THE JOURNAL 



OF THE 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



Vol. XVIIL No. 2. 



MAY, 1911. 



MOLASSES AND SUGAR FOODS FOR LIVE 

 STOCK. 



Wm. Goodwin, M.Sc, Ph.D. 



Principal of the Midland Agricultural and Dairy College, Kingston, Derby. 



Molasses, or treacle, which is well known as an article 

 of human diet, has also served as a food for horses and cattle, 

 particularly during the past twenty-five years. This has been 

 largely due to the development of the beet sugar industry in 

 Europe, for molasses is the uncrystallisable residue left in the 

 manufacture of sugar, either from the juice of the sugar cane 

 or the sugar beet. Previous to the above-mentioned period, 

 molasses had been used in various parts of England, parti- 

 cularly in Norfolk, as a food for fattening cattle, but the 

 frequent rises in price prevented more than small quantities 

 being employed. When the price of molasses was low, then 

 it was used to a considerable extent in certain districts, for it 

 was recognised that where much straw had to be fed, a 

 sprinkling of molasses, thinned down with water, made the 

 chopped straw palatable to stock. 



Unpurihed molasses, whether from sugar cane or sugar 

 beet, is a thick, brown syrup with a peculiar, sharp smell. 

 When it is bleached it gives the well-known golden syrup, 

 which is largely used for human food and in the manufacture 

 of confectionery of various sorts. The improved methods 

 which are now in vogue in the sugar factories, both in the 

 boiling down of the juice and in the separation of the crystals 

 of sugar, have resulted in the molasses being of poorer quality 

 than formerly. In the older processes of sugar making, before 

 vacuum pans were employed and when the sugar was left to 



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