Average Cost per Acre of Raising Wheat and Corn in the United States, 1893.. PAGE 335 Average Farm Price of Agricultural Products, 1886-1895.. 335 336 338 340 Number of Pure-bred Cattle in the United States, 1895... 340 Statistics of Butter, Cheese, and Condensed-milk Factories (Eleventh Census).. 341 Cheese, Butter, and Condensed-milk Factories in the United States, according to States.. 342 Dairy Products Produced on Farms, according to the Eleventh Census.. 343 Domestic Exports of Butter and Cheese, 1870-95. Importance of Apiarian Industry in the United States.. 345 Production of Honey and Beeswax in the United States, according to Census Returns of 1869, 1879 and 1889. 345 V. DIRECTORY OF AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTIONS. Organization of the U. S. Department of Agriculture....... 346 347 American Educational Institutions having Courses in Agriculture... 348 Statistics of Agricultural Schools and Colleges in the United States. 350 List of American Veterinary Colleges.... 351 Dairy Schools in the United States and Canada.. 352 Agricultural Experiment Stations in the United States and Canada. 353 VI. AGRICULTURAL AND DAIRY LITERATURE. More Important Works on Dairying... A List of Fifty Agricultural and Horticultural Books.. List of American and Foreign Dairy Papers... The Main American Agricultural and Horticultural Papers.... PART I. AGRICULTURE. I. FEEDING STUFFS. COMPOSITION OF FEEDING STUFFS. In the ordinary chemical analysis of feeding stuffs the following constituents are determined, viz., water, ash, protein, crude fiber, nitrogen-free extract, ether extract (fat). Water is present in all feeding stuffs, from above 90 per cent in green foods and some kinds of roots, to below 10 per cent in very dry hay and in concentrated food stuffs. Ash, or mineral matter, is the non-combustible part of plants, and goes to make the bones of the animal, or to supply material for the maintenance of other parts of the animal body. Protein is the name of a large group of substances, all characterized by the fact that they contain the element nitrogen; hence they are also called nitrogenous substances; and foods rich in protein are spoken of as nitrogenous foods. The protein substances supply the material necessary for the formation of lean meat, ligaments, tendons, hair, horns, hoofs, etc., and also of casein of the milk. Crude protein includes albuminoids and amides; among the former are found white of egg, lean meat, curd of milk and gluten; among the latter, asparagin and other crystallizable and water-soluble substances, generally speaking, of a somewhat inferior nutritive value. Crude Fiber or woody fiber is the framework of plants, forming the walls of their cells; it is usually the least digestible portion of feeding stuffs, and the nutritive value of a plant is decreased as its crude fiber content increases. Nitrogen-free Extract includes starch, sugar, gums, organic acids, etc., and forms a most important and usually a very large part of cattle foods. Together with cellulose, nitrogen-free extract forms the group of bodies called carbo hydrates. A general name for carbohydrates is heat-producing substances, as against flesh-forming substances, i.e., nitrogenous compounds, the names indicating the main offices of the substances in animal nutrition. Ether Extract, or crude fat (oil) includes a group of compounds dissolved out by ether in the analysis of foods; fat forms the main part of the extract; most feeding stuffs contain only a small quantity of fat, but this component is nevertheless of considerable importance in the feeding of animals. Organic Matter signifies the combustible portion of chemically dry feeding stuffs, i.e., all the components given in the preceding except water and ash. Digestible Components.-The food stuffs used in the feeding of farm animals are only partly of direct value to the animals, the portion which their digestive fluids are unable to dissolve being voided in the excrements. The digestibility of fodders has been determined by direct experiments with different kinds of farm animals, in this country or abroad. The digestion coefficients (see pp. 6-8) mean the percentages of any one component which have been found to be digested by the animals experimented on. Nutritive Ratio signifies the ratio between the digestible nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous components in a feeding stuff, or a combination of such. As fat has been found to yield about 2.2 times more heat, when burned, than do starch, sugar, and other carbohydrates, the per cent of digestible fat in a food is multiplied by 2.2 when the nutritive ratio is to be calculated; the product is added to the per cent of digestible carbohydrates (nitrogen-free extract + crude fiber), and this sum is divided by the per cent of digestible protein. (The factor 2 or 2 is sometimes used for obtain. ing "the starch equivalent" of fat.) Example: Clover hay contains on the average 6.5 per cent digestible protein, 34.9 per cent digestible carbohydrates, and 1.6 per cent digestible fat (see following table): 1.6 X 2.2 = 3.52; 34.9 +3.52 = 38.42; 38.42 ÷ 6.5 = 5.9. Nutritive ratio, 1 : 5.9. |