1910.] Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 755 



in weight while on Soy cake by 2 qr. 9 lb., and while on linseed cake 

 by 1 cwt. 1 qr. 6 lb. There was thus a gain of 115 \ lb. in milk 

 from the Soy cake, but an increase of body weight of 2 qr. 25 lb. from 

 the linseed cake. This result was, however, partly due to one cow 

 drying off, so that she gave very little milk in the second month 

 when on linseed cake, while naturally her live weight increase was 

 high. Some of the cream was churned on three occasions. In all 

 three tests it was found that the Soy cake gave the firmer butter, but 

 a lower yield of butter. The conclusion is drawn that both linseed and 

 Soy cakes gave satisfactory results, and, without taking into account 

 the quality of the milk, the value of the two cakes appeared to be 

 about in accordance with their prices. 



Soy Bean Cake for Fattening Sheep (Univ. Coll. of N. Wales, 

 Bangor, Bull. 11, 1909). — -Thirty Welsh mountain lambs were divided 

 into two lots and fed from January 10th to March 10th. The food 

 given consisted of as much swedes and hay as they would eat, and 

 also 5 lb. per head of crushed oats, and \ lb. of either Soy bean cake 

 or linseed cake. The amount of swedes and hay consumed was prac- 

 tically the same in each case, 7 lb. of swedes and f lb. of long hay 

 per head per day. The results show that in the two months the lot 

 fed on Soy bean cake made a gain of 125 lb. in live weight, while 

 those fed on linseed cake made a gain of 154 lb., a difference of 

 29 lb. in favour of linseed cake. The amount of cake eaten was 

 221 lb. in each case, the Soy bean cake, at £j per ton, costing 

 135. iod., and the linseed cake, at ^9 12s. 6d. per ton, costing 19s. 

 It is considered that the Soy bean cake showed itself to be a good 

 feeding-stuff, and, as its manurial value is higher than that of linseed 

 cake, that the prices paid for the two most probably represent fairly 

 accurately their relative values. 



Molascuit as a Food for Milch Cows (Roy. Agric. Coll., Ciren- 

 cester, Scientific Bull., No. 1, 1909). — Two lots of three cows from 

 the College herd, as nearly equal as possible in age, period of lactation, 

 and quantity of milk per day, were fed for three weeks, Molascuit 

 meal being compared with ground oats. The food given per day was 

 40 lb. pulped mangolds, 8 lb chaff, 16 lb. hay, 2 lb. decorticated cotton 

 cake, 2 lb. Soy bean cake, .and, to one lot, 2 lb. of Molascuit meal, to 

 the other 2 lb. of ground oats. In the second and third weeks the 

 decorticated cotton cake and Soy bean cake were reduced to 1^ lb. 

 each, and the Molascuit meal and ground oats increased to 3 lb. The 

 yield of milk seemed to be little affected by the kind of food used, and 

 the percentage of butter-fat in each case remained almost constant. 

 There was practically no difference in the flavour of the butter pro- 

 duced, and no difference was noticed in the laxative effect or other- 

 wise on the cows. 



Effect of Keeping Dairy Cows Out at Night in Winter (Field 

 Expts. at Harper Adams Agric. Coll., and in Staffs and Salop, Rept., 

 1909). — The regular practice in Shropshire is to bring all milking cows 

 into the house at night about the end of October, a proceeding which 

 necessarily entails extra labour in attendance, and also extra hay in the 

 racks and straw for bedding. In this experiment the effect was tried 

 of leaving the cows out at night for a month or five weeks longer, and 

 in one year eight weeks longer, till December 31st. It was carried 



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