191 1.] Molasses and Sugar Foods for Live Stock. 103 
being used to soak up the molasses, and by employing 
suitable materials it is possible to prepare molasses feeds 
which are practically dry, and so very convenient to handle. 
These molasses, or sugar feeds, have increased enormously 
during the past few years, and their composition and feeding 
value are widely different. Where the absorbent material or 
"base" is itself a food, the two together may make an article 
having a well-balanced feeding value. For example, palm nut 
meal from which the oil had been extracted has been used as 
an absorbent of molasses, and the resulting product was found 
to be most satisfactory, because the meal, being rich in protein 
(albuminoids) and also containing a little fat, balanced the 
purely carbohydrate nature of the molasses. One molasses 
food of this kind was found to have the following composi- 
tion : — 
Nitrogen-free extract substance 48*68 per cent. 
Protein 1478 
Fat ; ... 4-60 
Crude fibre 15 'oS 
Ash 6*37 
Water 10*49 
This analysis corresponds closely with that of coarse bran, 
and it must be noted that a good deal of the protein is true 
protein, and not amides, as it would be in molasses alone. 
Cocoanut meal, dried brewers' grains, malt-coombs, and 
dried beet pulp or slices are also good absorbents of molasses, 
for although they may not absorb as much as some other 
materials to be mentioned later they are, nevertheless, foods 
in themselves. Chopped hay, clover, straw, &c, have also 
been used as bases in the preparation of molasses feeds, and 
here again their food value comes into account, in addition 
to that of the molasses. Dried spent hops is another 
absorbent which is used in a well-known molasses feed, and 
here the food value of the base is perhaps half that of dried 
brewers' grains. 
Another class of sugar feeds is that in which the molasses 
is absorbed by bran, pollards, or other miller's offals, or some 
more starchy material like tapioca meal. These feeds also 
have a food value in addition to that of the molasses alone. 
Lastly, there is a class of molasses feeds in which the 
absorbent material or base is of little or no food value. 
Perhaps the most characteristic example is furnished by a 
