STEAMING FOOD. 75 



Not twelve miles from this place, I know an intelligent farmer 

 who has had the same experience witii cotton-seed meal. There 

 are always exceptions. " What is one man's meat is another 

 man's poison." One man may feed his cows gunpowder ; 

 another can't. I am talking of tlie general run of the thing 

 throughout. I have no prejudice against cotton-seed meal, but 

 I insist that the position it holds in the market as cheaper than 

 oil cake and other articles, grows out of the fact that so many 

 experienced farmers have ascertained that it is dangerous to 

 their cattle, or not good for them, at any rate. I state these 

 facts within my own knowledge and experience partly to sustain 

 the views I mentioned yesterday, and partly that the thing may 

 be fairly ventilated. I have no prejudice, I repeat, against 

 cotton-seed meal. I should be glad to have it succeed. If the 

 manufacturers will sell it for half the price of oil cake, every 

 farmer ought to be grateful to them for their philanthropic con- 

 duct. But the difficulty is, that it cannot be used with good 

 results. 



Mr. Davis. In the cases you refer to, was the hull taken off? 



Dr. LoRiNG. It was decorticated meal. Its effect is perfectly 

 apparent, and the careful observer can see it. It is like the 

 effect tluUyou see upon some men who have been through some 

 disease. It is evident to the experienced eye that their con- 

 stitution is injured, although you may not be able to tell 

 precisely what tlie difficulty is. But that cotton-seed meal is 

 injurious to the digestion of our cattle I do not hesitate to say ; 

 and while some may say that they can feed it with impunity, I 

 would not have it in my barn if I could have it for nothing. I 

 speak of this for the general welfare of the cattle business, and 

 it is one of those matters that ought to be carefully discussed 

 and investigated. 



Mr. Smith. I can refer you to some of our best farmers, all 

 through the Connectiput Valley, who have fed it to their cattle, 

 and feed it still. I suppose the doctor and myself will have to 

 call it a draw game. I can see no objection to the use of 

 cotton-seed meal. It makes good butter; it makes good beef; 

 it makes the best manure, because it contains so much oil. 



I intended to say one thing mow, in regard to feeding 

 steamed food. I do not know anything about it, except what I 

 hear, but it has never seemeel to me that steaming straw could 



