440 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



At four cents per gallon of 11.8 pounds, this would correspond to 

 a cost per 100 pounds of dry matter, in black strap cane molasses, of 

 33 cents. In 1900, the market price of beet molasses in Europe was 

 about one-half cent per pound, making the cost of dry substance 

 about 04 cents per 100 pounds. 



Certain special characteristics not clearly set forth in these an- 

 alytical statements should be understood. With reference to the ni- 

 trogenous matters: Cotton-seed meal, linseed meal, gluten feed, 

 wheat bran, and middlings, indeed all seed products, contain their 

 nitrogen in albuminoid form, the form most highly valued for feed- 

 ing purposes. In the molasses, on the other hcxid, only a small frac- 

 tion of the total nitrogen is present in this state of combination, 

 the major part being contained in the so-called amid" substances. 

 In this respect, the molasses resembles the root or cane from which 

 it is derived, and shares the characteristics of pasture grass and all 

 the more succulent foods. It is an interesting fact, that our do- 

 mestic animals thrive especially well on these green foods, and yet, 

 until very recently, the most careful experiments with the amid 

 • bodies, have failed to establish any value for them as nutrients. 

 Since they are formed in the breaking dow T n of albuminoids in the 

 intestine and, in the plant, are intermediate products from which 

 the albuminoids are built up, it has seemed strange that their nutrient 

 value should appear so small. Within a year or two, however, evi- 

 dence has begun to appear that our earlier experiments were at fault 

 in their method. When an albuminoid is broken down, it always 

 yields more than one kind of amid. The earlier experiments were, 

 however, attempts to build up albuminoids from a single amid, and 

 resulted negatively. Several experimenters have now tried to form 

 albuminoids by starting with several amids, and appear to have 

 succeeded. If their success should be fully confirmed, the valuation 

 of succulent foods and also of the molasses feeds will be consider- 

 ably increased. Berger found the nitrogenous matters of the sugar- 

 beet molasses inferior, nevertheless, to protein, in rabbit feeding. 



Both sugar-beet and the sugar-cane contain nitrates. The leaves 

 of these plants are often quite richly supplied, and injury to stock 

 has appeared because of the effects of the nitrates. Further, when 

 the wastes from the manufacture of alcohol from beet molasses are 

 dried and burned to recover the potash in them, violent explosions 

 sometimes occur, owing to the nitrates present in these wastes. As 

 saltpeter, the nitrate probably present, acts vigorously upon the 

 kidneys, many have feared that the molasses might contain enough 

 saltpeter to cause ill health in animals eating the article in con- 

 siderable quantities. Many authorities state that about one- 

 sixth of the nitrogen in beet molasses is present as nitrate. The 

 results obtained by different analysis show wide variation in this 

 respect; thus Pagnoul found in 120 samples of molasses an average 

 of 1.31 per cent., while Kellner reports only 0.2 per cent, as pres- 

 ent in average beet molasses. Browne states that about one-thir- 

 teenth of the nitrogen of cane molasses is present in the form of 

 nitrates, equivalent to about .27 per cent, of saltpeter in the molasses. 

 There is no evidence, however, that serious injury has resulted from 

 the amount of nitrates present in the molasses used for cattle food. 



In respect to the composition of the ash, molasses differs ma- 

 terially from seed products and also from leaves and stalks. In the 



