98 



Journal of Agricultural Research voi. xii, no. « 



Table IX. — Results of feeding cottonseed meal to pigs 5 and 6 under favorable conditions. 



a Dead. 



6 Discontinued feeding cottonseed meal. 



c Slaughtered. 



As long as these pigs were kept in the outdoor lot, no marked symptoms 

 of cottonseed-meal poisoning were noted. It was noted that when kept 

 itJkdoors they lost both appetite and weight. 



It is evident from our indoor and outdoor experiments that the effect 

 of cottonseed meal is more severe on pigs kept in pens, a fact that has 

 long been known ; however, past records show that typical sudden deaths 

 from "acute cottonseed-meal poisoning" may also occur among pigs 

 receiving cottonseed meal when on pasture. Such deaths may follow 

 excellent gains and may be without previous sickness, often occurring 

 when the animals are exercised violently. Consequently, a conclusion 

 that the meal was without effect during the outdoor experiment can not 

 be drawn. Certainly the subsequent loss in weight after removal from 

 the turf is suspicious. It is plausible to suppose that the outdoor con- 

 ditions stimulate metabolism so that the animal is enabled to overcome 

 or resist the injurious factor. Possibly the difference in effect of cotton- 

 seed meal on rats and pigs may be in part explained by the more vigorous 

 metabolic activity of the smaller animal. 



In a series of three recent articles, Richardson and Green {11, 12, 13) 

 have well shown the high nutritive efl&ciency of cottonseed meal and flour 

 for rats, indicating the economic value of this substance. In some points, 

 however, we believe that they have misinterpreted facts. Thus, they 

 speak of the flour as a "highly milled" or "refined" product and account 

 for the apparent slight nutritive superiority of the unbolted meal over 

 the flour by stating that — 



This suggests a greater amotmt of the growth-promoting substance associated with 

 certain fats in the less highly milled product. 



It seems hardly possible in the case of cottonseed meal to effect such a 

 change in nutritive value by mechanical means. We would suggest 

 that the difference was accountable on the basis of different conditions 



