1917] ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 681 



to keep the swine at work stirring the manure. Reckoning the turnips at 15 cts. 

 per bushel, corn at $30 per ton, corn meal at $31 per ton, middlings at $27 per 

 ton, and labor at 15 cts. per hour, and crediting the sow and shoats at the end 

 of the experiment at 8 cts. per pound, live weight, increased by a litter of 8 pigs 

 at $2 each, and $27 for manure, there was a profit of $23.68, or a return of 15 

 per cent on the whole investment. Moreover, the manure in the pit was thor- 

 oughly worked and in excellent shape for application to the land. 



Orokinase and salivary digestion studies in the horse, C. C. Palmeb, A. L. 

 Andebson, W. E. Peterson, and A. W. Malcomson {Amer. Jour. Physiol., ^3 

 {1911), N». 3, pp. 4^7-474). — The name orokinase is proposed by the senior 

 author, at the Minnesota Experiment Station, for the enzym produced in the 

 mouth and found in the saliva which activates the saliva of the horse. Saliva 

 obtained from the parotid ducts or extracts of the salivary gland was found 

 not to digest starch, while mixed mouth secretions obtained from an esophageal 

 fistula were found to have a very powerful amylolytic action. The amylolytic 

 action of mixed horse saliva was equal to that of human saliva on cooked 

 starches and greater on raw starches. The saliva collected from the mouth was 

 hardly ever as powerful as that obtained from an esophageal fistula. 



Attempts were made to activate artificially fistula saliva or gland extracts, 

 but these were unsuccessful. The gland extracts, however, became self-active 

 with age. Considerable reducing sugar in food caught from an esophageal 

 fistula a few minutes after feeding a diet of raw corn and oats was demon- 

 strated. It is noted that " salivary digestion started in the mouth is very likely 

 continued in the stomach, and this digestion is more important in the horse 

 than most investigators have been lead to believe." 



The amylolytic action of parotid fistula saliva was studied by methods previ- 

 ously noted by Palmer (E. S. R., 36, p. 82). 



[Cottonseed meal for work horses and mules], D. T. Gray {North Carolina 

 Sta. Rpt. 1916, pp. 46, 47). — At the Iredell, Pender, and Edgecombe substations 

 the work horses and mules have been divided into two lots, one lot receiving no 

 cottonseed meal and the other lot the same kind of ration, except that cotton- 

 seed meal makes up a part. 



It has been found that " while cottonseed meal can be used in very limited 

 amounts, we can not, as a rule, induce a horse or mule to use more than 1 lb. a 

 day for any length of time. This 1 lb., however, has proved to be an economical 

 addition to the ration, and has also had much to do with maintaining the horses 

 and mules in better condition. The saving in money, however, is not the chief 

 advantage in using cottonseed meal, or at least it does not appear so at the 

 present time. It seems that the chief advantage will be that the horses which 

 eat cottonseed meal stay In better condition. This is indicated plainly during 

 the spring months, as the animals which eat cottonseed meal shed off earlier 

 and smoother than those which do not eat it." 



Licensed stallions in Utah during the season of 1916, W. E. Carroll {Utah 

 Sta. Circ. 24 {1917), pp. S-25, fig. 1). — Tables are given showing the distribu- 

 tion of licensed stallions and jacks in the State, the number of licensed animals 

 in each county and the percentage which are pure bred, and the distribution 

 among the various breeds. 



[Poultry investigations], D. T. Gray {North Carolina Sta. Rpt. 1916, pp. 

 4S-45). — In tests on the cost of raising chicks to eight weeks of age it was 

 found that to produce 1 lb. of gain with the Mediterranean and Continental 

 breeds It required 2 lbs. of feed, and with the English and American breeds 2.1 

 lbs. of feed. At the end of eight weeks chicks of the former classes averaged 

 1.2 lbs. in weight, while those from the latter classes averaged 1.6 lbs. It cost 

 slightly over 8 cts. per pound to produce gains in all the breeds. 



