No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 569 



Rosin and rice, each 5. 



Cotton seed meal, fennel seed and blood-root, each 4. 



Rye, oats, meat and assafoetida, each 3. 



Sage, bayberry bark, carob-bean, poplar bark, dried blood, tur- 

 meric, cocoa shells, millet, each twice. 



Anise, rape, coriander and sunflower seeds, juniper berries, ele- 

 campane, licorice, valerian and mandrake roots, walnut bark, 

 lobelia and senna leaves, each once. 



MINERAL MATERIALS. 



Charcoal, 51. 



Sulphur, 28. 



Salt, 55. 



Epsom salts, 20. 



Glauber's salts, 17. 



Iron ovid or carbonate, 16. 



Calcium carbonate or oxid, 19. 



Saltpeter, 10. 



Sodium carbonate, copperas, alum, gypsum, ground bone, sand, 

 black antimony, potassium chlorate, phosphate of lime, and mag- 

 nesia in fewer cases. 



These lists comprise 59 different substances or groups of sub- 

 stances, of which, however, but 14 occur in more than 9 mixtures, viz: 

 Linseed meal, wheat and corn products, fenugreek, pepper, cayenne 

 pepper, gentian, charcoal, sulphur, salt, Epsom and Glauber's salts, 

 iron oxid or carbonate, calcium carbonate or oxid, and saltpeter. 



These materials are used in preparations for all species. In 

 the 35 poultry foods, 43 out of the 59 ingredients are listed. While, 

 in these foods, the presence of large quantities of ground bone, 

 oyster shells, cayenne pepper and Venetian red is of more common 

 occurrence than is true of the other foods, there is, in general, no 

 distinctive composition for the foods intended for the different 

 species; although, as the detailed records appended will show, in- 

 dividual manufacturers who put up more than one brand of condi- 

 mental food do make some difference in the components of these 

 brands. 



The composition of these foods as a class may be summed up 

 thus: They are composed of common grain foods as a base, with 

 linseed meal to increase their protein; to these are added more or 

 less salt, purgative salts, often lime and iron compounds, charcoal 

 and sulphur, some aromatic substance and a tonic bitters. 



The second question, relative to the nutritive and medicinal values 

 of these foods, naturally divides itself into a consideration, first, of 

 the economic feeding value of the foods as given to healthy animals, 

 and, second, of the curative virtues for the sick. 



We may view rations to which these foods are added as spiced 

 or seasoned foods, and consider, in the first place, what is known 

 concerning the tendency of spices to add to food value. From this 

 consideration, however, common salt should be eliminated, as it is 

 a constituent of the regular rations on every well-conducted farm. 



The spices are characterized by the presence of essential oils and 

 oleo-resins. In the human diet, their carefully regulated use is com- 

 mended as promoting digestion. In most works on diet and thera- 



