ANIMAL PRODUrTlON. 1077 



"The criticisin will be naturally made here that the purchaHer is notfjettiiif,' the car- 

 bohydrates in this small tonna<:;e of hi<,'h-^'ra(h- feed that he should and would ^vt in 

 the lower-jrrade goods. But comparisons of feeds in general with tlu^ standard feeds 

 are usually made on the suj)[)osition that the object of th«' purchase is protein and 

 fat. That the purchase of protein is the usual i)urpose of purchased feeds can hardly 

 be denied, since materials of considerable i>rotein content are the only ones suitable 

 a.s additions to the feeding materials of the farm. These usually comprise an abun- 

 dance of carbohydrate feed to such an extent, indeed, that more native carbohy- 

 drates of better (juality are often wasted on the farm by being used as bedding, etc., 

 than are furnished by the feed substitutes under discussion. Materials, then, which 

 are low in protein, and hence contain relatively large amounts of carlwhydrates, are 

 useful only to those who raise nothing themselves — for example, city feeders of horses 

 and stall-fe<l cattle." 



Value of condiments in the feeding: of bullocks, J. A. Voklckkr {Jour. Roy. 

 A(jr. Sor. EiKjlaiKl, 6V {1901), pp. 2m)-:i07 ) .—In view of the high value attributed 

 by many feeders to condimental feeds, locust-bean meal and molasses, the author 

 tested such materials with 4 lots of 4 steers each, weighing on an average 1,095 lbs. 

 at the beginning of the trial. Lot 1 was fed a basal ration i-onsisting of linseed meal, 

 decorticated cotton-seed cake, and maize meal, 1:1:1. The amount at first was 6 

 lbs. per head daily and later larger amounts. In addition, hay, oat-straw chaff, and 

 wheat were fed (td lihitum. Lot 2 was fed the same ration, except that one-half the 

 maize meal was replaced by locust-bean meal. In addition to the basal ration, lot 3 

 was fed a condimental mixture made up of licorice, aniseed, gentian, fenugreek, 

 coriander, caraway, cumin, and ginger. On an average, an ounce of this mixture 

 was fed per head daily sprinkled over the other feeds. Lot 4 was given a little cane- 

 sugar molasses diluted with an equal amount of warm water and mixed with the 

 chaff. The feeds used were analyzed. The test began November 22. On March 25 

 the steers in lot 3 were thought ready for market and were disposed of for slaughter. 

 Others were disposed of at intervals, the last on April 29. The average gain in weight 

 of the 4 lots was 281, 229, 226, and 253 lbs. The percentage of carcass to live weight 

 was 58.85, 58.52, 57.25, and 59.34, respectively. 



"The result of this experiment is clearly to show that no case can l)e made out 

 from it for any of the virtues supposed to lielong to spice and condimental foods, 

 but that bullocks will fatten just as well and as economically on a well-chosen mix- 

 ture of ordinary foods. The average gain per head was higher with the ordinary 

 feeding than with any of the others, and the money return practically as high, too. 

 Nor did it turn out that the use of the condiments enabled the bullocks to consume 

 more bulky food like straw and hay chaff. Of the additional materials the best was 

 molasses, this giving results practically equal to those of the ordinary feeding. There 

 is, however, with its use a tendency to "looseness" in the animals, which must be 

 checked by not giving it in too great a quantity. One pound per day of molasses 

 among 4 bullocks was found to be about the limit. 



"Spice did not do so well as molasses, and though it is true that the animals fed 

 with it were judged to be soonest ready for the butcher, their carcass percentage 

 was the lowest of all, and the money return not so great in the end. The tmrlier 

 bringing out was ]>robably due to the individual animals rather than to their food. 

 Judgment must lie withheld in respect to the use of locust-bean meal, owing to 2 of 

 the l)ullocks fed on it being indisposed during part of the experiment, but there is 

 nothing in the general results as regards the others, and the ultimate return from 

 them, to warrant the belief that it would have shown better results than the ordinary 

 feeding. 



13U2— No. 11—02 6 



