DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY. 



J. B. LiNDSEY, Cheviist. 



INSPECTION OF COMMERCIAL FEEDSTUFFS. 



BY PHILIP H. SMITH AND FRANK J. KOKOSKI, CHEMISTS, AND JAMES T. HOWARD, 



INSPECTOR, 



Introduction. 



Twenty-seven years have elapsed since Maine and Massachusetts enacted the 

 first feeding stuff laws. Very little material was produced or manufactured in this 

 section, the bulk of it being shipped in from the West and South; and adulteration, 

 while not general, was being practiced to such an extent as to make some sort of 

 control desirable. Other states gradually followed until at the present time there 

 are but few states which do not have laws of some sort governing the manufacture 

 and sale of feeding stuffs. 



In general, feeding stuff laws do not prohibit the sale of any material unless it is 

 without food value or has been proven actually injurious. Such laws require simply 

 that the fullest information be available to the purchaser both as to the chemical 

 composition and the ingredients of which the feed is composed. 



There is a growing tendency among state feed control officials to make use of the 

 Federal Pure Food and Drugs Act in case feeds enter into interstate commerce. Any 

 state official may be appointed a Federal Inspector and is authorized to draw samples 

 under the provisions of the Federal Act. Such samples are submitted to the proper 

 authorities and when violations are detected prosecution may be entered against 

 the original shipper instead of the local dealer who may be an unintentional violator. 

 The above procedure has been adopted in Massachusetts, particularly with reference 

 to interstate shipments of cottonseed meal. 



An increase in the number of brands of prepared feeds put out by local dealers 

 under their own name and guarantee has been noted. These are either mixed at 

 the local store or are prepared by some manufacturer who attaches tags furnished 

 by the dealer. Feeds manufactured in a small way have a tendency to be less uni- 

 form in composition than those put out by manufacturers who have the advantage 

 of chemical control of the ingredients used, and of better mixing facilities, and who 

 purchase their material in large volume. 



The amendment to the feeding stuff act requiring an annual registration fee of 

 twenty dollars a brand has now been in force more than a year, and while it has 

 decreased to some extent the total number of brands registered it has not materially 

 reduced the number put out by local dealers. 



The College and Experunent Station have been meeting with considerable un- 

 warranted criticism because one or more of its officials, together with those con- 



