670 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.35 



per cent plowed under, and the rest sold or disposed of in other ways. Empha- 

 sis is put on the advantage of using as large an amount as possible of these 

 materials for silage, only 8.1 per cent of the corn acreage now being used in 

 this way. 



To feed the large quantities of straw and stover now wasted would necessi- 

 tate the feeding of large quantities of concentrated feeds which are now dis- 

 posed of in a less economical manner. For instance, more than 810,000 tons 

 of cotton-seed meal was used in six southern States in 1914 for fertilizer. If 

 this had been fed to live stock and the manure used for fertilizer the value 

 of the meal would have been increased from 50 to 85 per cent. This is true 

 of all the oil meals used for both fertilizer and feeding purposes. The food 

 value of these concentrated protein materials can be further increased through 

 the more extensive use of silage. 



A nation-wide campaign to teach the value and use of food-unit values for 

 all the more common feeding stuffs is advocated. 



More experimental study of spineless cactus as a feeding stuff is suggested. 

 Common sugar cane and Japanese sugar cane are regarded as very promising 

 forage crops for the extreme South, while the utilization of the by-products 

 of sugar cane, such as cane tops, bagasse, and blackstrap molasses, may afford 

 large savings in the cane-growing section. Feterita and Sudan grass are deemed 

 promising for the semiarid West, Sudan grass as an important hay crop in 

 other sections of the country, and teosinte in the extreme South. 



Silage crops are deemed more economical than roots and serve almost the 

 same purpose. The animal by-products, such as tankage, fish meal, etc., are 

 excellent feeds for hogs, but are little used for cattle. Dried brewers' grains 

 and distillers' by-products are in general use and are generally fed with care. 

 Improvements could probably be made in the method of feeding the slop by 

 the use of other concentrated feeds and some dry roughage. Canning factory 

 refuse could be increased in value by storing in silos rather than in huge piles 

 in the open. Beet pulp is usually handled in an economical manner and com- 

 paratively little of it is wasted. 



Investigation in animal nutrition: Beef production, T. L. Haeckeb {Minne- 

 sota Sta. Bui. 155 (1916), pp. 3-3i ) .—During the winter of 1907-8 a series of 

 experiments was inaugurated with beef-bred calves to determine their compo- 

 sition by making a complete chemical analysis of a fairly representative one 

 at each period of 100 lbs. gain in weight, and also to keep a complete record 

 of all food consumed by each animal and the dry matter and digestible nutrients 

 required for production to the various stages of growth. The records of five 

 groups are given and commented upon. 



The calves received from 8 to 10 lbs. of whole milk per day for two or three 

 weeks, according to the judgment of the feeder, and then a gradual change 

 was made to separator skim milk. The roughage fed was choice upland prairie 

 hay and corn silage. The concentrates were farm grains and their standard 

 by-products, such as bran, flour middlings, and oil meal. All the steers were 

 kept in the barn during their lifetime, except that half the steers from three 

 groups were turned to pasture when they were one year old. During the first 

 year they were all kept in small portable stalls. During the second year those 

 that were retained in the barn on continuous stall-feeding had the freedom 

 of a runway in the barn and were confined in portable stanchions only while 

 they were eating their rations. Each steer always received as much hay and 

 silage as he would eat, and the amount of grain requir»^d was determined by 

 the feeder. The following table presents data based on the average of all the 



