586 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



on the yield of milk, but that with a ration of 1.706 kg. of fat per 1,000 

 kg. live weight there was a marked decrease in the milk yield. 



The effect of palm-nut cake and cocoanut cake in increasing the fat 

 content of the milk the author regards as beyond question. As com- 

 pared with the normal ration fed in the preparatory period, there was 

 an increase in the fat content of the milk of 0.31 per cent with palm- 

 nut cake, 0.28 per cent on the first cocoanut-cake ration, and 0.75 per 

 cent on the second cocoanut-cake ration which was unusually rich in fat. 



In regard to the total yield of butter fat, the conclusion is reached 

 that " the increase of the fat content of the milk which can be brought 

 about at will by feeding rations rich in fat is almost without effect on 

 the total amount of fat, and may result in a financial loss. . . The 

 .use of large amounts of expensive feeding stuffs rich in fat should be 

 avoided, since the possibility of a one-sided increase of the fat content 

 of the milk may lead to a positive loss." 



A consideration of the fluctuations in live weight shows that the 1 lb. 

 of fat eaten daily by the cows on the ration richest in fat was not lost 

 but was used for the production of body fat. The Simmenthaler cows 

 were more sensitive to the fat in the ration than the others, as shown 

 by the fact that they decreased 10 kg. per head in weight when palm- 

 nut cake was replaced by disembittered lupine, while the Altmarker 

 lost only 4 kg. In the first cocoanut-cake period the Simmenthaler 

 gained 13.5 kg. and the Altmiirker 11.1 kg. each ; and during the second 

 cocoanut-cake period, on the ration richest in fat, the Simmenthaler 

 gained 10.4 kg. and the Altmarker 23 kg. each. The feeding left the 

 Simmenthaler cows overfat and unfit for anything except butchering. 

 The author believes the results suggest a possible means for rapidly 

 fattening dry cows. 



Experiments on the question -whether in feeding sesame cake 

 there is a transmission of material to the butter which gives the 

 Baudouin reaction, H. Weigmann (Milch Zt<j., 27 (1898), No. 34, pp. 

 529-532). — [This much discussed question arises out of the regulation 

 of the German oleomargarine law, passed in 1887, which requires the 

 addition of sesame oil to all oleomargarine, as a means of identifying it. 

 This is spoken of as the "latent coloring" of margarine; and the finding 

 of the sesame-oil reaction in butter is taken as evidence that it has 

 been adulterated with margarine.] 



An experiment was made with several cows in which a part of the 

 grain ration of some of the cows was replaced by 3 kg. per head of 

 sesame cake, an amount said to be three times as great as is commonly 

 fed in practice. The milk from the sesame-cake feeding was creamed 

 and churned separately and the butter tested for the characteristic rose 

 color with furfurol and hydrochloric acid. None of the samples of 

 butter from the sesame-cake feeding gave a reaction immediately on 

 mixing with hydrochloric acid and furfurol, and therefore it is consid- 

 ered that none of the samples of butter gave the sesame-oil reaction. 

 These samples and also samples of butter produced without sesame-cake 



