348 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



soms full eveiy year, but no fruit ever set, the blossoms are very 

 fragrant for several days, then they wither and drop off; can the 

 Club suggest a remedy?" 



Prof. Mapes. — The remedy would be soluble phosphates and 

 potash. Ground is often rich enough, and perhaps too rich, but 

 laclis some essential ingredient to produce fruit, which may be 

 supplied by some mineral substance. 



CONDIMENTS FOR STOCK. 



A gentleman in Brooklyn asks the value of condiments for 

 cattle. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — The experiments by Mr. Law have al- 

 ready been published. It was not food, and it had been tho- 

 roughly proved to be of no benefit to healthy stock, therefore he 

 objected to the cheat of calling it food. If sold as medicine, 

 those who desired to give it to sick animals could buy it for that 

 purpose. Sold as food, it is a cheat, and of no advantage what- 

 ever. 



Prof. Mapes. — I think that declaration is a little too strong; 

 the subject has not yet been finally settled ; some find advantages 

 from its use, while others condemn it. I used a barrel of " Thor- 

 ley's food for cattle" without a particle of benefit, but perhaps it 

 was because my cattle did not need any condiments; for others 

 have used it, we are assured, to great advantage. It is true of 

 cattle, as it is of land, that they sometimes do not appropriate all 

 the food they consume. Grain is often voided whole; or cattle 

 may, as they often do, eat grain without thriving, and then some 

 condiment may be beneficial. We know very well that oats and 

 carrots, fed in equal portions to a horse, serve a better purpose 

 as food than oats alone ; yet analysis would show that oats were 

 far more valuable than carrots. The truth is, they act as a con- 

 diment, and enable the horse to assimilate all the food in the oats 

 and hay. We know that cooked food for some animals is more 

 valuable than uncooked, because it enables the animal to extract 

 more of the starch and sugar. So with carrots and oats; for it 

 has often been proved that a horse fed six quarts of oats and six 

 quarts of carrots would do as much work and keep in as good 

 order, as when fed with twelve quarts of oats. Yet analysis 

 would seem to prove this result impossible. It is barely possible 

 that some condiments mixed with food may have the same efiect 

 as mixing the carrots, by assisting the digestion of the animals. 



