New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 525 



cally pure cellulose and that its presence depresses the digesti- 

 bility of the other portions of the plant by absorbing ^' the saliva 

 and the gastric juices, thus clogging the intestines ." 



All that has been said in regard to the great saving that would 

 result from a complete utilization of the entire corn product, grain 

 and stover, can be entirely accepted by every person well informed 

 in cattle food matters. 



The supreme importance of maize in animal husbandry and the 

 availability and high food quality of every portion of the plant 

 when properly harvested do not need to be established by further" 

 investigation. These are now facts of common knowledge amon;^ 

 well-informed farmers. 



Any process, therefore, which tends to a completer utilization 

 of maize stover should be heartily welcomed. It is the opinion of 

 the writer, however, that whatever benefit may accrue to agricul- 

 ture from the Marsden process, in so far as it touches cattle feed- 

 ing, will come wholly from the saving in a useful form of a val- 

 uable food material which is now largely wasted. No conclusive 

 evidence seems to be yet secured that this '' New Corn Product " 

 possesses unusual food properties, or those which differ in any 

 way from well cured, well prepared corn stover. 



There are serious doubts whether the corn pith is so greatly 

 unlike the remainder of the plant that its removal materially mod- 

 ifies the composition or digestibility of the portion that is left, and 

 the hypothesis that this pith retards or prevents digestion by 

 absorbing and holding the gastric juice (to say nothing of the 

 intestinal juices) is so far too nearly guesswork to have much 

 weight, and may be as far from the truth as the assumption that 

 the pith is " pure " cellulose. The chances are that the " New 

 Corn Product " is nothing more or less than ground corn stalks in 

 all the essentials that pertain to digestibility and lo food function 

 or value. 



This question is of sufficient importance, however, to make it 

 desirable to secure evidence concerning the points under dis- 

 cussion, and for this reason this Experiment Station has been 

 investigating the matter somewhat. 



