No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 'All 



v.amly be detected by any one who will give careful study to the gen- 

 (!i'al appearance of pure bran and who has had an opportunity to in- 

 spect the mixture. A deterioration of wheat ofCals is also brought 

 about by introducing into them various inferior mill wastes. The 

 ]iiesence of this inferior material is generally made evident by the 

 hulls and parts of weed seeds that may easily be seen. 



Taken as a class, various mixed feeds known under a great number 

 of namesareprobablytheworst impositions now being practiced upon 

 the farmers of this country. In these the inferior ingredient is gen- 

 erally oat hulls. Oat hulls are probably worth less than good cut 

 oat straw. In fact, I consider them inferior to any straw whatever. 

 Two years ago we took a large number of samples of so-called corn 

 and oat feeds sold in the State of New York, and we found very few 

 that were not compounded by the use of a certain proportion of oat 

 hulls. The immediate responsibility here lies to quite an extent 

 with the local millers that are found scattered all over this and other 

 States. They can purchase these oat hulls, sometimes unground and 

 sometimes ground into a very fine condition, so that they are not so 

 easily detected, at a very low price, and by introducing 25 per cent, 

 by weight of these hulls into corn meal or hominy feed, can produce 

 a feed which closely resembles genuine corn and oat chop and which 

 is sold at the price of genuine goods. It is not difficult for one who 

 will give the matter a little attention to detect the diif erence between 

 these inferior mixtures and genuine corn and oats. The oat hulls 

 present have a different appearance and none of the crushed oat ker- 

 nels can be seen in the oat hull mixture. There are said very gen- 

 erally throughout the country certain proprietary feeds which in 

 many cases are a mixture of several materials. In many instances 

 these feeds are mixed by the manufacturers for the sole purpose of 

 disposing of their waste products, one of w^hich, oat hulls, would not 

 find a sale in the markets if not disguised by the presence of more 

 valuable ingredients. 



Even the ground cereal grains, such as corn meal, are adulterated. 

 Two materials are at present used for adulterating corn meal, one of 

 which is hominy feed and the other is corn bran. It may be claimed 

 that the mixture of hominy feed with corn meal does not constitute 

 an adulteration, because the former is nearly equal in feeding value 

 to the latter. It is an adulteration, however, when the hominy feed 

 can be purchased at a considerably less price than the corn meal, 

 because by selling the former at the price of the latter an imposition 

 is practiced upon the consumer. He buys at a higher price a mate- 

 rial of lower commercial value. 



I have in my possession a circular letter addressed by a prominent 

 jobber in the State of New York to millers explaining to them how 

 by the introduction of ground corn bran into corn meal they can 



