The large demand for the more concentrated feeds, especially the by-products, has led to adul teration with cheaper and inferior materials, to some extent, and to the use of names which may deceive the purchaser. Cottonseed-meal, for ex ample, has been diluted with a quantity of ground eottonseed-hulls and sold under the name of cottonseed feed, the mixture being greatly in ferior to the meal. Furthermore, the by-products vary widely in composition. due to changes in the process of manufacture or to the separation of the germs from the rest, or to the addition of the hulls. These facts have suggested the de sirability of legislation which shall require manu facturers to guarantee the percentage of protein, fat, etc., in their products, and which shall pro vide a feeding-stuff control, similar to that for fertilizers. Such laws have been passed in Massa elms.Ats, Maine. Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, and Rhode Island: and protec tion in the purchase of these materials has been secured thereby. Similar protection is provided by the Fertilizer and Feeding Stuff Act of Eng land, and by a voluntary control in Germany. From time to time various mixed or `eondimentar feeds are extensively advertised, with extrava gant claims for their effect on the general health of animals or for their ability to increase milk production greatly. Tonic or medicinal properties
are claimed for many of them. They often contain a considerable quantity of salt, and frequently a harmless quantity of fenugreek (q.v.), sulphur, gentian, ginger, and similar substances. None of them are concentrated feeds, in the common acceptance of the term; and Sir .Iohn Lawes many years ago showed eondimental feeds to he of no advantage to healthy stork. They are usually sold in small packages, the price ranging from 10 to 20 cents a pound, which, from the standpoint of their feeding value, is exorbitant. In spite of this, large quantities of these feeds are sold throughout the United States.
A new class of feeding stuffs has recently come into use in Europe, in which the molasses from sugar-beet factories is a prominent component. Various materials, such as palm-nut meal, bran, ground e Ali-stalks, and dried beet-ehips are used to absorb the molasses and to make the mixture richer in protein. Some of these molasses feeds have given surprisingly rood results, and they appear In he relished by steel:. Wood has been used to some extent in a similar way. Consult "Feeding Stuffs for Animals." in United States Deportment of .I grieul t err Yearbook, (Washington, 1895-97). See FEEDING FARM ANIMALS.