1919] DAIKY FARMING I'AIKYING. 373 



number of "soft eggs" were practically sterile, ;m indication thai the initial 

 stage of deterioration can not, In most cases, be ascribed to bacteria. 



After being removed from the shell, each egg was graded according to its appear- 

 ance ami odor, and when necessary, taste, after the manner adopted by the more 

 progressive of the frozen and dried egg concerns. Of the total, &8 per cent are 

 in this way classed as had. Of those graded - i, 12 per cent contained bac- 

 teria and 2.2 per rem n. coli, the average count being low. Although certain 



i _s whose condition can not he detected bj the senses are carriers of bacteria, 

 it Is very seldom that such eggs, when mixed with Sterile eggfl in the manufac- 

 ture of coi rcial products, would increase the bacterial count to a con- 

 siderable degree. Of the eggs graded bad over one-half were rejected on account 



of their odor; those called musty being practically Sterile, whereas most of the 

 others were heavily Infected. No cause of mustiness was discovered. 



Eggs rejected on account of physical appearance include mixed rots, white 

 rots, euus with green whites, adherent yolks, and a small percentage of the 

 border-line cases known as soft eggs. The number of eggs in any one cla^s was 

 small, and the conditions as to infection were variable. 



Fur farming 1 . S. V ai.icuettk (Com. Catuerv. C<nunl<i Rpt., 7 (,1916), pp. ?.<- 

 77, fig. I). — The author reports an unsuccessful attempt to raise mink in cap- 

 tivity for its fur. 



DAIRY FARMING— DAIRYING. 



The mineral metabolism of the milch cow; third paper, E. R. Forbks. J. O. 

 II MAiiisoN, L. B. IfOBGAN, et al. (Ohio Sta. Bui. 380 (1918). pp. 8!)-U' f ).—In 

 the earlier papers of this series (E. S. R., 37, p. 169) it was shown, among 

 other things, that cows at the height of milk flow draw upon their skeletons 

 Cor the mineral constituents (particularly calcium) of their milk, ami that 

 they are unable to utilize extensively for this purpose the mineral nutrients 

 in the ration even when these are augmented by considerable quantities of 

 steamed bono Hour or of calcium carbonate. The present paper shows that 

 this condition is not altered when more soluble calcium preparations are used 

 as supplements to the basal ration. 



As in the earlier work, the experimental subjects were six Ilolslein cows 

 somewhat above the average in production, but not record breakers, ami all 

 in the early part of their lactation. Each cow was fed during two experimental 

 periods of 20 days each, separated by a 10-day Interval during which the rations 

 for the second period were being adjusted to individual peculiarities. In 4 

 of the 12 periods it was necessary to decrease the number of days because of 

 irregular behavior of the animals. The basal ration in period l was composed 

 of corn meal (11 lbs. daily), cottonseed meal (2 lbs), linseed oil meal (2 lbs.), 

 wheat bran (1 lb.), and alfalfa bay ( lfi lbs.). Its nutritive ratio averaged 

 1 : ".72. In the second period the alfalfa allowance was increased to IS lbs. 

 daily on account of the hunger of the cows, and this, with a change in the 

 chemical composition of the alfalfa, narrowed the ration to 1:4.5. Three of 

 the cows hail nothing added to the basal ration during the first period, but 

 received calcium lactate (from 2 to 1 oz. per head daily according to individual 

 tolerance) in addition during t lie second period. The other three cows were 

 given 2.5 oz. of precipitated bone flour per head daily in period 1 and about 

 1.5 oz. of calcium chlorid duriug period 2. The rations tints possessed the 

 characteristics of high-class milk-producing rations, except for the absence 

 of succulent feeds such as silage and roots. The average daily milk yield per 

 qow duriug the first period was 47.2 lbs. and during the second period 49.9 lbs. 



