370 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



{1900), No. S, pp. 97-102). — It was foniid upon exi)eriinent tliat Ixitli chldiiil and 

 nitrate of ammonia are efficient agents in tlie destruction of nematodes. The rapid 

 diffusion of nitrate of ammonia renders its effect less durable. In a dry condition it 

 was much more effective than ammonia in a gaseous form. 



FOODS^ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 



Commercial beef extracts, T. Macfarlane and A. McGill {Lah. 

 Inland lier. JJept.. Canada Bid. Gii^ pp. 22). — The composition of a 

 considerable number of beef extracts and similar products is reported. 

 Methods of analysis are described and discussed at some length, and 

 also the food value of these materials. 



" It is evident that the flesh bases can not be called food stuff in the proper sense 

 of that term. They represent a stage of the process by which complex nitrogen 

 compounds are changed to simple ones, supplying the energy so set free to the ani- 

 mal organism in the form of vital force. They may still have some food value, since 

 they are not excreted as such, but undergo further simplification, till they appear as 

 urea. It is certain that theirfood value (if any) is very much less than that of proteids 

 proper. When once the urea stage is reached, the urea must be promptly got rid of. 

 A form of blood poisoning known as urjemia results when any obstruction to the 

 elimination of urea occurs. . . . 



"Apart from any i^ossible nutritive value which they have, these flesh bases 

 undoubtedly possess a stimulant action on the system, analogous to that exhibited by 

 the alkaloids of tea, coffee, cocoa, etc., and it is beyond question that to this stimulat- 

 ing effect, rather than to any nutritive power, they owe their medical value. 



"If, however, the beef tissues have been peptonized before extraction by water, the 

 peptone formed will be taken into solution, along with the flesh bases, and the extract 

 so formed will possess a true food value. Some manufacturers claim to peptonize the 

 material from which they prepare their extract. This peptonization is not usually 

 effected by means of pepsin, which would be too costly, but by acids, mineral or 

 organic, or by vegetable ferments, such as that present in pineapple juice. 



"Another way of introducing into the article true proteid material is to add finely 

 ground ' beef meal ' to the extract proper. Of course, such proteid matter is insol- 

 uble, and requires to be digested in the stomach before it becomes available for the 

 repair of tissue waste. It does not properly form a part of the real extract, but has 

 been added to this, in order to furnish a food value, which the true extract is known 

 not to possess. No special value can be claimed for the ground beef so added over an 

 equivalent weight of ordinary lean beef, except such as may accure from the fact of 

 its being in very fine powder, and thus more easily acted on by the digestive fluids 

 of the stomach." 



Composition and digestibility of corn fodder and corn stover, 



C. G. Hopkins [Illinois Sta. Bid. oS., pp. 361-370). — Continuing pre- 

 vious work (E. S. R., 8, p. 509), the digestibility of corn fodder and 

 corn-and-cob meal was tested with 4 lots of 2-3'ear-old steers, each lot 

 containing 4 animals. In general the methods previously described 

 were followed. To secure more uniform material for feeding and foi' 

 analysis, the ears were separated from the stover, the stover was run 

 through a cutting machine, and the corn and cobs were ground. The 

 experiments covered 10 days, the results being reported for the first 4 

 da3's, the last (! days, and for the whole period, to permit a study of 



