66 
Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturisty [July 1, 1893. 
individuals of this order of plants in nitrogenous I 
matter is admitted. X>AaW (which cattle greedily 
consume), Erythrina Tndica and Sesbayiia grandi- \ 
Jlora may be mentioned as examplet^. 
Since writing the above we have been favoured 
with a copy of an agricultural letter from , 
Paris, in which the subject of leaf and "twig fod- j 
der is referred to and reviewed in an interest- i 
ing manner. The following are tlie references : — | 
Excepting the loss of forage plants — and the loss 
is great, — there are no otlier crops seriously affected 
by the abnormal drought of March and April. ! 
The injured cereals are recovering, root crops I 
are making up for backwardness, and resowings 
will repair blanks. It is the fodder difficulty 
that has to be grappled with, lience the excejj- 
tional attention and importance given to all 
substances capable of supplying the deficit. 
Leaves and twigs are closely n^lated : the former 
have in several regions of France been, since 
late years more or less utilized to stretch fodder, 
or as a permanent source of alimentation. 
It is only recently that twigs ; have been in- 
troduced as ration for cattle, horses, and stock. 
It is a novelty, but has the a])pearance of having 
" come to stay." 
Precise information is still wanting on the 
food value of twigs; more chemical an-'lyiBS are 
needed ; further tests in the practical feeding of 
animals with the new ration are essential. Im- 
perfect as are exi.sting data, their trend is 
decidedly favorable to the food ; the resistance 
has been shown to come from, not the animals, 
but the agriculturists. Two authoritative Ger- 
man cultivators, Major Jena and M. Biebrach, i 
attest, that during two years they liave through- ' 
out the winter, fed and maintained in good con- 
dition, 30 horses and 60 oxen and cows, on crushed 
twigs properly fermented with a little yeast. , 
Deer and chamois have no other aliment in : 
the forests during winter almcst, but the tender i 
tips of branches. Only those twigs with a 
repulsive flavor are not ranked as comestible. 
Twigs and leaves, like other alimentary plants, | 
contain the same elements for the formation of : 
flesh and bone. Analysis shows that the twigs 
of the oak in the month of ilay are twice 
as nutritive as meadow hay, and those of the 
acacia rank next; the twigs of the poplar, elm, 
birch, pine and beecli, are superior to oati^i straw, 
that of wheat being very poor in nutritive sub- 
stances. Fuller information is required respecting 
the facility of assimilation of the different twigs 
as food. Professor Ramann, who is the sponsor 
of the twig novelty, has analysed beech twigs, 
and finds that they were one-and-a-half times 
richer in food principles at the fall of the leaves 
in October, than in May when the flow of sap 
was in all its vigor. M. Poessier has analysed 
both leaves and twigs of one-quarter to three- 
quarters of an inch in diameter, and finds very 
notable differences in the percentage of protein 
contained in both the leaves and twigs ; in 
spring it is much superior, and tlie more the 
shoots the higher will be that percentage. This 
only corroborates what is already known, that 
the younger the organs of plants or vegetables, 
the richer they will be in nitrogenous or flesh- 
forming principles. 
Professor Girard in his work on leaves as , 
fodder, estimates that an acre of forest produces 
nearly five tons of leaves, and the mull>eiTj- 
half as much more. In the South-^V'estem 
districts of France, leaves have been always 
employed in cattle feeding both in the green 
an(l dried state: in tlie Gironde, they are 
mulched up with the rations for fat stock ; 
in Algeria the forest leaves wlien green, supjjort 
flocks of sheep, and iu winter the leaves, chiefly 
'hose of the ash are stacked ns jirovender fur 
horses, cattle and sheep. Tlie exjieriiuenls made 
by feeding milch cows and goats on lucerne 
verms fresh leaves are not conclusive ; no differ- 
ence was found in tlie quantity and richness of 
the milk; jjerliaps sometliing could be said on 
the point of taste. In any case the twig food 
merits the serious attention and intelligent trial 
of all progressive agriculturists. Doubling \\r- 
forage supply would be within nieasurahle disliinc** 
of making " the two blades of grass grow where 
only one grew before." 
OCCASIONAL -NOTKS. 
With this number the Magazine of the School 
of Agriculture begins its fifth volume, having lieen 
started in July 18f<9, We bespeak for our little 
publication tlie support of our subscriljers in the 
future, and the help of our contriluitors in main- 
taining the character of tlu' Magazine and issuing 
it with the same regularity with which it lias 
hitherto appeared. 
TlieS.S. "Madura hrouglit :i] cows and one bull 
from Bombay for the Government Dairy Farm on 
the -'ilst Alny. Considering the long voyage, and the 
bad weather that ])revailed, the animalswere landed 
in very fair condition. They are now comfortably 
housed in the dairy bnildinijs, and are improving 
in condition, while the milk yield of the cow« 
that have calved is steadily increasing. 
Among the apparatus indented for from the 
Dairy Supply Co. for the new dairy, are a milk 
refrigerator, a dairj- herd recorder, .ind a dairyman 
complete milk tester with Barham's patent j>er- 
centage lactometer. We have already refered to 
the refrigerator which will be used for cooling 
the milk in warm weather and when it has to be 
carried long distances. By means of the dairy herd 
recorder the milk given by each cow at each milk- 
ing can be conveniently reckoned in pounds or 
pints, so that a regular record of the milk-yield 
of the animals may be kej)t. The dairyman's 
complete milk tester consists of a milk thermo- 
meter, 4 cream tubes in a registering stand with 
China index, and Barham's lactometer. The patent 
lactometer is intended to show the purity of milk, 
and the percentage of water, it any present. 
Foot and mouth disease was prevailing in 
the neighbourhood during the month of June, and 
with the present unsatisfnctory arrangements 
for inspection and contvnl of cattle sheds in the 
city, the greatest vigilance had to be observed 
against its introduction into healthy areas, as the 
risks iif cattle free from disease being infected are 
veiy grejit. Rejiorts have also been made of the 
disease cxusing much havoc in otlier parts of the 
Province. 
