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NEW HAMPSHIRE

AGRICULTURAL

EXPERIMENT STATION,

HANOVER, N. H.,

BULLETIN NO. 15.

Patent Cattle-Foods.

DECEMBER, 1891.

PATENT CATTLE-FOODS.

H. WHITCHER.

The analyses made by the Station chemist and reported be-
low are very suggestive to any one who will observe the large
quantities of so-called " Concentrated Foods " that are piled in
the storehouses of many if not most of our grain dealers. That
large quantities are sold no one can doubt, and we know of in-
stances where careful men have been deceived and have pur-
chased considerable quantities, even to the extent of a ton or
more of some one of these frauds, paying more than JiSioo.oo per
ton. and the fact that such an imposition can be practiced nat-
urally leads to the question, cannot some law be placed on our
statutes which shall effectually prevent such swindling?

"Quack horse doctors" and "Concentrated Cattle- Food"
manufacturers are twins, and they flourish, not on the ignorance
of farmers, but on thf.t '.inhering remnant of "old times," which
made saltpetre and sulphur the universal cure-all for horses and
cattle. So far as their food value is concerned the foods below
reported are worth only from $20.00 to $25.00 per ton, and
while they may be relished by cattle, owing chiefly to the salt they
contain, still it would be more economical to buy good corn
meal, middlings, cotton seed, etc., at the market price and then
furn'sh the necessary salt at market rates, than to pay such prices
as these mixtures are sold for, and so far as the medicinal claim
is crncerned, we have only to sa), that the day will come when
cattle and horses will be intelligently treated for diseases, and
even the treatment of a "Quack" is beUer, and certainly cheap-
er, than the wholesale use of mixtures of unknown composition.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION.

F. W. MORSE.

Samples of three diflferent cattle-foods/ or condition-pow-
ders, ^hich have been extensively sold in this State, were
bought in the open market and subjected to a chemical analysis.
The names of these foods were respectively: Pratt's Pood,
Weston's Condition Powders, and Climax Food. The results of
analysis were as follows :

PRATT'S FOOD.

Manufactured at Philadelphia, Pa.

Price, 75c. per 12 lbs., or (6.00 per 100 lbs.

This food was claimed in the circular to be purely vegeta-
ble, to contain no mineral or other poison, and to be neither a
medicine nor condition pow der.j^^ 1 he last claim w as well found-
ed, as the following analysis shows. The " food " appears to be
wheat middlings, to which has been added seme fenugreek and
con.mon salt. The anal} sis shows a composition very much
like wheat bran or middlings, with a high percentage of ash,
owing to tie addition of salt.

The composition of wheat middlings is given in comparison
with the composition of the "^food"

Pratt's Food.

Wheat Middlings.

Water,

10.77

12. 1

Ash,

6.27

33

Crude Protein,

14.42

»5-6

Crude Fiber,

5-37

4.6

Kitrogen-free J xtract,

56-25

60.4

Fat,

6.92

4.0

The c(n}(siticri cl mic'dlirgs is taken hem the Experi-
ment Station Kecord, Vol. 2, No. 12.

4

A water solution of the sample was prepared and the only
soluble mineral matter found was common salt, of which the
food contained 1.9 per cent.

It was not possible to determine the amount of fenugreek
present, the odor of which was noticeable.

WESTON'S CONDITION POWDER.

Depot in New York City.
Price,' 50c.- per package containing 3 lbs.

This was® claimed to be a "Medicinal Horse, Cattle and
Poultry Food." It was also claimed to contain no saltpetre,
resin, antimony or^arsenic, and to be purely vegetable.

In appearance, "it resembled a mixture of corn meal and
cotton-seed meal, and it had a saline taste and strong odor of
fenugreek. Below is its analysis compared with the composi-
tion of corn meal :

Weston.

Corn Meal

Water,

10.80

10 9

Ash,

8.08

1-5

Crude Protein,

15-53

10 5

Crude Fiber,

3-33

2.1

Nitrogen-free Extract,

56-79

69.6

Fat,

S-+6

5-4

The figures for corn meal are from Experiment Station
Record, Vol. 2, No. 12.

Weston's food contains more protein or nitrogenous matter
and more ash than corn meal.

The water solution contained an amount of chlorine equiva-
lent to 4.70 per cent, of common salt, and also showed a trace of
sulphuric acid. No other mineral matter was found.

CLIMAX FOOD.

Manufactured at Burlington, Vermont.

Price, $1.00 per 123^ lbs., or $8.00 per 100 lbs.

The circular claimed that " It is not a medicine, but a con-
centrated food." Ttere were no claims made about its compo-
sition.

In appearance it resembled a mixture of fine wheat mid-
dlings and wheat screenings, together with a small quantity of
caraway or fennel seeds and small bits of a substance like but-
ter-nut"or elm bark. It had, like the other samples, a strong sa-
line taste and odor of fenugreek. Its chemical composition was
as follows, and is shown in^comparison^with the figures for cot-
ton-seed meal, which is a really concentrated food, taken from
the same source as the figures for middlings and corn-meal,"*

Climax.

Cotton seed Meal,

Water,

9.26

8.2

Ash,

18.09

7.2

Crude Protein,

12.74

42.3

Crude Fiber,

5.60

5-6

Nitrogen-free Extract,

53-08

23.6

Fat,

323

131

This comparison shows that the Climax has only its ex-
tremely high percentage of ash to warrant a claim to being a
concentrated food. The Climax also contained 5.59 per cent.
of sulphur, and in the water solution were found, chlorine, 5.92,
sulphuric anhydride, 2.53. and sodium' oxic^e. 8.54 per cent., to
gether with traces of potassium and magnesium and a large
amount (qualitatively) of nitric acid. From these data it was
calculated that the food might have contained ihe following
substances :

Sodium chlop'de, or common salt, 9.77 per cent.

Sodium' sulphate, or Glauber's salt, 4.5c per cent.

Sodium nitrate, or Chili saltpetre, 3.84 per cent.

From these analyses it it evident that the claims of the man-
ufacturers, with regard to concentrated foods, are without found-
ation, as neither of the three will approach cotton-seed meal in
the percentage of protein and fat. The mei icinal substances
found are of the cheapest kind. The average price per pound,
at which they can be bought in the market, is not so high as the
price per pound of the foods.

Fenugreek, the odor of which was, very strong in each mix-
ture, is thus spoken of in the JSational Dispensary : "It posses-
ses hardly any other than emollient properties and is used only
for poultices."

Ihe 2rtasury of Botany speaks of it as follows : " It is the
principal ingredient in most of the quack nostrums, which found

6

so much favor amongst ignorant grooms'and horsekeepers, and is
largely used,for_flavoringjthe,so-called concentrated cattle-foods,
and for gendering damaged hay palatable.

In conclusion, it is hoped that the people of this State will
be cautious about paying exhorbitant prices, like $8.00 per one
hundred ponnds, for so-called " concentrated cattle-foods " whA
cotton-seed and gluten meals can be purchased for one-sixth of
that price, and sulphur, salts, etc., for a few cents per pound.

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