334 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



"I made at the same time a small experiment in feeding molasses, 

 for the sole purpose of finding out if cattle would eat it. They quickly 

 got on quite a feed of molasses and it is possible that some time this 

 may become a cattle food in this country. 



"All pulp should properly be fed in a barn where it cannot freeze and 

 with other foods. During the earlier part of the feeding period, for 

 instance, for three or four months out of six, it may be fed largely with 

 a comparatively small feed of grain, although hay should always be fed 

 with it. Toward the end of the feeding period the proportion of grain 

 should be gradually increased and that of the pulp diminished for finish- 

 ing the cattle for market. 



"I attach the greatest ijossible importance in value to the use of beet 

 pulp in beef production, and no doubt it will prove equally valuable 

 in the dairy industry. Its value in feeding animals is one of the reasons 

 why the production of sugar itself may find a firmer and more profitable 

 location where dairy or beef animals are fed than in other sections where 

 there are not so many animals to feed." 



A letter from I. R. Alter, President of the Union Stock Yards Co. 

 Grand Island, Neb., includes the following statement of his experience 

 with the pulp: "I fed three hundred, three and four year old western 

 steers in 1891, the first year our factory opened; of course I had no 

 experience in feeding pulp, but I soon found that cattle were very fond 

 of it, I think they will leave any other food known and eat it. , As to 

 the fattening quality, of course, when fed alone, it is almost valueless, 

 though I believe stock would winter on it. Mixed with a cut feed of hay 

 or straw or cornstalks, on which corn meal, bran or some other grain 

 food is placed, it makes a ration which fattens very rapidly. By feed- 

 ing the usual amount of meal, with seventy-five to a hundred pounds of 

 this pulp per day per steer, the fattening period will be shortened at 

 least thirty days, in other words you can get as good results in four 

 months with pulp as you could in five without it. I think steers will eat 

 as much grain food per day or more with the pulp than they will with- 

 out it. It is a great 'conditioner' and appetizer, and we find the older 

 it is the better the results. It will keep a number of years in the silo 

 or piled up on top of the ground. It will turn black and spoil as far as 

 the air goes through, which is from eight to ten inches. It will reduce 

 in bulk fully one-half and grow as much richer. There are a number 

 of big sheep and cattle feeders here, all of whom use it more or less. 

 If anything, it is better for sheep than cattle." 



Our consuls in the sugar producing districts of Europe call special 

 attention to the need of combining the feeding of stock with the grow- 

 ing of sugar beets. While the leaves are good fodder, the pulp in 

 particular should be fed to dairy stock, greatly promoting the produc- 

 tion of milk, or to stock fitting for the shambles furnishing beef of the 

 highest quality. 



The thorough cultivation required in raising a crop of beets admir- 

 ably fits the soil for the following crop. In France, no preparation 

 of the soil for a crop of wheat is considered equal to the raising of 

 a crop of beets. Sugar beets are therefore seen to be an enriching 

 crop to the land, fitting admirably into our scheme of rotation, suited 



