30 



The substances generally employed as a basis for 

 Ingredients, the stock foods were the cereals, — corn and wheat 



offal especially, — linseed meal, beans and rice. The 

 poultry foods were composed of similar substances together with 

 oyster shells and meat and bone meal. Among the remaining ingre- 

 dients, added ostensibly for medicinal effect, are numbered many of 

 the old time remedies such as common salt, charcoal, black pepper, 

 cayenne, fenugreek, sulfur, Glauber and Epsom salts, and occasion- 

 ally fennel, ginger, tumeric, and sulfate of iron. Fenugreek was a 

 favorite in the stock mixtures and pepper in the poultry foods. 

 Venetian red (oxide of iron) was often used simply to color and dis- 

 guise the character of the other constituents. Finely ground char- 

 coal acted in a similar manner. In several instances noticeable 

 quantitie's of sand were found, but whether to increase the weight or 

 as an accidental admixture, is difficult to say. 



As condimental foods depend largely on the grains 



Value of and by-products for bulk, they have a distinct nutri- 



Ingredients. tive value. The majority of the mixtures carried 



from lo to 20 per cent of protein, and a few from 

 20 to 25 per cent, the latter usually contained considerable linseed 

 meal. A high percentage of fiber was invariably due to the addi- 

 tion of charcoal or waste products of a woody character, (cocoa 

 shells, mustard hulls, etc.) The incorporation of salt, sulfates, and 

 compounds of iron raised the percentage of ash. Poultry foods 

 containing bone meal and shells sometimes showed 30 and even 50 

 per cent of ash. The nutrients in the different condimental foods 

 could be purchased in the form of corn meal, wheat offal and linseed 

 meal for one cent a pound. The mixtures, with few exceptions, cost 

 from 6 to 25 cents a pound ; therefore, as .a food, these products are 

 unreasonably expensive. 



The usual medicinal constituents have been enumerated. None 

 of an injurious nature were found'. Salt from 2 to 15 per cent in 

 amount was a common ingredient and is recognized as a necessary 

 adjunct to a feed ration. Charcoal is valuable in so far as it is able 

 to check fermentation and absorb gases. Epsom and Glauber salts, 

 — frequently termed salts, — are cathartics, i. e. act mildly on the 

 bowels. Fenugreek and fennel are aromatic substances of agree- 

 able flavor, stomachics in effegt, being used to relieve indigestion and 

 flatulency. Black pepper and cayenne are stomachics and excite and 



