£SS On the Uses of Sugar for fattevivg Cattle. 



nothing could be cheaper, for one pennyworth would be 

 enough for one cwt. of sugar; and it is not very unhkely 

 but that they might be brought to eat it, for it is well known 

 that at first all cattle refuse oil cake, and afterwards eat it 

 with great relish. 



" Since f engaged in this inquiry I have been informed 

 that cattle will eat rancid fish oil with avidity ; if so, such 

 oil, and especially the dregs of oil, usually called oil foot, 

 which comes verv cheap, might be put into the hhds of 

 sugar at the West IndiaDocks in the presence of an officer, 

 and if once poured on sugar no common expense would 

 ever be able to separate it. Linseed oil being more fluid 

 might be poured into the hhds at the cane holes. This 

 would so spread itself throughout the whole hogshead, that 

 I am persuaded the sugar could never afterwards be used for 

 any domestic purpose. Moreover, it is well known that 

 sugar, when nuxed with oil, is incapable qf the vinons fer- 

 mentation ; this would be an additional security against a 

 fraudulent use of it» 



" Sulphuret of potash or soda has the property of con- 

 verting: sugar into a mucilaginous substance not unlike 

 gum. Mucilage and sugar are both highly nutritive, but. 

 they differ in their chemical properties. Sugar is soluble 

 not onlv in water, but in alcohol : mucilage is soluble in 

 water, but insoluble in alcohol. Sugar is an essential in- 

 gredient in all vinous fermentation ; mucilage is incapable 

 of that process. 



" In order to ascertain the expense of treating sugar with 

 tn alkaline sulphuret, I mixed 14 grains of dry sulphuret ot 

 potash with 112 grains of sugar. The mixture soon became 

 clammy, and lost all flavour of sugar. If a sulphuret of 

 potash were manufactured directly for this purpose, a suf- 

 ficient quantity for mixing with one cwt. of sugar would 

 cost near 145.; but 1 apprehend there are common alkaline 

 sulphurets which might be had cheap enough, if the cattle 

 ■would not refuse the mixture. Respecting the nature of 

 this mixture, or the nutritious quality of sugar when reduced 

 by an alkaline sulphuret, it may be remarked that mucilage 

 is very similar in some of its properties to sugar, ior many 



plautfc 



