1887.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 43 



The above-named material, which furnished the sample sent 

 on for examination, had been bought at a corn-starch factory 

 at Long Island, N. Y., for feeding cattle. Forty tons had 

 been loaded at New Bedford, at $8 per ton of forty bushels. 

 Some doubts had been expressed in regard to its fitness as a 

 feed for milch cows. 



The sample we received was apparently in a fair state of 

 preservation, and consisted mainly of a soft, yellowish-white 

 mass, interspersed with coarse fragments of the skin of the 

 corn. The entire mass, in an air-dried st^te, was quite soft and 

 friable, and of a peculiar vegetable, yet not offensive odor. 



The composition of the vegetable matter contained in the 

 article is that of a valuable ingredient for the compounding of 

 a suitable diet for various kinds of farm live-stock, and in some 

 respects similar to that of the refuse grain from breweries. The 

 main objectionable feature of the fresh factory refuse consists 

 in the presence of a large amount of moisture, and its liability 

 to suffer a rapid and serious deterioration in consequence of a 

 careless keeping, in particular during the warmer seasons of 

 the year. Two modes of treatment for the preservation of 

 fodder articles like the one here under discussion suggest 

 themselves in this connection, — the silo system and the drying 

 apparatus. The above-described corn-starch factory refuse, in 

 its dried state, could command a price from $16 to $18 per ton 

 in our markets. 



The fitness of this class of refuse material from glucose and 

 starch factories, as well as from brewers' grains, as an ingredi- 

 ent of a daily fodder ration for all kinds of farm live-stock, 

 the dairy cow included, is quite generally conceded, provided 

 they are in a fair state of preservation. Excessive and exclu- 

 sive feeding of many fodder articles is an objectionable prac- 

 tice ; this applies as much to corn ensilage, roots and apples, as 

 to the waste products of the factories above enumerated. 



All fodder articles of a perishable character deserve the 

 serious attention of farmers, for they are apt to become objec- 

 tionable sooner or later, if carelessly kept. In an advanced 

 state of fermentation they are decidedly objectionable, for vari- 

 ous reasons ; they may become even poisonous in consequence 

 of their liability to turn into hot-beds of a dangerous, parasitic 



