462 



DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



may become more solid. Used iii this way I believe silage will become 

 an important aid in steer feeding in many sections of the country. 

 Results from Canada, Wisconsin, and Texas, given in this chapter, 

 show the broa'tl adaptation of this food for stock-feeding purposes. 



BEEF-MAKING AT THE SOUTH. 



Few realize the possibilities of beef production over a large portion 

 of the South. For centuries the study there has been toward cotton 

 production, which demands scrupulously clean culture ; grass has been 

 despised and considered a pest, but now it has overrun some of the old 

 plantations, and while restoring the soil to something like its former 

 fertility, is giving good annual yields of nutritious food for cattle. 

 Many a cotton plantation can be made to return in Bermuda grass, 

 Johnson grass, or Japan clover an amount of feed that would surprise 

 even a northern stockman. Equally important with the growth of 

 grasses is the enormous production of cotton seed, which furnishes a 

 most nutritious feed. For every pound of cotton fiber there are about 

 2 pounds of cotton seed. A ton of cotton seed yields about 35 gallons 

 of oil and 750 pounds of cotton-seed meal, besides nearly a thousand 

 pounds of cotton-seed hulls. The cotton seed itself, when boiled, and 

 the cotton- seed meal are valuable stock foods, and recently even the 

 hulls have been found to possess considerable feeding value, proving a 

 very good substitute for hay. The following table shows results 

 obtained by Prof. Gulley in feeding cotton-seed nieal at the experiment 

 station. 



TABLE IX. Showing feed consumed for 100 pounds gain in weight at the Texas Experi- 

 ment Station. 



