■tA N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION [Bulletin 169 



and expense of having the meal analyzed. The practice is 

 both unfair and sharp. The jobber buys the meal on a 

 38.62 per cent, basis and sells to the retailer on a 6.1 per 

 cent, advance. If the jobber gets caught he simply pays 

 the rebate and appears virtuous; if he doesn't get caught 

 he pockets the 6.1 per cent, profit. The ultimate consumer, 

 the farmer, pays the bill. A matter of 6.1 per cent, means 

 but little to the individual consumer but it aggregates a 

 very large sum where the jobber handles thousands and 

 thousands of tons of the meal. A good many of our dairy- 

 men are paying the price of 41 per cent, meal for meal 

 guaranteed to carry only 38.62 per cent, protein. There 

 seems to be no way to get at these exceedingly clever 

 jobbers except through the consumer. There can be no 

 obvious gain for the consumer to contribute 6.1 per cent, 

 additional net profit to the jobber. In some instances it 

 appears that the retailer is taking advantage of the con- 

 sumer and is making the extra profit himself. The average 

 consumer who reads the guarantee and "rebate" clause 

 may not suspect that often the "invoice" guarantee to the 

 retailer is higher than the guarantee on the tags. The 

 retailer usually doesn't care much because he simply adds 

 commission to his cost. These facts are noted here so that 

 the consumer of cotton seed meal may have an opportunity 

 to know the game through which he is made a victim. 



The brands of feeding-stuffs sampled the present year 

 are not different from what have been found other years. 

 There are many first-class products on the market and 

 there seems to be no reason why the careful feeder cannot 

 secure first class products for his purpose. 



There are also certain very poor feeding-stuffs on the 

 market. IMost of these contain large quantities of crude 

 fibre and small quantities of protein. It is doubtful if 

 some of the products can be used profitably for any pur- 

 pose. This must be true because of the low quality of the 

 goods and the relatively high prices for which they are sold. 



