I9ii.] 



Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 



597 



Feeding. 



Soy Bean Meal, Cocoa-nut Gake, and Linseed Cake for Dairy 



Cows (Midland Agric. and Dairy College, Repts. on Expts. with Crops 

 and Stock, 1910-11. — These experiments were carried out early in 1911. 

 Soy bean meal was compared with linseed cake in a ration for cows. 

 Eight cross-bred Shorthorn cows, weighing between 10 cwt. and 11 cwt., 

 were selected for the trial. The daily ration consisted of 2 lb. mixed 

 meal (bran, sharps, and dried grain), 14 lb. hay, 7 lb. chopped straw. 

 56 lb. mangolds, and either 5 lb. undecorticated cotton cake or 4^ lb. 

 linseed cake, or 4! lb. soy bean meal. The experiment was arranged 

 so that four animals were fed for a fortnight on linseed cake and 

 the succeeding fortnight on soy bean meal, while the other four 

 animals during the month were given first soy bean meal and then 

 linseed cake. The undecorticated cotton cake was fed to all the cows 

 in the week before and the week after this period. The whole 

 eight animals were thus fed for two weeks on each of the three 

 feeding stuffs under trial. The total milk yields were : from linseed 

 cake, 2,684! lb. ; soy bean meal, 2,668 lb. ; and undecorticated cotton 

 cake, 2,625! lb. Linseed cake also gave a greater increase in live 

 weight — 35 lb. as compared with 9 lb. from soy bean meal — for the 

 eight animals. The quality of the milk from soy bean meal was 

 slightly superior to that from linseed cake as determined by the fat 

 and butter tests. The manurial residue from soy bean meal was 

 superior to that from linseed cake. On the whole, taking into con- 

 sideration the higher price of linseed cake, there was little to choose 

 between this cake and soy bean meal. 



Linseed cake was also compared with cocoa-nut cake. This trial 

 was carried out in the same way and with the same animals as the 

 preceding investigation, the quantities of feeding stuffs given in the 

 daily ration being 5 lb. undecorticated cotton cake, 4! lb. linseed cake, 

 and 5 lb. cocoa-nut cake. The total milk yields from the eight animals 

 fed for a fortnight on each feeding stuff were : — Linseed cake, 

 2,472^ lb. ; cocoa-nut cake, 2,429 lb. ; and undecorticated cotton cake, 

 2,428! lb. The live weight increase was, however, greater in the case 

 of cocoa-nut cake. The butter also from the latter cake was better 

 flavoured and of firmer texture. The results were financially in favour 

 of cocoa-nut cake, and this cake, at £6 15s. per ton, would appear 

 to be well worth consideration when linseed cake is more than ^9 

 per ton. 



Analytical tests have also been made of the chemical composition of 

 the butter from linseed cake and cocoa-nut cake. It was found that 

 feeding with linseed cake tended to cause a diminution in the per- 

 centage of the more digestible portions of butter fat, i.e., the fats 

 giving soluble and insoluble volatile fatty acids. Feeding with cocoa- 

 nut cake produced a butter in which the percentage of the above- 

 mentioned digestible fats is high, especially those insoluble in water. 

 The butter from this source also appeared to have greater keeping 

 properties than linseed-cake butter. 



Dairying. 



Milk Records (Lanes. C.C. Educ. Com., Agric. Dept., Farmers' 

 Bull No. 21). — With a view to demonstrating the value of milk records, 



