4 INSPECTION OF FEEDIN(;-STUrFS 



^Yas $29 per ton. At these prices, cotton-seed meal is more 

 economical to buy for winter feeding, when the ration must 

 consist largel}^ of hay and silage. Equivalent grain mix- 

 tures, with cotton-seed meal and bran on the one hand, and 

 gluten feed and bran on the other, will cost from five to 

 ten per cent, less with the cotton-seed than with the gluten 



A comparatively new line of cattle-foods on our markets 

 is the distillers' dried grains. They have a feeding value 

 fully equal to the gluten feeds and have been relatively 

 cheaper, the average price per ton having been about $28. 



A class of feeding-stuffs, persistently overvalued by the 

 consumer with resultant profits to the dealers and manu- 

 facturers, are the mixtures prepared from corn and oat 

 refuse. The class known as corn and oat feeds ranged in 

 price from $23 to $27 per ton, or about the same as wheat 

 bran. They have as a rule about half the amount of pro- 

 tein that bran should contain and several per cent, more 

 fiber ; and, on the basis of digestible matter, they should be 

 valued at not more than four fifths the value of bran. Oat- 

 feeds are still poorer and, while selling at $18 to $20 per 

 ton, have a composition no better than well-cured oat-fod- 

 der. 



On the other hand, hominy feeds are practically as val- 

 uable as corn meal, since much of our corn meal is prepared 

 from inferior grain, while the hominy feed is the refuse 

 from selected grain and from the richer parts of the kernel, 

 when considered as a cattle-food. 



As a whole, the inspection shows a careful compliance 

 with the law on the part of manufacturers, in making their 

 goods equal to their statements of composition. The law 

 cannot regulate prices, but the purchaser can, by declining 

 to purchase goods which are valued too highly in proportion 

 to their stated composition. 



