30 THE SCIENTIFIC FEEDING OF ANIMALS 



6 to 12 hours. This makes the grains "slippery," and subsequent crush- 

 ing before feeding is therefore advisable. The losses occasioned by this 

 process amount to 3 to 5 per cent of the pure albumin, 20 to 40 per cent 

 of the nitrogen-free extract and 50 to 60 per cent of the mineral matter. 

 The process, however, also removes all the bitter principles and thus fits 

 the product for feed for milk covins. 



The feeding of wet or soaked feed calls for scrupulous cleanliness of 

 the mangers or feed troughs. 



4. Roasting is always attended with considerable loss of digestible 

 nutrients and is therefore rarely resorted to. It may serve to remove cer- 

 tain unpalatable constituents of certain feeding stuffs (buckeyes and 

 lupines) and to destroy certain injurious microorganisms and their prod- 

 ucts. It is therefore applicable to moldy or otherwise partially spoiled 

 feeding stuffs, or, for dietetic purposes (roasted oats, etc.), to check 

 diarrhea, 



5. Leaching serves to remove soluble injurious substances, but is at- 

 tended with loss of nutrients. It is applicable, above all, for the removal 

 of the bitter principles and the toxic substances in lupines. This is the 

 principle made use of when lupine hay is left on the ground, exposed to 

 the rains, until late in the season or even winter. The seeds are treated 

 by more artificial methods. Common salt, sulphuric acid or lactic acid, 

 soda, ammonia, milk of lime or chlorid of lime are used as solvents and 

 extraction fluids, followed by the use of soda or hydrochloric acid (as the 

 case may be) for neutralization of the product, by washing (Steiner). 

 The leaching of cooked and steamed lupines should be mentioned in this 

 connection. 



The leaching of sliced potatoes is also practiced for the purpose of re- 

 moving acrid and bitter principles (6 to 12 hours). The losses are slight 

 (3 per cent). Leached potatoes may be fed in larger quantities than the 

 unleached tubers. 



6. Fermentation is frequently practiced with mixed cut hay and straw, 

 chaff, green forage, cut or chopped root crops, distillery wastes, even 

 molasses, etc. Common salt is usually added to the mixture. The mass 

 is placed in layers in troughs or wooden boxes or thoroughly mixed and 

 placed in piles about two feet high. The mass should be thoroughly wet, 

 but not suffijciently so to cause water to drip or drain off. Sliced or 

 shredded potatoes or beets should be covered, because direct contact with 

 air imparts a bad taste to them. At ordinary temperatures fermentation 

 and heating soon set in under formation of lactic and acetic acids, as 

 well as other substances with fruity and winelike odor. The mass is ready 

 to feed in the course of 48 hours. 



The object of this method of fermentation is to improve the palatability 

 of the feed, to enable one to feed potatoes in larger quantities in the raw 

 state, and to remove their acrid taste without making them too insipid. 

 The losses occurring in the feeding stuffs mentioned amount to about 4 

 per cent. In feeding stuffs rich in nutrients the losses are considerably 



