MOLASSES AND OTHER BY-PRODUCTS OF SUGAR MAKING. 



The beet chips, diffusion residue, and other by-products obtained in 

 the manufacture of beet sugar, consist of the sugar beet from which a 

 considerable portion of the carbohydrates has been removed. The 

 total amount of nutritive material present, however, is fairl}^ large. 

 These products, properly speaking, are coarse fodders. Molasses, 

 which consists almost entirely of carbohydrates (sugars), was used as 

 early as 1830 as a feed for horses, and, has recently attracted consid- 

 erable attention in this connection. When used for this purpose 

 it is usually sprinkled on dry feed, being first diluted with water, or it 

 is mixed with some material which absorbs it and renders it easy to 

 handle, such as peat dust, or with some material rich in nitrogen, as 

 dried blood. In the latter case the mixture more nearly represents a 

 concentrated feed than the molasses alone, or molasses mixed with an 

 absorbent material only. Cane-sugar molasses is also used as a feed- 

 ing stuff. It differs from beet molasses, in that it contains glucose in 

 addition to cane sugar, and has a much smaller percentage of salts. 



The number of experiments which have been reported in the last 

 few years on the feeding value of molasses is fairly large. Accord- 

 ing to the Louisiana Station, cane-sugar molasses has been extensively 

 used for some time locally as a feed for horses and mules, many feed- 

 ers keeping mules exclusively on rice bran and molasses in addition to 

 cowpea hay. The general custom is to feed the molasses from a large 

 trough, allowing the mules to eat it ad libitum. It is said the}^ will 

 consume, with apparent relish, from 8 to 12 pounds per head daily. 

 The mules at the Louisiana Station have been fed molasses daily ad 

 libitum for eight or ten years, and, it is stated, show its good effects 

 "in their splendid condition, lively action, and endurance of work." 



When molasses, diluted with water and sprinkled over chopped hay, 

 was fed to some army horses in Porto Rico' for about five months the 

 condition of the horses improved. Apparently, a daily ration of 35 

 pounds of grass and 13 to 15 pounds of molasses per 1,000 pounds live 

 weight was sufficient to maintain a horse in good condition. It was 

 noted that molasses possessed some disadvantages, namel}^ it attracted 

 insects, notably flies and ants, stuck to the animaPs coat, smearing his 

 face and breast, halter and halter strap, etc. , and caused some trouble 

 and delay in mixing it with the other feeds. 



Other tests in the United States, France, Holland, and elsewhere 

 have been favorable to the use of molasses as a feeding stuff, and from 

 the results of all these, it seems fair to conclude that it can be 

 safel}^ fed to horses when its cost in comparison with other feeding 

 stuffs warrants its use, a quart night and morning, diluted with water, 

 being apparently a reasonable amount. Apart from the nutritive 

 material molasses supplies it has a value as an appetizer and frequently 

 renders poor hay or other feed more palatable. 



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