On the Uses of Sugar for fat tcn'wg Cattle. *2S7 



" Havincr mixed 1 12 o-rain^ of jrood lirown sii<rar with lO 

 grains of a very strong solution of caustic potash, the su2;ar 

 lost its sweetness entirely, and the whole acquired a dis- 

 agreeable urinf)u.^ tisfe. One cwt. of sn<rar would require 

 about <tlbs. of American potash to reduce it to tliis state, 

 the expense of which would be al)out Is. gd. or 3s. On the 

 mixture of potash and sugar I poured three grains of sul- 

 phuric acid, diluted with a little water. This restored the 

 sugar to its usual flavour, the sulphuric acid having formed 

 a salt by its union with the alkali, 'i'he expense of thus 

 recovering the saccharine taste of the sugar would be onJy 

 1j'. per cwt. ; but as a salt would then be in solution with 

 it, this would prevent its being applied to common pur- 

 poses, for the afiusion uf alcohol would be too dear an ex- 

 pedient to recover it ; and if the solution of sugar and potash 

 were boiled, the sulphate of potash that might be formed 

 by the addition of sul phuric acid could not be separate J 

 from the sugar even by alcohol. 



** Sugar has the property of rendering oil uiiscible with 

 water: any cheap refuie oil therefore that the cattle wouki 

 tat might be mixed willi it, and this property would givs? 

 facility to the mixture. 



*' I mixed intimately four grains of palm oil with 1 12 

 grains of sugar. The mixture acquired a full taste of the 

 oil, so as to render it unlit for liousehold purposes ; but the 

 flavour is so grateful, that it is very probable cattle would eat 

 it with greediness. Four pounds of palm oil, which on an 

 average would cost Cs. 6t/., w(;uld be sufficient to prepare 

 one cwt. of sugar. 



" There is, hov.ever, another oil that would conic much 

 cheajjcr, which might readilv be mixed with supar, thoueh 

 1 have some doubts whether cattle could be brought to cat 

 any food with which it were united. VV^hat 1 refer to is 

 animal oil, or oil of hartshorn. 



" A single drop of nil of hartshorn was carefully mixri 

 with 2-24 grains of raw sugar (a proportion of half a pouoil 

 of oil to one cwt. of sugar) and was found tiiore than suf- 

 ficient to spoil it, both in taste and smell, for common use. 

 if however cattle uould eat sugar mixed with this articl/^, 



nolxdng 



