COCOA BY-PRODUCTS 11 
perimental feeding of the meal to dairy cattle, nothing has been 
found bearing specifically on the problem of the utilization of sur- 
plus or low-grade cocoa for other purposes. Such standard texts 
on cacao as those of Zipperer (67), Fritsch (16), van Hall (19), 
Whymper (58), and Knapp (26, 27) make no mention of the use of 
the pressed cake for any purpose other than for the preparation of 
cocoa for human consumption, although they discuss the utilization 
of cacao shells in various ways. 
A few tests of the value of cocoa meal, or ground cake, as food 
for cattle have been made in Europe. Pott (36, p. 136-141) 
mentions work with a mixture of " defatted cocoa meal with ground 
shells." The material was of variable composition, containing from 
8 to over 16 per cent of fat, and from 2.54 to 3.33 per cent of nitrogen 
approximately equivalent to 16 to 21 per cent of crude protein. 
The figures for crude fiber and for ash are relatively high. It is 
stated that the product resembled palm-oil cake, and laboratory 
tests indicated that it was not readily digestible. Pott reports also 
that good results were obtained by feeding calves " cooked and 
partially defatted cacao husks." The analysis given for this material 
is evidence that it was a mixture of cake and shells. Stutzer's re- 
searches on the character of the nitrogenous substances in com- 
mercial cocoas are cited by Pott. This work by Stutzer (Jfl) in- 
directly throws a little light on the possible value of ground cocoa 
cake as fertilizer, in that the amounts of total and water-soluble 
nitrogen and phosphoric acid are reported. In the case of a sample 
of pure cocoa powder, 21% per cent of the nitrogen was found to 
be soluble in cold water, while 77 per cent of the total phosphoric 
acid found in the ash was water-soluble after incineration. 15 
Two extensive tests of the feeding value of cocoa cake for dairy 
cows have been reported in the literature. The first of these, a 
series of feeding experiments lasting more than two years, was 
conducted in Denmark by Lund (30). Two lots of dairy cows 
were used in the test, one lot receiving cocoa cake regularly. The 
maximum quantity of cake fed per cow per day was 2.42 pounds. 
The cows receiving cocoa cake gave less milk than the control 
animals. The results of additional experiments with laboratory 
animals appear to have led to the conclusion that, because of the 
poisonous properties of the theobromine and caffeine it contains, 
cocoa cake should not be used as cattle food. 
Ellenberger and Newlander, of the Vermont Agricultural Ex- 
periment Station, have recently published a report of similar trials 
of feeding ground cocoa cake to dairy cows (l4). The experiments 
" were planned simply to determine what would happen to dairy 
cattle when 10, 20, or more per cent of their daily ration 16 was 
made up of cocoa meal." The ground cocoa cake used in the trials 
was of the ordinary, higher-fat type, and as to composition would 
have satisfied the requirements for potable cocoa. Containing 21.14 
per cent of crude fat, it fell just short of the qualifications for 
"breakfast cocoa." Its content of theobromine and caffeine was 
not considered. 
15 Beythien and Fannwitz (6) report only 31 to 34 per cent of the total phosphoric 
acid in the ash of cacao heans as being soluble in water. 
io Tb. e ration here meant was the daily srain or concentrate ration, not the total daily 
feed. 
