199


Antoine,  in  France,  and  is  the  result  of  experiments  made  by
the  principal  agriculturists  on  the  continent,  Thaer,  Gemer-
hausen,  Petro,  Rieder,  Weber,  Krantz,  Andre,  Block,  De
Dombasle,  Boussingault,  Meyer,  Plotow,  Pohl,  Smee,  Crud,
Schwertz,  Pabst.  It  is  unnecessary  to  give  the  figures  which
each  of  these  experimentalists  have  set  down,  but  the  mean
of  their  experiments  being  taken,  there  is  more  chance  of  the
result  being  near  the  truth.  Allowance  must  be  made  for  the
different  qualities  of  the  same  food  on  different  soils  and  dif-
ferent seasons.  In  very  dry  summers  the  same  weight  of
any  green  food  will  be  much  more  nourishing  than  in  a  drip-
ping season.  So  likewise  any  fodder  raised  on  a  rich  dry
soil  will  be  more  nourishing  than  on  a  poor  wet  one.  The
standard  of  comparison  is  the  best  upland  meadow-hay,  cut
as  the  flower  expands,  and  properly  made  and  stacked,  with-
out much  heating  ;  in  short,  hay  of  the  best  quality.  With
respect  to  hay,  such  is  the  difference  in  value,  that  if  100
lbs.  of  the  best  is  used,. it  will  require  120  lbs.  of  a  second
quality  to  keep  the  same  stock  as  well,  140  lbs.  of  the  third,
and  so  on,  till  very  coarse  and  hard  hay,  not  well  made,  will
only  be  of  half  the  value,  and  not  so  fit  for  cows  or  store  cat-
tle, even  when  given  in  double  the  quantity.  While  good
hay  alone  will  fatten  cattle,  inferior  hay  will  not  do  so  with
out  other  food.
100  lbs.
of  good  hay  is  equal  in  nourish-

400 lbs.
