238 FEEDING WITH SUGAR BEETS, SUGAR, ETC. 



Physiological The special nourishing value of molasses must be attributed 

 action of to the percentage of its extractive elements, which, when com- 

 pared with its caloric power, is very high, and demands an 

 almost insignificant physiological work; thus sugar has an 

 important value, as compared with all other hydrocarbons 

 being soluble in water, it does not necessarily demand the 

 action of the gastric juices or the expenditure of latent forces of 

 the organism for its assimilation. 



Experiments have shown that sugar added to forages is with- 

 out doubt an excellent, healthy and economical substance, 

 producing at the same time flesh and fat. It furnishes, fur- 

 thermore, the requisite caloric for the animal, and materially 

 assists in the production of mechanical energy. Sugar-molasses 

 possesses greater activity than sugar alone. Many investiga- 

 tions show that animals fed with molasses and the same quan- 

 tity of sugar have always given better results than when fed 

 with molasses only. 



One need only compare the enormous benefit that man de- 

 rives from eating sugar to realize the possible fattening results 

 to be expected from feeding this substance to cattle. Throwing 

 aside the nitrogenous value of the molasses constituents in 

 estimating the commercial money value of the residuum, and 

 considering only the hydrocarbons it contains, one realizes that 

 it in reality has a greater money value than has hitherto been 

 admitted; and all facts taken into consideration, when com- 

 pared with barley, rice, various brans of wheat, etc., it holds 

 its own. 



Of all the carbohydrates sugar may be considered the most 

 valuable. Being soluble in water, it does not demand any 

 special digestive action, which is within itself a saving for the 

 vital energy of the organism. Furthermore, it is pointed out 

 that sugar, being diffusible, soon passes, by osmosis, through 

 the intestinal tubes, while other non-nitrogenous extractive 

 elements, such as starch, pentosanes, etc., must undergo many 

 modifications, lasting for a considerable time, before assimila- 

 tion is possible. 



The osmotic action of a sugar solution is very rapid, so much 

 so that the new theories claim that its complete oxygenation is 



