557 



The amount of volatile acid seemed to be dependent on the duration 

 of the fermentation. The addition of sugar to the juice slightly 

 increased the glycerin and very considerably increased the alcohol 

 in the product. 



The action of nitric and hydrochloric acids, ammonia, limewater, 

 acetate of lead, barium hydrate, amyl alcohol, zinc and hydrochloric 

 acid, and copper sulphate on the juices of red and black currants, was 

 compared with their action on huckleberries, cherries, mallow, and 

 Phytolacca berries, and studies were made of the spectra of the juices 

 of these fruits. The results of both chemical and optical tests of the 

 juices of red and black currants corresponded quite closely, from which 

 it api^ears that the coloring matters of the two truits if not identical are 

 closely related. 



Cooperative feeding experiments with milch cows, fattening 

 oxen, and fattening sheep in Prussia, by the Halle Experiment 

 Station and by farmers. — During several years past a number of series 

 of feeding experiments have been conducted in the Province of Saxony, 

 Prussia, which though intended for the study of questions of local 

 importance are of more than local interest. The results are summarized 

 here because of the light they throw upon the questions of narrow vs. 

 wide rations, larger vs. smaller quantities of digestible nutrients, and 

 watery vs. dry feeding stuffs; and because of the illustrations they give 

 of the advantage of cooperation between the station and the farmer and 

 of a way in which such cooperation may be successfully carried out in 

 feeding experiments. 



The experiment station of the Central Agricultural Society of the 

 Province of Saxony is located at Halle in a region where farming is 

 conducted upon a highly intensive system. The i^olicy of the station has 

 been to ally itself closely with the farmers and to institute experiments 

 among them for the study of x)ractical questions regarding the use of 

 fertilizers, culture of sugar beets, feeding of animals, and the like. 



In this part of Germany the sugar beet industry is very prominent, 

 and the diffusion residue from which the sugar has been extracted is a 

 very important feeding stuff". The manufacture of alcohol from pota- 

 toes is conducted upon a large scale on many farms, and the potato 

 residue is likewise an important factor in feeding. Large quantities of 

 concentrated feeding stuffs, such as oil cake, barley meal, and the like, 

 are also fed with the hay, straw, and other coarse fodders. 



It is a question among the farmers of this region whether more liberal 

 rations than the current feeding standards, such as Wolff's, provide 

 for, may not be profitable. It is also desirable to know how miich of 

 such watery food as the beet and potato residues may be fed to 

 advantage. And finally the question of the proportion of nitrogenous 

 and non-nitrogenous material in the concentrated foods, in other words, 

 the old question of wide vs. narrow rations, is felt to demand more thor- 

 ough testing than it has received. 



