HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



263 



European experiments on digestion and nutritive value offish, oncatscrap, etc. 



324. The ueed aiul value of nitrogenous foods for food mixtures, ex- 

 plained and attested by science and confirmed by experience in Europe, 

 has led to diligent seeking-, careful trial, and rational use of available 

 foods from every source. Of late a great deal of attention bas been paid to 

 animal products. The flesh meal left from the preparation of "Liebig's 

 Meat Extract "in South America, the dried blood of slaughter-houses, 

 and fish guano have all been tested and found extremely valuable. 



The scope of the present article precludes details of the experiments 

 on the digestibility and nutritive value of animal foods for stock ; 1 

 therefore reserve them for a future occasion, and note briefly here 

 some of the main results. 



The following are among the experiments of this sort reported in the 

 years 1876 and 1877. The original accounts are in " Die laudwirth- 

 schaftlichen Versuchs-Stationen," the "Journal llir Landwirthschaft," 

 and the "Landwirthschaftliche Jahrbiicher" for those years: 



The general plan of each of these experiments was to feed the animals 

 during different periods of two or three weeks each with diflerent foods 

 and mixtures, and to note, by careful weighings and analyses of ibods and 

 excrements, the amounts digested. The most prominent of the questions 

 has been the comparative digestibility and nutritive value of vegetable 

 and animal albuminoids. As a general result the albuminoids and fats 

 of meat, blood, and fish are found to be as digestible or more so than 

 those of the most concentrated vegetable foods. 



In I, Wolff found swine to digest from albuminoids 92 parts and fats 

 97 parts out of every 100 parts of each in the flesh meal, and concludes 

 that flesh meal is an easily digested and intensely nutritious food. 



In II, Wolff found that the albuminoids in pease and fleshmeal had 

 essentially the same effect. 



From III, Wildt found some difficulty in getting sheep to eat the 

 blood and flesh. He says that potatoes and roots will help to make the 

 flesh and blood palatable, and thinks that these may be used with profit 

 to supply albuminoids to herbivorous animals. 



From IV, Wildt concludes that animal albuminoids may serve just as 

 well as vegetable for supplying nitrogen to foods poor in albuminoids. 



From V and VI, Weiske and Kellner conclude that fish guano, like 

 meat and blood, may be fed with profit to herbivorous animals. In Kell- 

 uer's experiment two two-year old wethers were fed during the.first period 

 with Lucern hay. During the second part the hay was replaced by 



