BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 141 
material might be, it would almost of a certainty contain either too little 
or too much albuminoid matter to be used advantageously by itself. 
From the chemical point of view, even young pasture grass — which 
our farmers are apt to regard as the most perfect kind of cattle food, 
and which at first sight would really seem to be all-sufficient in itself — 
must be deemed an unnecessarily luxurious ration ;* for the proportion 
of albuminoids to carbohydrates contained in good pasture grass is 
as 1 to 2 on the average, while the experience of German farmers 
has shown that milch cows can be kept perfectly well upon food 
in which the proportion of these constituents is no larger than 1 to 
4 or 1 to 5, and that even for growing animals, such as calves, the 
proportion of albuminoids to carbohydrates need be no larger than 
1 to 3 or I to 4. 
The merit of pasturing, considered as one economical method of 
feeding animals, depends not merely, nor even chiefly, upon the chemical 
composition of the young grass. It depends upon the comparatively 
small amount of care, labor, and trouble, that need to be given to the 
pastured animals; upon the vigor and health which the animals acquire 
in the field; and upon the excellent quality of the meat, milk, butter, 
and cheese, which are produced by them. It can, indeed, hardly be 
disputed that, in respect to the quality of the products obtained from 
them, animals generally do better at pasture than when kept up and 
fed with mown grass, or soiled, as the term is. But it may well be 
questioned whether these advantages might not still be preserved, and 
a larger profit gained in some cases, by stocking the pasture so heavily 
that its grass alone could not fully support the animals, and serving 
out to them in the field some suitable food or mixture of foods to com- 
plement the grass, as well as to make good the lack of it. Of course, 
in the case here supposed, grass is taken at its best. It is argued that 
the pasture is super-excellent, that it is always green, and that the ani- 
mals get from it nothing but young tender grass. Practically, animals 
do select such grass from most pastures that are nét fully stocked or 
suffering from drought. 
As regards hay, it is readily conceivable that grass might be cut and 
dried at that particular moment of its development when the hay 
would be of such composition that it could be used by itself as a well- 
nigh perfect food for many purposes. But practically, early-cut rowen 
* Compare Werner’s “ Handbuch des Futterbaues,” Leipzig, 1875, p. 803. 
