ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 367 



ponents of the phytin ooniplox when administeiTd separately as salts, their 

 channels of excretion and general relation to the phenomena of constipation 

 and dinresis, and the consequent effect on milk secretion. 



The animal selected was a vigorons Holsteln cow with a keen appetite. The 

 ration, consisting of oat straw, wheat bran, rice, and wheat glnten, had a high 

 phytin content, bnt a ratit)n low in phytin was secnred by extracting the bran 

 with water. The observations were continued for 3* months. 



A change in the phytin content caused no significant fluctuation in the volume 

 oi' in the composition of the milk. The flow of urine was increased by phytin 

 and certain of its components, as potassium and magnesium as sulphates 

 and chlorids, or by potassium alone as chlorid or phytate. 



The nitrogen and phosphorus excretion appeared to have no close direct 

 relation to each other. This was equally true in respect to potassium and mag- 

 nesium, which rose and fell in the amounts excreted with great regularity 

 and depended on the amount Injected. The principal channel for the excretion 

 of phosphorus and magnesium was through the intestinal tract. Potassium 

 and calcium were eliminated by both the urinai-y and intestinal tracts. 



" The constipating eli'ect incidental to withdrawal of phytin was always mani- 

 fest. When, however, the phytin was replaced with magnesium sulphate, a 

 laxative effect was produced, but when this substitution was made with potas- 

 sium sulphate or chlorid, an unmistakable dryness of the feces resulted. 



"The lime supply in the ration of the entire period was manifestly deficient. 

 The output was approximately 50 gni. daily, while the intake was but 2.5 gm. 

 The popular notion that wheat bran is particularly useful as a building mate- 

 rial for growing animals, due to high ash content, needs qualification. It is 

 high in total ash but its content of lime is relatively low. Ten pounds of wheat 

 bran supplied but 8 gm. of calcium oxid." This deficiency in calcium must 

 have been supplied by the skeleton. " This supix)rts what our experiments 

 with pigs have shown, namely, that the skeletal tissue can vary its ash con- 

 tent within quite wide limits, thereby acting as a supply house over considerable 

 periods of time for certain ash constituents that may be deficient in quantity 

 in the food." 



Our present knowledge of the nutritive action of nonproteid nitrogen in 

 feeds, J. VoLHAKD {Zvnihl. (Icsain. I'linsiol. u. Patli. Staff ircclD^t'ls, ii. scr., Jf 

 {1909). NoK. 5, pp. 161-172; 6, pp. 216-220). — A digest of recent experinient:il 

 work with birds and mammals. 



Concentrated commercial feeding stuffs, J. D. Turner and H. D. Spears 

 (Kentucky Sta. But. IJfl. pp. 91-20.'t).—Ovev 1,1()<V samples of feeding stuffs 

 were collected and analyzed, including alfalfa meal, wheat and corn products, 

 cotton and linseed meals, malt sprouts, distillers' and brewers' grains, and 

 molasses, poultry, mixed, and proprietary feetls. Analyses are also reported of 

 hay and foi'age crops. 



[Analyses of J fodders and feeding stuffs, F. T. Siiutt {Canada Expt. Farms 

 Rj)ts. 1907, pp. 152-159). — Analyses made during the year included corn, wheat, 

 and oat products, molasses feeds, paddy, linseed meal, distillery slop, flax 

 refuse and screenings, cotton-seed meal, and i)roprietary feeds. 



[Analyses of cattle feeds], R. Harcourt (Ann. Rpt. Ontario Agr. Col. and 

 Expt. Ftuni, .I'l (I90S). pp. 6S-71). — Analyses made of 27 samples of frozen 

 wheat indicated that it was but little inferior to normal wheat in feeding value. 

 Other feeds analyzed were wheat and wheat products, rice and rice products, 

 oat and oat products, barley, cotton-seed meal and hulls, gluten meal, soy bean.s, 

 mixed fe(»ds, aiul weed seeds. 



Cotton-seed meal in its relation to animal industries in the South, A. M. 

 SouLE {Nat. Provisioncr, J,0 {1909), No. 21, pp. 5.'fI-5.'fL; Oil, Paint and Drug 



