1890.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 233 



Goessmann sets too low a value on the skim-milk used, and 

 thus figures a low cost of production. To test that point, as 

 well as to enable j^ou to judge whether any feed-stuff is 

 worth what is asked for it, I desire to call your attention to 

 a method of valuing feeds which has for some time been in 

 use in Germany, and which has lately been worked up for 

 this country at the Connecticut Experiment Station. This 

 method is precisely similar in principle and utility to the 

 method of valuing fertilizers, with which you are familiar. 

 As a fertilizer is valuable simply for the nitrogen, potash and 

 phosphoric acid it contains, so is a food valuable simply for 

 the nutrients it contains. And, just as certain prices per 

 pound are allowed for nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid 

 in a fertilizer, so is a certain price allowed for each pound of 

 each of the nutrients. These prices, as worked out at the 

 Connecticut Station, are as follows : — 



Albuminoids (proteiue), . . .1.6 cents per poiuid. 

 Fat, ....... 4.2 cents per pound. 



Carbohydrates, 0.96 cents per pound. 



Applying these figures to some of the common concen- 

 trated feeding-stuffs, we get the following valuation, which I 

 have contrasted with market prices : — 



Cotton-seed meal, 

 Wheat bran, 

 Corn meal, 

 Gluten meal, 



The valuation, you will observe, is in every instance 

 greater than the selling price ; but the amount of difference 

 is not by any means uniform for the different feeds. Thus, 

 corn meal sells for very nearly what the valuation shows it 

 to be worth, while cotton-seed meal is valued at a figure 

 considerably above its selling price. It will evidently pay 

 to buy the latter in preference to the former, whenever it 

 will answer to use it. It is the cheaper feed of the two. 



In order to apply the figures for albuminoids, fat and 

 carbohydrates to skim-milk, for the purpose of testing Dr. 

 Goessmann's valuation of that article, we must in the first 

 place make some allowance for its superior digestibility. 

 The nutrients in skim-milk are entirely digestible, while in 



