WATER IN BEET PULPS. 149 



All investigators have not come to the same conclusion as re- Excessive 

 gards excessive cossette feeding. According to Briem when this feeding, 

 cossette feeding is pushed to an excess the resulting butter will 

 have a very tallow-like appearance and bad taste, which objec- 

 tionable features are most difficult to get rid of, even when the 

 animals receive the requisite supply of palm-oil cakes, rice flour, 

 corn residuum, etc. Furthermore, certain authorities declare 

 that it is a mistake to give cossettes to cows that are to supply 

 milk to be fed to babies, or to animals undergoing their period 

 of gestation, or even when the calf is still sucking. But all 

 these views are exaggerated, as pressed cossettes constitute a 

 nutrient as healthy as any known forage for cattle that are 

 being fattened or for those th-it are being raised. 



Schulze points out that if 12 per cent, dry matter is sufficient 

 for a forage being fed to milch cows, the conditions are the 

 same for cattle fed with the idea of obtaining their manure or 

 for breeding purposes. 



European farmers, during a period of thirty years, have be- w f 

 come thoroughly accustomed to using beet residuum from beet- 

 sugar factories and distilleries. The product from the factory 

 came from hydraulic presses and contained very much less water 

 than the cossettes from diffusion batteries. Numerous discus- 

 sions followed, showing that there was every advantage in using 

 diffusion cossettes, notwithstanding they contained more water. 

 This excess offered no difficulty when mixing with chopped 

 straw or some other material that would absorb the moisture. 

 Experiments show that an ox weighing 1,000 Ibs. should not 

 absorb more than 60 to 80 Ibs. water per diem; if this limit is 

 passed the weight of the animal being fed decreases. This is 

 explained by the fact that the gastric juices of the stomach are 

 then so diluted that assimilation of the fodder is not satis- 

 factory; besides which, as Maercker justly argues, to evaporate 

 this water a certain amount of the animal's caloric must be 

 drawn upon. 



The degrees of caloric necessary may be easily calculated, and 

 reduced to the basis of starch it being admitted that for every 

 pound of starch-combustion in the body there is required a 

 given number of degrees of heat. When water is in excess it 



