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THE CUBA REVIEW 



THE SUGAR INDUSTRY 



MOLASSES AS CATTLE FEED 



While the farmers of the United States are 

 beginning to reahze the value of beet pulp and 

 beet tops as a cattle feed, they have almost 

 overlooked the value of another important 

 by-product of beet and cane sugar manufac- 

 ture, namely molasses. It has been estimated 

 that sufficient molasses is produced by the 

 beet sugar factories alone to supply the mo- 

 lasses portion of a balanced ration for almost 

 500,000 head of cattle. 



The molasses produced by the cane sugar 

 refinery is not the same as that produced by 

 the beet sugar factory. Molasses from cane 

 contains glucose, while beet molasses is free 

 from that sugar, but retains a large percentage 

 of salts and other impurities. Cane molasses, 

 therefore, enjoys a wide range of usefulness 

 for human consumption, while beet molasses is 

 especially adapted for use in cattle feeling. 



While there are great variations in the com- 

 position of molasses, there have been no in- 

 stances recorded where any toxic effects have 

 followed molasses feeding. It is true, how- 

 ever, that diarrhoea is apt to follow exces- 

 sive use, due to the organic salts it contains. 

 As this condition might arise in ahnost any 

 case where there is an excess of one kind of 

 feed, it cannot te justly laid to the use of 

 molasses. In view of this the farmer who feeds 

 molasses should keep the molasses percentage 

 of the ration within limits of a reasonable 

 standard, just as he should do with every 

 other substance entering into the composi- 

 tion. 



Molassic salts are mainly carbonate of 

 potassium or sodium and chlorides. They 

 contain also lime, sulphuric acid and a small 

 percentage of phosphate. The presence of 

 these salts, far from being objectionable, is 

 rather an advantage. 



The nourishing value of molasses is attri- 

 buted to the percentage of its extractive ele- 

 ments, which, when compared with its caloric 

 power, is very high, and demands an almost 

 insignificant amount of physiological work. 

 In this particular, sugar has a higher food 

 value than other hydrocarbons. Being solu- 

 ble in water it does not necessarily demand the 

 action of gastric juices or the expenditure of 

 latent forces of tlie organism for its assimila- 

 tion. It hds also been pointed out that sugar, 



being diffusible, soon passes by osmosis 

 through the intestinal tubes, while other non- 

 nitrogenous extractive elements, such as 

 starch, pentosanes, etc., must undergo many 

 modifications lasting for a considerable time 

 before assimilation is possible. The osmotic 

 action of a sugar solution is very rapid, so 

 much so that it is claimed that its complete 

 oxygenation is impossible. The blood not 

 being forced to supply oxygen necessary for 

 its transformation, there results a stored up 

 energy for subsequent tissue and fat forma- 

 tion. This fact alone gives sugar an advan- 

 tage over all other carbohydrates for fat for- 

 mation, and hence its value for cattle feeding, 

 either as it is found in molasses or in other 

 forms that the farmers may have at their dis- 

 posal. 



It has been found that molasses added to 

 forage is an excellent, healthy and economi- 

 cal substance, producing both flesh and fat. — 

 J. A. Brock in Facts About Sugar. 



AMERICAN SUGAR-BEET SEED 



Sugar-beet seed of good quality and in 

 large quantities must be produced in the 

 United States if the highest development of 

 the beet-sugar industry in this country is to 

 be reached, say plant specialists of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. 

 The domestic beet-sugar industry, in which 

 more than $100,000,000 is now invested, was 

 almost wholly dependent, until the outbreak 

 of the war, on a seed supply from Europe. 

 Some seed was imported with great difficulty 

 for the 1916 planting, but several sugar fac- 

 tories remained idle because of the insufficient 

 supply. No grave difficulties, it is believed, 

 stand in the way of the domestic production 

 of high-quality seed sufficient to meet the 

 needs of this country. 



The studies of the plant specialists lead 

 them to believe that the quality of beet seed 

 and of the crops which such seed produce can 

 be improved greatly by selection and plant 

 breeding, and that as a result the cost of 

 production of seed in this country can be 

 reduced. They take the view that the first 

 step in the development of a permanent 

 beet-seed industry here lies in the development 

 of true types with reference to both seed 

 beets and seed production. 



