ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 



585 



author as reasonable. Eighteen of these samples deficient in protein were com- 

 pounded and proprietary feeds, 9 linseed meal, and the remainder cotton-seed meal, 

 dried distillers' grains, gluten feed, hominy feed, and poultry feeds in about equal 

 proportion. One of the samples of cotton-seed meal was evidently cotton-seed meal 

 mixed with ground hulls. 



A feeding stuff made from molasses and seed-beet litter, W. Rosam (Osterr. 

 Ungar. Ztschr. Zuckerind. u. Landw., 32 (1903), p. 947; abs. in Cenlbl. Agr. Chem., 33 

 (1904), No. 10, pp. 703, 704)- — A feeding stuff is described which is said to possess 

 good keeping qualities and an analysis reported. Tests of the feeding value of this 

 product for milch cows are briefly reported. 



The effect of rust on the straw and grain of wheat, 1 ■'. T. Shutt i Wallaces' 

 Fanner, 29 (1904), No. 49, )>. 1502). — The prevalence of rust this season in certain dis- 

 tricts of Manitoba led the author to determine the composition of straw and grain 

 from rusted wheat as compared with similar samples free from rust. The analytical 

 data follow: 



Composition of rusted and rust-free wheat straw and grain. 



"The rust apparently does not affect the vitality of the wheat plant during the 

 first stage or period, but as the season progresses and the ripening period advances 

 the fungus attains the ascendency, crippling the energies and functions of the tissues, 

 and checking the movement of the food materials to the seed. In other words, the 

 growth of the rust arrests development and induces premature ripening, which, as 

 we have seen, means a straw in which still remains the elaborated food, and a grain 

 small, immature, rich in protein, and deficient in starch." 



The digestibility of chitin and the nutritive value of insects, A. Z.vitschek 

 (Arch. Physiol. [Pfluger], 104 (1904), No. 9-12, pp. 612-623).— The digestibility of 

 chitin was studied in experiments in which chickens were fed one species of the 

 ephemera (May flies) with and without barley and barley alone. These insects are 

 collected and sold in Austria-Hungary as feed for birds or fishes. 



The conclusion was reached that chitin is entirely indigestible. The fat furnished 

 by the insects was about half digested. As regards gains in nitrogen, the insects 

 and the barley were about equal. The energy furnished by barley was better utilized 

 than that supplied by the insects. The crude fiber consumed was not at all 

 digested. The physiological nutritive value of the ration is spoken of. 



The flesh of the chickens fed on insects exclusively had a disagreeable odor and 

 flavor. Feeding grain with the insects modified the odor and flavor, though it did 

 not do away with it altogether. 



Sugar and molasses in the feeding of farm animals, P. Boname (Sta. Agron. 

 Mauritius, Bui. 10, pp. 38). — The importance of sugar and molasses in the rations of 

 farm animals is spoken of, and the experiments and experience of a number of 

 investigators summarized. The author reports the analysis of a local commercial 

 feeding stuff called "molassine," and describes the preparation of "molascuit" from 

 bagasse and molasses. The need of supplementing this by nitrogenous feed is spoken 

 of, and black peas (with pods) or ground acacia beans are recommended. In con- 

 nection with this discussion some analytical data are quoted. 



Phosphoric acid in the ration of herbivora, H. Joulie (Rev. Agr. Reunion, 

 10 (1904), No. 5, pp. 84-86).— In a paper presented before the Societe d' agriculture de 



