ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 583 



consumed more water than those fed native hay. A record covering 1 month showed 

 that the former drank 17 per cent more than the latter. The sheep were slaughtered 

 at the end of the trial. The principal conclusions follow: 



"Taking the experiment as a whole, the results show a small [pecuniary] loss but 

 the actual gains were made at a fair profit on both the alfalfa and the hay. The 

 indications are that under ordinary conditions lambs will give good returns per ton 

 for either native hay or alfalfa fed in connection with a light grain ration. To pro- 

 duce Ihe (]uality of mutton in greatest demand by consumers,, the feeding period 

 need not include more than 90 days. 



" Fi>r land) feeding it is advisable to grow alfalfa in preference to native hay on all 

 lands under irrigation where it can be successfully produced." 



Cotton-seed, meal as pig feed, F. C. Burtis {Oklahoma Sta. Rpt. 1901, pp. 102- 

 107). — Cotton-seed meal is generally regarded as a dangerous feed for pigs. The 

 author had found that a mixture of cotton-seed meal and corn or Kafir corn meal, 

 1 : 4, gave excellent results, and few pigs died if the meal was not fed for more than 

 4 weeks. He also observed that when the pigs had a wide range and green feed 

 unfavorable results did not follow its use. Good results followed the feeding of 

 cotton-s^ed fed for short periods separated by periods in which none was fed. These 

 points were tested in 2 trials. In the first, 17 pigs averaging 80 lbs. each were fed 

 for 67 days. From the first to the twenty-seventh day, the forty -first to the fifty- 

 fifth day, and the sixty-second to the sixty-seventh day, inclusive, the grain ration 

 consisted of cotton-seed meal with Kafir corn meal (or Kafir corn meal and corn 

 meal), 1:4. At the other times the grain ration consisted of a mixture of Kafir corn 

 meal and corn meal. During the whole test the pigs had the run of a large paddock 

 where they could procure some green food. In the first period on cotton-seed meal 

 the average daily gain per pig was 1.28 ll)s., the grain required to produce a pound of 

 gain 3.19 lbs., and the cost of food per pound of gain 1.72 cts. In the second cotton- 

 seed meal period the corresponding figures were 1.21 and 4.39 lbs. and 2.37 cts. In 

 the first period without cotton-seed meal the average daily gain per pig was 1.04 

 lbs., the grain required to produce a pound of gain 5.71 lbs., and the cost of food per 

 pound of gain 2.55 cts. The data are not recorded for the other periods. The author 

 observes that although the periods are not directly comparable it can be plainly 

 seen that "the pigs made nuich better gains while receiving the cotton-seed meal, 

 and recjuired much less grain to produce a pound of pork. None of the pigs die<l, 

 although they had received cotton-seed meal as a part of their ration for 46 days, 27 

 of which were consecutive." 



At the close of the test 13 of the pigs were sold. The remainder were continued 

 on the cotton-seed meal ration for 47 days longer. One of the pigs died on the 

 twenty-first day of the supplementary period; the others were sold at its close as fat 

 hogs. 



In the second test, 16 pigs about a year old, in poor condition (averaging 79 lbs. 

 each in weight), were hurdled on wheat and fed a light ration of cotton-seed meal and 

 Kafir corn meal (1:4) for 26 days. They were then shut in a lot and fed the same 

 grain ration for 21 days longer. While hurdled on the wheat the average daily gain 

 j)er pig was 0.96 lb.; the grain fed per pound of gain, 3.11 lbs. When fed in the lot, 

 the average daily gain per pig was 1.71 lbs.; the grain eaten per pound of gain 3.07 

 lbs. Five of the pigs were sold. The cotton-seed meal ration was fed to the remain- 

 der for 47 days longer. All the pigs lived and were sold as fat hogs. 



"Our work has gone far enough to enable us to state that excellent gains may be 

 obtained by adding 1.5 [lbs.] cotton-seed meal to a pig ration, and that it may be so 

 fed that there is but a small chance of any of the pigs dying from the effects of it. 

 We are not reatly yet to say exactly how or under what conditions this should be, 

 but under our methods the death rate was so small that the gain from feeding the 

 cotton-seed meal greatly overbalanced it. 



