362 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Porter {London: J. tC- A. Churchill, 1906, pp. JfSJfj rev. in Pub. Health [London], 

 19 {1906), A"o. 1, pp. 53, 5^). — This volume contains chapters on presei-vatives, 

 artificial coloring matters, unsound food, the sophistication of food and its de- 

 tection, and related questions. 



Review of the literature of composition, analysis, a'nd adulteration of 

 foods for the year 1905, A. J. J. VA^DEVELDE and M. Henseval {Heparulc 

 from Bui. ,s'rrr. ^urveill. Fabric, et Com. Denrces Aliment., 1906, pp: 120). — 

 The subjects included are general articles, apparatus, water, milk and cream, 

 fats and oils, cheese, cereals and cereal products, spices, sugar, sirup, etc., 

 vinegar, fruits and vegetables, adulteration, and similar topics. In many cases 

 the bibliographical data are supplemented by short abstracts. For earlier woi-k 

 see E. S. R., 17, p. 787. 



ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 



Cattle feeding experiments, H. R. Smith {Xcbraska Sta. Bui. 93, pp. 23, 

 fig. 1). — Continuing earlier work (E. S. R., 17, p. 088) the relative merits of 

 different sorts of coarse fodder for supplementing corn and the value of differ- 

 ent concentrated feeds as compared with alfalfa were studied with 6 lots of 10 

 steers each. 



In the first test the rations consisted of snapped corn with prairie hay and 

 with corn stover, each alone and with equal parts of alfalfa hay, snapped corn, 

 and alfalfa hay, and with corn fodder (entire plant and ears) and alfalfa hay. 

 In the 12 weeks covered by the period the average daily gain per steer ranged 

 from 1.02 lbs. on snapped corn and corn stover to 2.06 lbs. on snapped corn and 

 alfalfa hay. The greatest range in grain consumed per pound of gain was also 

 noticed with these lots, being 4.6 lbs. on the alfalfa hay ration and 9.25 lbs. on 

 the corn stover ration. The greatest amount of coarse fodder per pound of 

 gain, 22.44 lbs., was also noticed with the last-mentioned lot, and the smallest 

 amount, 10.47 lbs., with the lot fed prairie hay and alfalfa hay with snapped 

 corn. Gain was most cheaply made on snapped corn with corn stover and 

 alfalfa hay, costing 5.01 cts.. and was dearest on sutxpped corn and prairie hay, 

 costing 8.76 cts. per i)ound. 



The Steers were followed by pigs, and the value of the pork produced, as a 

 by-product for each pound of gain made by the steers ranged from 0.7 cts. 

 with the snapped corn, prairie hay, and alfalfa hay to 1.18 cts. on the snapped 

 corn and prairie hay ration. 



As pointed out by the author, in each of the 4 lots where alfalfa, a coarse 

 fodder rich in protein. \\;is used, the gains were larger than in the other cases 

 and were made on less feed and at a lower cost. Feeding alfalfa with prairie 

 hay 1:1 as compared with prairie hay effected a saving of 40 per cent of the 

 corn re(iuired per pound of gain and 47 per cent when fed with corn stover as 

 compared with stover without alfalfa. " The larger saving of corn in the case 

 of stover was no doubt due in part to the fact that stover is more deficient in 

 protein than is prairie hay." The amount of feed wasted " was vei'j- slight in 

 case of alfalfa and very considerable with the corn stover. From one-third to 

 one-half of the lower part of the cornstalk was thrown out because (»f its being 

 refused by the cattle." 



" Alfalfa hay is pronouncedly superior to prairie hay for beef production, and 

 the more rapid the extension of the area of land devoted to the production of 

 alfalfa, supplanting the less valuable and lower yielding native hay, the more 

 rapid will be the production of wealth from our soil. 



" Native prairie hay, if for any reason it is most available for feeding pur- 

 poses, should not be fed with corn alone, but rather with corn supplemented 



