DAIRY FARMING DAIRYING. 683 



The length of time -which food remains in the digestive apparatus of rabbits, 

 H. Weiskb (Landw. Vers. Stat., 48 (1S97), No. 6, pp. 375-378). — The author concludes, 

 as the result of a number of experiments, that when rabbits are fed coarse fodder, 

 following a diet of grain, the intestinal tract is probably very free from grain (more 

 or less completely digested) in about 2 days. 



Elements of physiology of domestic Mammalia, H. Hornk (Grnndtrak af luis- 

 pattcdijrcnes fi/siologi. Christiania: Grondalil <f Son, 1897, pp. 100). 



Farm poultry {Kansas State lid. Jnr. Rpt. 1897, Mar. SI, pp. 256, figs. 33).— This 

 contains statistics of poultry products sold in the State of Kansas during 1895 and 

 1896; and articles on breeding, management, and marketing with special reference 

 to local conditions, together with addresses and discussions at the annual meeting of 

 the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, January 13-15, 1897. 



A new law of heredity, F. Galton (Nature, 56, No. 1445, pp. 235-337).— An appli- 

 cation of the law, given in the author's Natural Inheritances, to a collection of 817 

 hounds of registered colors, from parents whose colors were known. 



DAIRY FARMING— DAIRYING. 



Feeding experiment with linseed oil and ground flaxseed on 

 cows, D. Melik. Ueglarian (Milch Ztg., 20 (1897), Wo. 33, pp. 522, 

 523). — The author refers to Soxblet's recent work, in which it was 

 claimed that the fat content of milk might be increased by (ceding fat 

 (linseed oil, etc.) in digestible form (E. S. II., 8, p. 1016). He reports 

 an experiment made at the farm of the agricultural academy at Pop- 

 pelsdorf with 4 cows, covering 1 periods of 8 days each. In the first 

 and last periods the ration was the same, consisting of 50 kg. of beets, 

 14 kg. of hay, 3 kg. of straw, 4 kg. of malt sprouts, 4 kg. of linseed 

 meal, and 2 kg. of barley meal per 1,000 lbs. live weight. In the sec- 

 ond period 1 kg. of linseed oil was added per cow daily, being emnl 

 sified by treating with water in a cream separator, and in the third 

 period the oil was dropped and 4 kg. of ground flaxseed was fed in 

 place of the linseed meal of the basal ration. Cows 1 and 2 took the 

 linseed oil readily from the first, but cows 3 and 4 had to become accus- 

 tomed to it. There was a falling off in the appetites of all the cows 

 when the oil was fed, and they refused to eat the basal ration up clean. 



The average milk yield and specific gravity and fat content of the 

 milk of each cow for the last 3 days of each period are tabulated. 

 While on linseed oil all the cows shrank in milk yield, and the yield 

 increased when put upon flaxseed. Except in one case the fat content 

 increased on linseed oil, the average increase being 0.23 per cent. It 

 diminished on the flaxseed ration. The author considers there is noth- 

 ing remarkable in the increase of 0.23 per cent in the second period, as 

 an equal increase frequently occurs in placing cows upon a less favor- 

 able ration accompanied by a falling off in milk. The results are con 

 sidered entirely negative, as the addition of oil was not accompanied 

 by a noticeable increase in fat content, while it acted unfavorably upon 

 the digestion and the general condition of the cows. The flaxseed was 

 equally unsatisfactory. 



The question of the relation between the fat in the food and 

 the fat in the milk, M. Maercker (Milch Ztg.,26 (1897), No. 31, pp. 

 542, 543). — A short note is given on an experiment in which a ration 



