482 



Concentrated Foods and Milk. 



supplied to the cows, but not, as is usually supposed, solely 

 upon the albuminoid ratio. If the foods employed are 

 classified according to their apparent average influence in 

 increasing the yield of milk, irrespective of its fat contents, 

 his report gives the following order : maize, wheat pollards, 

 malt sprouts, earth-nut cake, cottonseed meal, poppyseed cake, 

 and rye and palm-nut cake mixed. It will be observed that the 

 highly albuminous rations of oilseed cakes and meals were 

 less effective in increasing the flow of milk than the other 

 foods named. With respect to the fat-contents of the milk, 

 the oil cakes, with the exception of poppyseed cake, rank 

 before the other foods ; the order under this head working out 

 on the average as follows : palm-nut cake and rye mixed, 

 cottonseed meal, earth-nut cake, maize, malt sprouts, wheat 

 pollards, and poppyseed cake. The results obtained with 

 rye were conflicting. 



The object of these experiments was, however, not merely 

 to test the effects of the use of various concentrated foods 

 upon the secretion of milk, but also to ascertain which of 

 those foods furnished on the whole the largest margin of 

 profit. Hence, with a view to determine the economic value 

 of the several foods. Dr. Hagemann compares the value of the 

 milk produced in the separate periods during which the 

 lespective foods were employed with the cost of each ration. 

 Judged from this standpoint, the results of the experiments 

 are stated to have shown that maize is in every respect a 

 profitable fodder for milch cows, both as regards its influence 

 on the quantity and quality of milk produced, and on the 

 production of meat. Next to maize the following foods are 

 placed in order of value ; "wheat pollards, cotton-seed meal, 

 and earth-nut cake. Molasses were found to have a stimu- 

 lating effect on the milk glands : the cows receiving molasses 

 yielded for a time more and richer milk than the known con- 

 stituents of this ration would lead one to expect, but there 

 was a marked reaction when the molasses were withdrawn, in 

 spite of the substitution of other fodders containing high per- 

 centages of albuminoids. Moreover, it w^as found that 

 molasses augmented the secretion of urine by about 

 50 per cent., and Dr. Hagemann considers it probable 



