WHAT CONSTITUTES AN ADEQUATE RATION 107 



dispensable for correct stimulation of the heart and other tissues; 

 and others that are of great importance be present. Calcium and 

 phosphorus of course can be had in bonemeal; the sodium can be 

 secured in common salt, and so on. Nearly all of these minerals 

 are present in most feeds, but most feeds are always deficient in cer- 

 tain ones, such as corn for instance, or wheat, or rye, or barley; 

 in truth, there are only a few feeds that contain approximately cor- 

 rect mineral quality, and one of these is milk. Others that are good 

 are alfalfa pasture or rape pasture, particularly when these two 

 are combined with corn. That minerals be present in the proper 

 proportion one to the other is essential, but there must be enough 

 of each to supply the demands of the particular pig that is being 

 fed. 



Certain Vitainines Needed. A peculiar chemical unknown 

 vvhich is labeled fat soluble A, must of necessity be present, else the 

 pig will not thrive. This particular material we know the action of. 

 but we do not know its chemical constituents. We know that under 

 certain conditions it is soluble in fat, as it was first discovered in 

 butterfat ; hence the reason for its name. We have also found it in 

 egg yolk and in the lighter fractions of beef fat, but not in lard, 

 nor in olive oil, nor in cottonseed oil. A little is apparently present 

 in corn oil, but not enough. Our best swine feeding sources of this 

 material is alfalfa leaves, rape leaves, clover leaves, and most as- 

 suredly milk ; although in milk this material, remember, is found to 

 a large extent in the butterfat, being only about one-thirtieth as 

 soluble in the liquid of the milk as in the fat portion. It has re- 

 cently been found that carrots contain this material to the extent 

 of about one-third as much as in equal weights of butterfat. It is 

 presumed that other root crops carry this fat soluble A, and if they 

 do here is one reason for adding roots, for instance, to a corn ra- 

 tion, but ordinarily in limited quantity in order to supply this 

 essential nutritional ingredient. This is a necessary factor in the 

 ideally good ration. 



There is another peculiar unknown chemical material or vita- 

 mine known as water soluble B. It receives its name like fat 

 soluble A because of its solubility properties. It was first known to 

 be soluble in water and alcohol, and some refer to it by the double- 

 headed title of water and alcohol soluble B. This particular factor 

 is found in most grains and plants, but is lacking in polished rice, 

 for instance, and because it is lacking in polished rice we find 

 pigeons and other animals fed exclusively thereon developing a 

 nerve disease known as polyneuritis, a disease of many nerves; 

 people also get it. Peculiarly enough, this material is found in the 

 rice bran or rice polishings, but when we use rice for human con- 

 sumption we take the bran off, and then eat only the white or the 

 more fashionable white inner kernel. Wheat embryos are rich in 

 this B material, and inasmuch as wheat embryos are carried in the 

 milling over to the wheat middlings, here is one reason why wheat 

 middlings may be a good feed under certain "deficiency of water 



