268 THE MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF CATTLE 



Prominent among the concentrates purchased are 

 wheat bran, cottonseed meal, and gluten meal or gluten 

 feed. But the list in its entirety includes by-products 

 from nearl}' all the grains grown. The suitability of 

 these as food for cows is discussed in the book, " Feed- 

 ing Farm Animals," Chapter XIII, by the author, to 

 which the reader is referred who may desire to carry 

 the investigation further. Wheat bran is clearly a 

 favorite among the purchased foods, and is fed to a 

 greater extent than any other. It is not only an ex:cel- 

 lent milk-producing food, but it is pre-eminently safe 

 though it should be fed in large amounts. The pur- 

 chase of milk products should exercise great care as to 

 the source from which the purchases are obtained, be- 

 cause of the extent to which these are adulterated. The 

 hazard that purchased by-products may not be as repre- 

 sented furnishes a strong argument in favor of growing 

 concentrates on the farm as far as this may be prac- 

 ticable. Such foods, when purchased, may not only be 

 far inferior to the representations made with regard to 

 them, but they may contain certain ingredients posi- 

 tively harmful, as mill sweepings and, it may be, nails 

 and pieces of metal, the presence of which it is not the 

 province of the chemist to detect. All this hazard may 

 be avoided by purchasing suitable grains and grinding 

 them at home. But it is not to be understood that all 

 mill foods or even the bulk of them are thus adulterated. 



The concentrates that may be grown at home in- 

 clude all the small cereals, corn and, in some localities, 

 the sorghums. The extent to which these or some of 

 them may be grown at home has as yet been but dimly 

 realized by many dairymen. In nearly all localities 

 where milch cows are kept, it is practicable to grow 

 concentrates that will virtually render the dairymen in- 

 dependent of mill feed as a source of the same. This 

 may be accomplished by growing the small cereals in 

 certain combinations. These combinations mav include 



