MOLASSES FORAGE MADE AT THE FACTORY. 291 



sugar factory, France. The cakes in question have about the 

 following dimensions: 9 inches in length, 4 inches in width, 

 and two inches thick, and weighed 650 to 700 grams (an aver- 

 age of about 1J Ibs. ). They are obtained by mixing 50 Ibs. 

 molasses (45 per cent, sugar), with 25 Ibs. flour and 25 Ibs. 

 chopped straw. The mass is submitted to a thorough mixing 

 and kneading and is then compressed in regular shapes, in 

 very much the same apparatus as is used for bricks, and the 

 cakes obtained are then baked. The temperature of the oven 

 should not be more than 130 to 135 C. (266 to 275 F.); as 

 otherwise there would be danger of carbonization. The bak- 

 ing lasts 1J hours, during which period about 10 per cent, of 

 the moisture is eliminated ; 100 Ibs. of the product will give 

 90 Ibs. of this brick-shaped food. The cakes should be kept in 

 some dry place. In practice it has been found that there are 

 many advantages in having the forage in cakes of a known size 

 and composition, and when the conditions of feeding special 

 live stock are determined, it is sufficient to give to the feeder 

 full instructions as to the weight of the product to be used for 

 each ration. As the straw used comes from the farm connected 

 with the factory, this means an economy in the combination. 

 The appliances necessary for the manufacture of the molasses 

 fodder under consideration are most simple. The first is a 

 mechanical kneading device for mixing the flour, etc. It is 

 emptied by simply tipping the mixer forward w T hen the opera- 

 tion is finished. To this is a vertical mixer not unlike the 

 machine used for residuum beet cossette pressing; it has a 

 vertical shaft with projecting axis arranged as a spiral. In the 

 cake-making apparatus two bricks are made at the same time, 

 and the movable oven is about six feet in length. The arrange- 

 ment at the factory in question is only temporary. Its prac- 

 tical working is as follows: Into the mechanical kneader are 

 introduced 50 Ibs. molasses and 25 Ibs. of flour; after twenty 

 minutes' mixing and kneading the mass is in a homogeneous 

 condition and is emptied over 25 Ibs. of chopped straw at the 

 bottom of a square-shaped box placed in the ground, its dimen- 

 sions depending upon the volume of the product used. The 

 first mixing of the molasses compound and straw is done in the 



