332 DOMESTIC ANIMALS, DAIRYING, ETC. 



nitrate of potash or niter, is used in medicine to excite the action of 

 the kidneys and to reduce fever. Sodium bicarbonate is employed to 

 neutralize an undue acidity of the stomach. Sulphur is used as a 

 laxative, alterative, and as a stimulant of mucous surfaces. Iron 

 found as the oxide Venetian red or Princess metallic is not used 

 medicinally, but is employed to color or disguise the real character of 

 the food. Sulfate of iron used as a restorative and tonic was seldom 

 identified. 



The medicinal value of charcoal consists in its ability to check 

 fermentative changes, and to absorb undesirable gases. In most cases 

 it appears to have been ground fine and mixed with the other in- 

 gredients to conceal their identity. 



Tumeric, the powdered root of an East Indian plant, the Cur- 

 cuma longa, is a stomachic, but is used principally as coloring matter. 



Quantity of Medicinal Ingredients. No attempt was made to 

 determine the exact quantity of each of the several drugs employed. 

 Most of the foods contained from 5 to 40 per cent of ash. Ordinary 

 grains and by-products rarely contain more than 5 per cent of ash ; 

 the excess in the present cases was made up of such mineral substances 

 as oyster shells, bone, sand, common salt (2 to 20 per cent), Epsom 

 or Glauber's salts (about 5 per cent), niter (1 or more per cent) and 

 Venetian red. The vegetable drugs fenugreek, fennel, anise, 

 gentian, ginger and pepper were employed in sufficient quantities 

 to produce an agreeable odor and smart taste, probably in quantities 

 varying from 5 to 10 per cent of the whole mixture. In some cases 

 the total quantity of mineral and vegetable drugs constituted from 

 one-sixth to one-third of the mixture, while in other cases the amount 

 of such substances was very much less. 



Cost and Selling Price Compared. None of the mineral drugs, 

 excepting niter, cost much over 1 cent a pound ; the vegetable drugs 

 vary in price from 3 to 12 cents a pound. Judging from all the data 

 at hand, the cost of the entire mixtures grains and drugs- could 

 rarely have exceeded 3 to 4 cents a pound. In many oases it could 

 not have been more than 2 cents a pound. 



The initial cost of the condition powders is probably somewhat 

 greater than the ordinary stock foods. The retail prices of the latter 

 vary from 6 to 25 cents a pound, depending on the brand and quan- 

 tity purchased. Condition powders are much higher priced, varying 

 from 30 cents to $1 a pound. Is it not strange that many are willing 

 to pay extravagant prices for materials possessing such ordinary feed- 

 ing and medicinal values? It is hoped that poultrymen have suf- 

 ficient common sense to purchase bran, corn meal, salt, oyster shells, 

 charcoal and meat scraps separately, rather than pay from 10 to 20 

 cents a pound for such mixtures put up in attractive packages, for 

 which the manufacturers make the most astounding and unreason- 

 able claims. 



Utility of These Foods. Their food value cannot be greater than 

 the ordinary grains, of which they are largely composed. Their 

 medicinal value depends largely upon the aromatic seeds and roots 

 used as a tonic for the stomach, on charcoal as an absorbent and on 



