RECENT AMERICAN WORK ON FEEDING STUFFS. 517 



pose is the selection of seed corn containing large germs. Extended 

 crossing experiments have been conducted in connection with the 

 chemical investigations. 



An extended study of the corn kernel and the composition of its 

 different parts has Ijeen carried on also at the Illinois Station by C. G. 

 Hopkins and his associates. " These investigations have for their chief 

 object the modification and improvement of the corn kernel, with a 

 view to increasing its protein content and its consequent value as a 

 feeding stuif. 



T. B. Osborne,* at the Connecticut State Station, has continued his 

 important investigations of the composition of proteids and has 

 reported an extended stud}^ of the nucleic acid in the wheat embryo, 

 the discovery of which is announced in the report of the station for 

 1899. 



T. B. Osborne and I. F. Harris '^ have also reported extended inves- 

 tigations of the form in which nitrogen occurs in proteids contained 

 in feeding stuffs and some other materials, the specific rotation of 

 some of these vegetable proteids, and other topics connected with the 

 chemistry of this important group. (See also p. 522.) 



The composition of different parts of the alfalfa yjlant at different 

 stages of growth was reported by H. Snyder and J, A. HummeH at 

 the Minnesota Station. 



The feeding value of sorghum canes at different stages of growth, 

 as shown b}^ chemical composition, was studied by R. W. Thatcher^ at 

 the Nebraska Station. 



A special study of the composition of cotton-seed meal was reported 

 by W. A. Withers and G. S. Fraps,-'" of the North Carolina Station. 

 In addition to the constituents usually determined, the authors report 

 determinations of betain, cholin, gossypein, organic acids, and several 

 members of the carboh^^drate group. The pentosans of cotton-seed 

 meal, they found, are not soluble in diastase, and are contained entirely 

 in the nitrogen-free extract, unless an unusually large quantity of hulls 

 is present. Cotton-seed meal was found to contain neither starch nor 

 an appreciable quantity of sucrose or i-educing sugars. 



C. A. Browne, jr,,^' reported a chemical study of rice oil obtiiined 

 from rice bran. 



At the Montana Station, F. W. Traphagen'' concluded from a 



a Illinois Sta. Buls. 82 and 87. 



b Connecticut State Sta. Rpt. 1901, p. 365. 



'•Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc, 25 (1903), Nos. 4, p. 323; 5, p. 474; 8, pp. 837,842,848, 

 853. 



'' Minnesota Sta. Bui. 80. 



« Nebraska Sta. Bui. 62. 



./"North Carolina Sta. Bui. 179. 



r/.Tour. AiTior. Cliciii. Soc, 25 (1903), No. 9. p. 948. 



h Montana Sta. Kpt. 1902, p. 58. 



