MONTHLY BULLETIN. 285 



FEEDING VALUE. 



Dr. F, W. Woll, Professor of Animal Nutrition, University of Cali- 

 fornia, at the Davis Farm, carried on a feeding test with calves. One 

 bunch of calves received as their grain portion, ground milo and ground 

 barley, half and half; the other bunch receiving an equal amount of 

 crushed carob pods and ground milo, half and half. This experiment 

 extended over a period of thirteen weeks, and at the close of the period, 

 those fed on milo and barley had averaged a gain of 1.70 pounds per 

 day; while those fed on the carob pods and milo averaged 1.81 pounds. 

 Those fed carobs required more hay than the others, so, taking it 

 altogether, the carob showed values equal to ground barley. This test 

 was made with pods from seedling trees, the sugar test being no higher 

 than those mentioned above, and probably, much below that average. 



PROPAGATION. 



The seeds come readily. By planting the seed pods on edge, close 

 together, in a sprouting-box, with a slight covering of soil, there will 

 be a succession of seedlings, covering two or three years. This method 

 seems to protect the young seedling from the damping-off fungus, that 

 otherwise causes great loss of the young plants. There seems to be a 

 ferment in the pod that protects the early growth. Seeds stripped from 

 the pod and treated with hot water come quickly, but these young 

 plants are very susceptible to the damping-off fungi. 



I. L. Knudson, in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, shows that 

 tannic acid is toxic to a large number of fungi. In the early ripening 

 period of the carob, tannic acid is present in large proportions, making 

 the pod very bitter and astringent, and this suggests to my mind that 

 this tannin may remain in the pod to an extent sufficient to inhibit the 

 deadly action of the damping-off fungi on the young seedlings, when 

 the pod itself is planted. In the Journal American Chemical Society, 

 F, M. McClenahan has shown that in the young walnut a very thin 

 seed coat separates the tannic acid, so abundant in the walnut shell, 

 from the fatty substance of the walnut meat ; doubtless placed there to 

 protect the fats from the action of the fungi that would destroy them. 

 It has been shown that the tannic acid of the date, persimmon, banana 

 and olive, is not removed by the ripening process, but is sealed up in 

 some manner that renders it insoluble during the process of mastication, 

 so that although the fruits are delicious to the taste, the tannin remains 

 in the fruits. While the role that fats and tannin play with reference 

 to each other may not be known, is there not a suggestion in the findings 

 of Knudson and McClenahan that, possibly, one relation between them 

 ]s the inhibition of fungus action of fats and sugare during the forma- 

 tive periods? and, then, later, the destruction of damping-off' fungi 

 at the period of germination? 



Possibly this may account for the fact that seedlings grown from 

 planting the entire seed pod are immune from damping-off fungi, while 

 those from cleaned seeds are very apt to be destroj-ed by them. 



GRAFTING AND BUDDING. 



The tree is easily budded or grafted and the union appears very 

 intimate. Grafted and budded trees bear earlier than seedlings and 

 produce heavier crops. Only by this method can the nutritive content 



3—24940 



