172 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



9-10 EDWARD VII., A. 1910 



No. 39. This as received was a sample of dried apple pomace from a cider mill. 

 It was perfectly sweet and quite attractive in appearance. While by no means a 

 fodder of high feeding qualities, it had been found a profitable feed quite palatable 

 to cows and sheep and, according to our correspondent, growing in favour in the 

 neighbourhood of the cider mill. 



No. 40. Apple pomace from cider mill, the sample having been dried in the 

 autumn of 1907. The inquiry accompanying this pomace — as to its probable value as 

 a commercial cattle food — may be answered as follows. From appearances we should 

 judge that when ground this dried apple pomace would prove a palatable feeding stuff, 

 swelling on the addition of water and making a succulent fodder that could be used 

 to take the place, in part or wholly, of roots, com or other coarse fodders. As, how- 

 ever, its protein-content is small, its nutritive value would be decidedly low and this 

 fact would prevent ft from being used in the ration as a substitute for one or other 

 of the more concentrated foods, such as bran, oil cake, gluten meal, &c. 



THE COMMERCUL FEEDING STUFFS ACT. 



In concluding this brief review of our recent work on feeding stuffs it affords us 

 peculiar satisfaction to note that during the past two months a bill has been drawn 

 up and introduced in the House of Commons that will provide for a systematic and 

 comprehensive examination of the various by-products, &c., sold on the Canadian 

 market as feeding stuils and, further, necessitate the branding of such feeds by the 

 manufacturers with a guarantee setting forth the percentages of protein and fat the 

 feed contains. Such an Act has been constantly urged by the writer and others for 

 some years past as the best means for affording farmers the necessary information in 

 purchasing these feeds and for providing adequate protection against poor and worth- 

 less materials which may from time to time be offered for sale. The details of the 

 Act, which will be carried out as in the case of commercial fertilizers, under the 

 Department of Inland Revenue, have not at the time of writing been finally settled, 

 but undoubtedly the Act will pass. Its enforcement will assuredly effect a great 

 improvement on the existing condition of affairs and prove a very valuable assistance 

 and protection to the purchasers of feeding stuffs. 



SPIKE-RUSH (SCIRPUS C^SPITOSUS). 



At the request of the late Dr. Fletcher, Botanist of the Dominion Experimental 

 Farms, we submitted to analysis a sample of a species of Spike-rush received from 

 Mr. G. R. B. Elliott, of Barrington, N.S., with a request for information regarding 

 its nutritive qualities. 



Analysis of Hay of Spike-rush. 



Per cent. 



Moisture 4-79 



Protein 806 



Fat 115 



Carbohydrates 56-25 



Fibre 27-56 



Ash 2-19 



100 00 

 Our report upon this examination was as follows : Although there is a fair pro- 

 portion of protein, considering the nature of the material, the nutritive value of this 

 sedge would not. in our opinion, be high. It is a coarse, rough plant, and is scarcely 

 likely to be palatable to animals; probably they would not eat it unless pressed by 

 h.unger. In acknowledging this report, Mr. Elliott wrote : * This sedge is the principal 

 vegetation and flourishes abundantly on extensive sphagnum and peat bogs in south- 

 west Nova Scotia. Around the edges of the bog where there is more water and high 



