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360 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 May, 1898. 
cover the cost of carriage and handling. But this is not all, for the Customs 
tariff makes the use of molasses for feeding purposes almost prohibitive in all 
the Australian colonies in which it is not produced. In Queensland and New 
South Wales, with production of molasses beyond the demand for it, the tariff 
is inoperative, the selling price being actually lower than the duty itself. Yet 
even in the colonies where duty is charged itis a question whether it would not 
pay to use a certain proportion of molasses, containing as it does more digestible 
matter than oats,* though much less nitrogen, especially as it will often render 
palatable some dry food that is not otherwise readily eaten. ‘ 
It is worthy of mention that at a second plantation in Fiji to which the 
molasses system’of feeding has been extended the same satisfactory results 
were not at first obtained, and it was only after a considerable time that the 
cause of failure was discovered. The molasses had to be pumped into a 
storage tank, but, proving too thick to be taken readily by the pump, it was 
thinned out with water by the engineer. Fermentation soon commenced, and 
the stock began to suffer from purging, which was fora time wrongly attributed | 
to the molasses. 
According to Wolff,+ the whole of the albumenoids and carbohydrates in 
molasses are digestible. Taking Wolff’s analysist of bran and maize in the 
diet that has been described above, but neglecting the cane tops, would give 
_ the following digestive constituents :— 
1:02 lb. albumenoids, 12°53 1b. carbohydrates, and 0:19 lb: fat. Taking 1 
of fat = 2} carbohydrates, and reckoning the average weight of the stock at 
1,270 Ib., the constituents per 1,000 1b. live weight are— 
0:80 lb. digestible albumenoids 
10°24 Ib. digestible carbohydrates (including 0:15 lb. fat) 
Albumenoid ratio 1 : 12:8, 
The weight of the green cane tops is not exactly determined, but this is 
about 30 Ib. per 1,000 Ib. live weight, or 38 Ib. per horse. At the same time 
the nutiiment in this fodder is low, and its albumenoid ratio is only L: 9, so 
that any variation in the quantity used has but a trifling influence on the whole 
diet. Taking the quantity as 30 1b. per 1,000 Ib. live weight, this would add 
to the diet 0°33 lb. digestible albumenoids and 3:07 lb. digestible carbohydrates 
(including 0:22 Ib. fat). 
The whole daily ration is then per 1,000 Ib. live weight :— 
1:13 Ib. digestible albumenoids 
13°31 Ib. digestible carbohydrates (including 0:24 1b, fat) 
Albumenoid ratio 1 : 11:8 
Also 1:80 lb. salts. 
It is thus seen that the full proportion of carbohydrates considered 
necessary by Wolff for a hard-working horse has been experimentally arrived 
at in these trials, but that only half the orthodox proportion of albumenoids 
has been found necessary, and only half the fat. Probably the warmth of the 
tropical climate renders the smaller proportion of fat sufficient, but the 
satisfactory results obtained with the reduced proportion of albumenoids prove 
that the current theory on the matter is erroneous. 
The conclusions that can fairly be drawn from the trials that have been 
made are :— , 
1. That, for working horses, the sugar in cane molasses is a satisfactory 
substitute for starchy food, being readily digested and transformed into work. 
2. That 15 Ib. of the molasses can be given per day to a 1,270-lb. working 
home with advantage to the health of the animal and to the efficiency of its 
work. 7 
._ According to Wolff (Farm Foods, translated by Cousins, p. 306) 'there is 57 per cent. 
digestible matter in oats, while molasses contains 64 per cent. 
+ Farm Foods, by Wolff, translated by Cousins, p, 310. 
} Ibid., pp. 306, 309. ; 
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