1917] ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 671 



A survey of evidence regarding^ food allowances for healthy children, 

 LtJCT H. GixLETT (N. Y. Assoc. Imp. Condition Poor Pub. 115 {1911), pp. 24). — 

 This publication summarizes, under three headings, the evidence regarding 

 the energy and protein requirements of children, consisting of (1) dietary 

 studies, in which the weight of food eaten has been recorded for a given period 

 of time and foo<l values determined by analysis or calculated from average 

 composition; (2) metabolism experiments, in which measurements have been 

 made of the amount and composition of the food eaten and of the excretory 

 products; and (3) respiration experiments in which the body heat has been 

 estimated from the respiratory quotient. 



A bibliography Is appended. 



The influence of diet on the heat production during mechanical work In 

 the dog, G. LusK {Proc. Soc. Expt. Biol, and Med., 14 (1917), No. 5, pp. 92, 

 93). — The data here reported show that "when a dog runs at the rate of 

 about 2i miles an hour the heat production Is almost exactly the same whether 

 the dog has had no food or whether 70 gm. of glucose has been administered. 

 In the resting dog 70 gm. of glucose wooild have increased the heat produc- 

 tion 6 calories. The experiment proves the economical use of carbohydrate 

 during periods of work. On the contrary, when 700 gm. of meat were given 

 and the dog was compelled to run, the heat production was increased by that 

 quota which would have been added from the specific dynamic action of the 

 protein metabolized." 



ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 



Alfalfa silage, O. E. Reed and J. B. Fitch {Kansas Sta. Bui. 217 {1917), pp. 

 S-19, figs. 2). — Expei-iments conducted In 1914 and 1915 on the preservation of 

 alfalfa in silos are reported. The silos were 7 ft. in diameter and 16 ft. in 

 height and held about 10 tons of silage each. One of the silos was filled each 

 year with alfalfa alone, another with rye alone, and the others with alfalfa in 

 combination with corn chop, blackstrap molasses, straw, sweet sorghum stover, 

 or green rye. A palatability test was made each year to see how cattle would 

 relish the various combinations. Chemical analyses were made each year of 

 the silages and of the mixtures from which they were made. 



The silos were filled in May, 1914, the alfalfa used being the first cutting, cut 

 when about one-tenth in bloom, and they were opened in January, 1915. The 

 results were not entirely satisfactory, due In part to the fact that there was not 

 sufficient weight in the silos to cause thorough filling and packing and also to 

 the fact that the silos were not entirely air-tight. In the palatability test silage 

 from each of the silos was placed In a separate feed bunk In a feed lot to 

 which 40 beef cattle had access. The cattle showed their preference for the 

 mixtures in the following order: Alfalfa and molasses (17:1), alfalfa and 

 corn chop (13:1), alfalfa alone, alfalfa and rye (1.5:1), alfalfa and molasses 

 feed (11:1), alfalfa and straw (4:1), and rye alone. Analyses of the silage 

 used in this test showed that the moisture content of all the silages was low 

 with the exception of alfalfa and rye. 



Before filling the silos the second year they were painted on the outside and 

 Inside, thick asphalt paint being used on the inside. In order to pack the 

 silage more firmly and prevent such a large amount of silage from being 

 spoiled, additional weight was obtained by placing bags of sand on top of 

 the silage after the silos were filled. They were filled In the spring of 1916 and 

 opened in December, after standing 6.5 months. There was only about 8 in. 

 of spoiled silage on the surface of each silo, and the silage was in much better 



22397°— 17— No. 7 6 



