174 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



Tlie data concerning the amount of feed eaten are submitted in detail, to- 

 gether with descriptions and measurements of the individual cows. The results 

 of these experiments are compared with similar data for other breeds. 



Feeding experiments with milch cows, H. Thiel {Landw. Jahrb., 37 (1908), 

 Ergdnzungsb. 3, pp. 111-203). — In these experiments the basal ration consisted 

 of meadow hay, beets,' and peanut meal, and the feeding stuffs tested were 

 barley, oats, rye, maize, wheat bran, rye bran, rice-feed meal, and maizeua. 



As in earlier experiments (E. S. R., IS, p. 765), the feeding stuffs were found 

 to exert specific effects on the amount and chemical composition of milk inde- 

 pendent of their nutrient constituents. The work since 1903 is summarized. 

 Maizena, and in a less degree, maize and oats, increase the amount of milk but 

 decrease the percentage of fat, so that the total amount of fat remains about 

 the same. Feeds like palm-nut cake and cocoanut cake increase the amount of 

 fat, but poppy-seed cake and rice-feed meal decrease it. The other feeds did 

 not influence the amount of fat so perceptibly, but linseed cake, rape-seed cake, 

 sesame cake, and cotton-seed cake are deemed slightly more favorable for fat 

 production than peanut cake. Wheat bran was a somewhat better feed for cows 

 than rye or rye bran. 



The effect of feeding- beet leaves on the composition of milk fat, H. LiJHRiG, 

 A. Hepner, and G. Blau (Pharm. Zentralhalle, 50 (1909), No. 14, pp. 215-282).— 

 Experiments along the lines previously noted (E. S. R., 19, p. 1010), were con- 

 tinued, and indicate that the feeding of beet leaves increased the Reichert- 

 Meissl, saponification, and Polenske values, but lowered the index of refraction 

 and the iodin number. 



The milking machine as a factor in milk hygiene, E. G. Hastings and 

 C. Hoffmann iCcntU. Bakt. [etc.], 2. AM., 22 (1908). No. 1-10, pp. 222-231, fig. 

 1). — This article has been substantially noted from another source ( E. 8. R., 

 20, p. 77). 



Some studies of the physiological leucocyte content of cow's milk, B. H. 

 Stone and L. P. Sprague {Jour. Med. Rcscaych, 20 (1909), No. 3, pp. 235-2 't3, 

 figs. 2). — Parallel leucocyte counts \A'ere made of the blood an4 milk from 57 

 cows. The authors found that the number of leucocytes in the blood varied be- 

 tween 6,000 and 10,000 per cubic centimeter, but was subject to no such varia- 

 tion as the milk leucocyte content. There was no relation between the gen- 

 eral blood condition and the leucocyte content of the milk. Apparently in cer- 

 tain cows there is a tendency to a high leucocyte content over a considerable 

 time. Leucocyte counts were also made of the milk of 2 healthy Jersey cows 

 during the entire lactation period. 



" The I'esults of this work have tended to shake our confidence in an arbitrary 

 numerical leucocyte standard as a reliable criterion of the sanitary fitness of 

 milk when taken from single cows, yet we do believe that the physiological aver- 

 age is considerably below 500,000 — only 1 per cent of the counts made by us 

 were above this number — and that very seldom would the count of the mixed 

 milk of 10 or more cows go above this figure unless there were present abnormal 

 conditions in some of the animals. With the 2 cows selected by us, the aver- 

 age was above 500,000 only 3 times in a total of 538. It is fair to presume that 

 the additional introduction of one or more normal cows into the series would 

 have materially lowered the percentage, as there seems to be no relation between 

 the high counts in the milk of the 2 cows when kept on regular diet." 



The authors describe a new tube for quantitative and qualitative analyses 

 of milk sediments. 



The physiological and therapeutical properties of the serum of milk, 

 R. Blondel. [Lancet [London], 1909, I, No. 15, pp. 1038-1040) .—This article is 



