 
ar. 
4, 
= 
— 
” 
A STUDY OF RATIONS FED TO MILCH COWS. 73 
supply of carbohydrates and wider nutritive ratio was suggested 
in view of the important practical fact that carbohydrates and 
fats are relatively cheap and protein dear in Connecticut. 
The next is the standard proposed by the German physiologi- 
cal chemist and experimenter, Wolff. It is one of the standards 
of which a considerable number, for animals of different kinds, 
were proposed by this eminent authority a number of years 
ago and have been quoted very extensively by writers upon 
the subject in Europe and in this country during the past 
twenty years. Like the other standards proposed by Wolff, 
Kuhn, Lehmann, and others in Germany, and by other investi- 
gators and writers elsewhere, it is meant simply as a general 
indication of the amounts and proportions of nutrients fitted 
for the average animal of the kind, and under average condi- 
tions. It was understood and constantly insisted upon by these 
writers that the best proportions in a given case would vary 
with the conditions of that particular case,* and that the proper 
thing for the farmer to do is to study carefully what feeding 
stuffs he has and can buy, how much they will cost, how his 
cows actually respond to different kinds and amounts of fodder, 
and simply make these feeding standards one of the factors of 
his estimate of what will be best for him to feed. 
The remaining German standards in the table are by Dr. 
Lehmann, a German authority on these subjects. They are 
published in the well-known German farmers’ almanac, Wentzel 
und v. Lengerke’s landwirtschaftlicher Kalender, for 1897, and 
indicate the drift of opinion in Germany where these subjects 
are studied more thoroughly than anywhere else in the world. 
It may be said by way of explanation that for many years this 
farmers’ almanac has contained, with other things, Wolff’s tables 
of the composition.and digestibility of feeding stuffs and feed- 
ing standards. ‘These almanacs (or pocket diaries) are in con- 
stant use by tens of thousands of the German farmers and 
feeders, and the statistics which they contain, including those 
for feeding, are intended to represent what will be, practically, 
most useful to the feeder. ‘To this end Prof. Wolff has, for 
more than a quarter of a century past, continually altered them 
in accordance with the teachings of experience and experiment- 
ing. Prof. Wolff has lately died and Dr. Lehmann in continuing 
* See discussion of this subject in the Report of this Station for 1894, pp. 205-216. 

