122 BUREAU OF ANIMAL QCDUBTRY. 
winter. The pigs were never sick nor off feed, and made their gains 
economically. The tabulation of results shows thai while on cotton- 
seed meal the pigs required 5 per cent Less feed than while on oil 
meal. 
At the I<>\\;i Experiment Station, Curtiss* fed two lots of 3 Poland 
china pigs each on a ration of corn-and-cob meal, cotton-seed meal, 
and buttermilk. One lot received one-half pound cotton-seed meal per 
head daily and the other l pound per head daily. The grain fed 
was soaked for twelve hours before feeding. Salt and ashes were 
also given. Everything went well until tin- sixth week, when the 
droppings of the pigs on the heavj ration became dark in color and 
somewhat hard. However, the appetite was not affected. The first 
pig died fifty-one days after feeding commenced, and a second went 
the day following. Thej had been on the heavy ration, but showed 
no signs of sickness, and their gains had been steady. Sixty-three 
days after the start a pig in the lot receiving one-half pound of cot- 
tonseed meal per head daily died, l>m not without symptoms of 
trouble. For a day or two before death he had shown a u failing 
appetite and quickened breathing.' 3 The rest of the pigs in tins lot 
showed the same symptoms, but survived, although their gains were 
Light. The station veterinarian could find no assignable cause of 
death. 
In this experiment the fatal quality of cotton-seed meal seemed to 
depend, to a certain extent, on tin- quantity fed. The first pigs to 
die were those in the lots receiving the heavier ration of cotton-seed 
meal. These pigs also made tin- better gains. 
'Idic Kansas Station b fed 4 small pigs a ration of one-sixth cotton- 
seed meal and five-sixths corn meal. The meal was stirred in water 
at feeding time. It was not relished at first, but when it was once eaten 
rapid gains were made. The first pig died twenty-three days after 
the feeding began, and "could not have eaten more than 5 pounds of 
cotton-seed meal altogether," a fact which st-em^ t<> Lessen the weight 
of the theory that the quantity eaten has an influence on the fatal 
property of the feed. This pig weighed about L8 pounds at the time 
of its death. The last pig died on the forty-sixth day of the experi- 
ment. (See Duggar's experiments, pp. 117, 118.) 
Two sows weighing, respectively, L35 and 308 pounds were pot on a 
ration of one-fourth cotton-seed meal and three-fourths corn meal for 
forty-five days; they gained 89 pounds each without signs of poisoning. 
In a second test, 6 pigs that bad been stunted by exclusive corn 
meal or ground wheat feeding were divided into two Lots of 3 each 
and put on rations composed Of One-fourth COtton-seed meal and three- 
fourths corn meal for one lot, and equal parts of these meals for the 
other lot. The change of condition is described as " magical " and 
Bui N &Bol.No.58. 
