No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 777 



tern contained? For instance it is said there are 860 pounds of pro- 

 tein in a ton of cottonseed meal which would make the protein costs 

 three and one-half cents a pound. Now, is that your idea? There 

 might only be a dollar's worth of fat in the cotton seed. I might 

 take another feed in which there would be $22 worth of protein 

 in a ton and $4 worth of fat, and the total value of the feed would 

 be more, counting the fat and protein, than the other that has only 

 $24 worth of protein? Is it your idea when you buy concentrated 

 feeds that would be safer to take into consideration simply the 

 pound value of the protein in the feed? 



MR. HILLS: Twenty years ago I bought for a certain lady a 

 ring which contained a ruby and a diamond, which I am glad to say 

 she still wears. Two years later I bought for her another circuit 

 which was of gold, and which she still wears. Now, in that second 

 purchase I paid for just one thing, gold. For the first purchase I 

 paid for three things: I paid for gold, for the ruby and for the 

 diamond. Now, in that first (chronologically engagement ring), how 

 much did I pay for the ruby, how much for the gold? I paid just 

 one lump price. You can't separate. And so in the case of cotton- 

 seed meal. There is no such thing as buying protein per se on 

 the jnarket by itself, or fat by itself or carbohvdrates bv itself. We 

 can't in my judgment apply any commercial price safely to a di- 

 gestible protein. 



A Member: Is it worth while to make molasses feed on the farm? 



MR. HILLS: I think for certain stock feeding, particularly for 

 working horses and things of that kind, the molasses has distinct 

 merit. But whether it is worth while to make molasses on the farm 

 I am not at all clear. We do not have it up our way. I should 

 think for the horse it would be worth while; for the cows I am not 

 clear. 



THE MERINO, ITS UTILITY AND ITS DEVELOPMENT. 



By ME JOHN P. RAY, Blonmficld, N. Y. 



The subject of my remarks — the Merino — does not refer to any 

 mushroom breed clamoring for public favor — the offspring of a 

 night or of a score of years. The stretch away of many centuries 

 is all her own. The facts surrounding the origin of Merino sheep 

 are locked in the chambers of antiquity, and no man holds the key 

 to unlock the mystery. This opens a wide field for speculation and 

 romance. When Adam was appointed a committee of the whole 

 to pass upon and name the kinds of animated nature, the verdict 

 was "very good." 



Merino sheep more than any other conserve the comfort and well- 

 being of man. They know no North, no South, no East, no West. 

 The world at large is their empire. Wherever vegetation grows and 

 civilization obtains a lodgement, there they find a congenial home. 

 They possess the inborn capability of being developed into any 

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