Annual Report for 1893 of the Consulting Chemist. 809 
use of acorns as a feeding material, and also to the risk attending 
the giving of them to stock. The following is an analysis of the whole 
acorns, without removal of the husk : — 
Moisture 37T8 
Oil 1-46 
1 Albuminous compounds (flesh-forming matters) . 4-81 
Starch, digestible fibre, &c. ..... 49'02 
Woody fibre (cellulose) 6T4 
Mineral matter (ash) T39 
10000 
1 containing nitrogen .... "77 
It will be seen that the whole acorns contain but little oil or 
nitrogenous bodies, and that the chief elements of feeding value are 
the starchy matters. From this it may follow that acorns are, per- 
haps, best utilised for the purpose of feeding pigs. 
Swedes. 
Yellow- and White-fieslied Swedes compared . — A Member sent 
me carefully selected specimens (six roots of each) of two kinds of 
swedes that had been grown upon the same field on light sandy land 
high up on the Cotswold Hills. The seed had been mixed and 
planted together, the roots being separated only at gathering. 
Analyses of these two kinds gave the following results, and showed 
the superiority of the white-fleshed swede : — ' 
Water .... 
White Swedes 
89-20 
Yellow Swedes 
89-45 
Albuminous compounds . 
1-02 
1-17 
Grape sugar (glucose) 
Gane sugar 
5-88 
494 
•31 
•21 
Digestible fibre, &c. 
2-20 
2-81 
Wood\ r fibre . 
•86 
•94 
Ash .... 
•47 
•48 
1 containing nitrogen 
10000 
•lfi 
100-00 
•19 
Spec. grav. of juice . 
1-040 
1-040 
6 roots weighed 
lb. oz. 
17 11? 
lb. oz. 
17 9 
Poisoning by Castor-oil Bean. 
Three cases of suspected poisoning of cattle by decorticated 
cotton-cake meal were brought to my notice within a few days of 
one another. It proved that all three cases were connected with one 
and the same delivery of decorticated cotton-cake meal imported by 
a Liverpool house from America. On examining the suspected 
meal I found the husk of castor-oil bean present in each instance. 
