OBJECTIONS TO BEET-LEAF FEEDING. Ill 



remember that in these scientific experiments the results ob- 

 tained show data that can be absolutely relied upon, and those 

 interested in cattle feeding can adopt the given principles with- 

 out the slightest hesitation. 



However, in the early experiments that were made in these 

 new efforts at the utilization of products either from the beet 

 sugar factory direct, or from the residuum of factories, there 

 have always been certain unknown factors to contend with, but 

 as matters now stand and as investigations have been made by 

 the leading experimental stations of continental Europe, it is 

 not to be presumed that any practical error has been committed. 



Attention has been called to the experiments of Priester in 

 the "Milchzeitung," the well-known organ of Germany de- 

 voted to this specialty. In this publication it is declared that 

 when cows have been exclusively fed with leaves and without the 

 intensive additional use of another forage, no results other than 

 those which have been extremely satisfactory have ever been re- 

 corded. The quantity of milk has increased, and furthermore 

 in cases of working oxen the amount of traction obtained after 

 a given interval has been quite equal to that which has hitherto 

 been realized by many of the complicated formulae advanced by 

 well-known specialists. 



The introduction of beet leaves as a forage, and especially Objections to 

 siloed leaves, has met with endless objections among farmers, beet-leaf feeding. 

 It has always been declared among tillers that there is danger 

 of lowering the general health of the animals by excessive beet- 

 leaf eating, owing to the purgative effect of the residuum. This 

 objection is in a measure correct; however, at the present day, 

 these objections have, without doubt, been very materially over- 

 come. To reply to many erroneous assertions about beet leaves 

 in cattle feeding would be a waste of time; suffice it to say, it 

 is much to be regretted that several agricultural journals of the 

 country should have printed articles written by persons who 

 certainly have had little or no experience in the subjects they 

 were discussing. "Beet leaves fill up cattle; * * * they pro- 

 duce a bad effect upon the kidneys owing to their containing an 

 excess of alkalies, etc., etc.," are only a few of the theories ad- 

 vanced. It has been pointed out that cows, when fed with beet 



