CATTLE 148 I 



geons who have made reports on the subject of poisoning by cocoa cake, 

 which contained about 1.5 per cent of theobromine. Cases of poisoning 

 were lecorded both with cattle , where the effect initially took the form of 

 an eczema; and with pigs and fowls where death resulted in several cases. 

 Professor Hansen made several laboratory experiments both with the cake 

 and with theobromine, on fowls, rabbits and mice to determine their action 

 on the organism. These led to the conclusion, that owing to its poisonous 

 character, cocoa cake cannot be considered as a food. 



1097 - Comparative Experiments on the Feeding of Cows with Cotton cake and Palm 



kernel Cake. — Farmer and stockbreeder and Chamher of A-^ricultuyc Journal. Vol. KKIX. 

 New .Series, No. 1403, pp. 1323-1324. lyondon, August i.\, 1916. 



The Governors of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Farm School 

 at Newton Rigg near Penrith, in their annual report, give the following par- 

 ticulars of experiments on the feeding of cows on cotton cake and palm 

 kernel Tcake. 



The dissimilarity in the composition of Egyptian undecorticated cot- 

 ton cake and palm kernel cake makes it impossible to devise two rations of 

 similar nuritive value with the same weight of each cake in the respective 

 rations. The following were the dailj^ rations. 



The two rations contain almo.st the same quantity of digestible matter, 

 the albuminoid ratios being i :y in the first and i : 7.5 in the second. Owing 

 to the difference in the cost of the cakes at the time, ration No. i 

 cost 13 ^ per week more than ration No. 2. 



The experiments wer^ made on eight cows divided into two lots, which 

 received the respective rationr I and II for three weeks. The rations v/ere 

 then reversed and at the end of three weeks were again reversed and again 

 at the end of another three weeks, the trial thus lasting twelve weeks. 

 The cows were weighed at the commencement and at the end of each period 

 of three weeks. The milk of each cows was weighed morning and evening 

 and the fat of the mixed morning and evening milk of each lot estimated 

 twice under each diet. 



The following is a summary of the results : 



Ration I Ration II 



Cotton cake Palm nut cake 



Total Mu-intity 01 milk produced 7749 lbs. 8157 lbs. 



Gain of cows in live weight 392 lbs. , 394 lbs. 



Percentage of fat in the milk 3.55 3.60 



