FOODS ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 449 



The quality of meat produced ou potatoes is reported as superior, 

 tlie flavor being- rich and delicate. In point of profit also the results 

 were superior on the potato rations. The author is of opinion that the 

 potato, when healtliy and well developed, is to be regarded as an 

 economical feed for meat production. 



Feeding wheat to farm animals, F. D. Coburn {Ept. Kansas State 

 Board of Agr./or quarter ending Sept. 30, 1894, pp. 15-188). — To obtain 

 information on the extent to which wheat was being fed in Kansas, 

 the preferred methods of feeding it, the returns from feeding it, cost 

 of wheat production, etc., a circular letter was sent to 1,000 wheat 

 growers, stock raisers, feeders, dairymen, etc., in different parts of the 

 State. The replies received from 400 of these form the basis of the 

 report, although reports of trials in feeding wheat are also reprinted 

 from bulletins of the experiment stations, from newspapers, etc. Fol- 

 lowing are some deductions from the replies received : 



"Of the 24,827,523 bu. of spring and winter wheat raised in Kansas in 1893 there 

 has been used as feed for animals 4,059,323 bu., or 16.4 per cent., Cowley and Sumner 

 counties leading with 297,044 and 407,606 bu., respectively. 



"When fed whole (perhaps more especially to hogs) 25 per cent of it passes the 

 animals unmasticated and hence undigested and unassimilated — a shameful waste. 

 The average of the estimates made by 81 correspondents in 20 counties is that above 

 30 per cent is voided without mastication ; 12 correspondents, representing 5 counties, 

 put it at 50 per cent or above, and a few others name a higher figure, while 40, report- 

 ing from 12 counties, average at 10 per cent. 



"Three fourths of those reporting, representing 50 counties, state that, pound for 

 pound, wheat is superior to corn for fattening hogs (even with one fourth unmasti- 

 cated) by 7 to 35 per cent, the average of these indicating a superiority over corn of 

 16 per cent, while the average of the other one fourth of the reports, representing 

 26 counties, indicate that it was considered of less worth than corn hy 12 per cent. 



"To the question as to how much live pork may be expected as a fair return per 

 bushel of wheat fed to hogs, the average of all the answers is 11 lbs., and the varia- 

 tion from 7 lbs, , in a single instance, to as much as 20 lbs. in one other, but nearly 

 all ])ut their figures at or above 10 llis. . . . 



"Responses from 85 counties having all the wheat raised except 181,514 bn., received 

 within the last 10 days of September, this year, to inquiries sent to 500 corre- 

 spondents asking their estimates of the percentage of the wheat crop of 1894 which 

 will be fed to farm animals, represent it as 30.4 per cent of the wheat in those 

 counties; a total of 8.-524,983 bu., or 110 per cent (4,465,660 bu.), more than the entire 

 previous year's crop so used. . . . 



"The average of all the reports as to the cost of wheat, raised and in the bin, 

 including 7 per cent interest on the value of land upon which raised; also wear 

 and tear of equipment, with ditterent yields, shows thus: 

 Yield of 10 bu. per acre, 56^ cts. per bushel. 

 Yield of 15 bu. per acre, 48 cts. per bushel. 

 Yield of 20 bu. per acre, 35^ cts. per bushel. 

 Yield of 25 bu. per acre, 31 cts. per bushel. 

 Yield of 30 bu. per acre, 27 cts. per bushel. 

 Yield of 35 bu. per acre, 26 cts. ])er bushel. 



"A summary of conclusions. — In a general way these reports show : 



"In Kansas, under the conditions as to product and prices of wheat and corn exist- 

 ing iu the years 1893-'95, wheat has booome a very unusual and very important 

 factor m the grain feeding of all classes of farmstock. It is superior to corn, pound 

 for pound, as a grain to produce healthful, well-balanced growth in young am- 



