No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 62i> 



The wholesale prices of some of the less common matenals, aa 

 given by the <>//, Paint and Drug liejjorter of New York, for July 

 8, 1901, are: 



Cents per pound. 



Epsom salts, 9 to 1.25 



Flowers of sulfur, 1.85 to 2,05 



Venetian red, 1.8 to 3 . 



Ginger root, 4 to 4 .25 



Anise seed, 7 . 75 to 8 . 5 



Fenugreek, 2.0 to 2.25 



Fennel seed, 5.0 to 6 . 



There is therefore no reason in the cost of the ingredients for the 

 very great charges made for these mixtures. 



In the second place, it is evident that the makers use much the 

 same range of ingredients but select individual materials and propor- 

 tions differently. The one common characteristic is the claim each 

 makes, first, for the great nutritive value of very small quantities of 

 his article of manufacture, and in most cases, second, for its medicinal 

 value for a wide range of diverse ailments. Clearly, since exact 

 selection of material and proportion is of so little importance, any 

 reader of this paragraph can make a "condition powder" for his own 

 stock with as good prospect of valuable results and at a very great 

 saving of cost. 



But as to the value of such condimental and semi-medicinal prep- 

 arations: First, as used for healthy animals. Any direct nutritive 

 value they possess is due to the common feeding stuffs they contain, 

 but the quantities fed are too insignificant to cause considerable gains 

 in production. Any indirect value they may have must be due to 

 some economy of the other foods with which they are always directed 

 to be fed, such economy being in the way of increased digestion of 

 the food or its better utilization by the animal after digestion. A 

 number of careful experiments have been made to determine the fact 

 of such effect from condimental foods, but in not a single instance is 

 there evidence of any economic action of the kind. 



As to their supposed medicinal action: The ingredients commonly 

 found have different effects. Some are used in veterinary practice 

 as stomachics, stimulating the coatings of the stomach and bowels — 

 anise seed, cayenne pepper and black or white pepper in doses of 

 2 drachms, fennel seed in doses of 1 drachm and ginger root in doses 

 of 1 oz. Stomachics are employed in cases of pronounced indiges- 

 tion; the doses are not expected to be given except on rare occasions. 

 Charcoal is useful to reduce accumulations of gas; for this purpose 

 considerable doses must be administered. 



Epsom and Glauber's salts are used as purgatives; the former in 



