634 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Commercial Feeding Stuffs Control. 



The data presented in the previous pages exhibit a wide variability 

 of composition in goods of this class selling under the same brand; 

 the existence on the Pennsylvania market without accompanying 

 guarantee, of large quantities of mixed feeds from whose names and 

 appearance no adequate notion of their composition can be formed; 

 a wide-spread use of almost valueless materials in commercial mix- 

 tures; considerable misbranding and occasional glaring adulteration. 

 Furthermore, the average quality of the feeding stuffs sold in States 

 that have for several years had cattle food control laws in operation, 

 appears to be considerably superior to the quality of the goods sold 

 under the same name in Pennsylvania. 



It is believed that the preliminary comparison of the commercial 

 cattle foods of Pennsylvania and New England made on the basis 

 of the foregoing analyses and presented in the Preliminary Report 

 of the Secretary of Agrictulture, 1900, pp. 47-8, suppliad to the Legis- 

 lature clear proof of the need for the Pennsylvania control law en- 

 acted during the present year. • 



Cattle food control legislation is very recent in America. The 

 Maine and Massachusetts laws were enacted in 1897, those of Con- 

 necticut, New York and Rhode Island in 1899, followed by New Jersey 

 and Vermont in 1900. For the purpose of affording those interested 

 in such legislation an opportunity for the comparative study of the 

 Pennsylvania law, the laws of the States above named are presented 

 In the Appendix. 



