BREEDS OF BEEF CATTLE 333 



the purgative effect of the Epsom or Glauber's salts. The quantity 

 recommended to be fed daily is usually so small (1 ounce or less) 

 that very little if any effect can be expected unless the material is fed 

 for a considerable length of time. While it is probably true that 

 some of these stock foods may prove beneficial under certain con- 

 ditions, it is also true that most of them ore heterogeneous mixtures, 

 and evidently put together by parties quite ignorant of the principles 

 of animal physiology, pathology % and vetrinary medicine. 



Claims Made by Manufacturers. The following are the prin- 

 cipal claims made by one of the largest manufacturers of stock and 

 poultry foods: Horses. Gives greater speed endurance. Imparts 

 new life and strength. Makes colts grow very rapidly and keeps 

 brood mares and colts healthy. Guaranteed to save corn and oats. 

 Makes horses fat, gives glossy coat and fine appearance. Cattle. 

 Increases the milk yield 15 to 25 per cent and increases the richness 

 of the milk. Removes taint from milk, cream and butter, and makes 

 milk more healthful for human use. Such milk will convey some of 

 the beautiful elements of the vegetable ingredients we use into the 

 systems of your children, and they will be stronger to ward off dis- 

 ease. Makes calves grow as fast as new milk. Saves thirty days' time 

 in fattening cattle, and 15 to 25 per cent of the grain usually required. 

 Hogs. Cures and prevents hog cholera, and is the quickest hog 

 grower ever discovered. Makes juicy and tender meat. Poultry. It 

 prevents disease and cures chicken cholera. It greatly increases egg 

 production and makes chickens grow very rapidly. The amount ad- 

 vised to be fed daily to horses and cattle to accomplish these mar- 

 velous results is two-thirds of an ounce I The material costs 14 cents 

 a pound in 25-pound lots. 



The Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Iowa, 

 South Dakota and Massachusetts stations have found this stock food 

 to consist principally of wheat (bran and middlings), to which has 

 been added fine charcoal, a bitter substance resembling gentian, cay- 

 enne and common salt. Another large manufacturer makes es- 

 sentially the same claims as above, and the material sells at 6 cents a 

 pound in 25-pound lots. The same experiment stations found it to 

 be composed largely of corn meal, with small quantities of fenu- 

 greek, gentian, charcoal and salt. 



Farmers, dairymen and poultrymen: What would be your 

 opinion of any experiment station worker who would make such 

 statements concerning the nutritive, medicinal or commercial value 

 of corn meal, wheat bran, charcoal, gentian arid salt? Do you think 

 there is any humbug in the claims made by the manufacturers of 

 such goods? The question is left for you to decide. You may be 

 the judge. 



Do Healthy Animals Need Medicine? Animals in a state of 

 health do not need condition powders or tonic foods. There is in the 

 body of a healthy animal a condition of equilibrium of all body func- 

 tions. The processes of digestion and assimilation are at their best. 

 All that is required to maintain this condition of balance is that the 

 animal be kept under sanitary conditions, and receive a sufficient 



