The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-20


of such matters that We have in the soil
the more efficient the lime will be. NiLri-
fication Is always more active In organic
matter in the presence of an excess of
carbonate of lime. The microscopic or
ganisms that effect the change of organic
matter is nitrogen have the wonderful
power that green plants do not possess
of getting their carbon from the carbonate
in the soil. Now, in order to get this et-
feet of the lime it Is essential there be
plenty of decaying vegetable matter IN the
soil. Where a short rotation Is practicaI
and plenty of legumes grown, dressing
of lime once in five years will be found
an excellent aid to Improvement
S-o-S-
MOIasses AS a Food for Work Stock.
The economics of feeding is a subject in
which our stockowners, and more partic-
ularly, perhaps, our sugar planters are VI
tally interested, says the New Orleans Pic
ayune. Feed is an important item in the
expenditure of every plantation, and any
effort 10 minimize the COST and at the same
time maintain the necessary condition and
energy on the part of the animal, will no
doubt be appreciated. That valuable peri
odical. the Louisiana Planter has, from
time TO time, advocated the use of molass-
DidnIdIIOn u
izing the enormous amount Of this pro-
duct which Is either dumped into the
bitches. or disposed of for a mere nomi-
nal figure as well as on account of its be-
ing a satisfactory ingredient of the ration
OF the plantation mule, and cheap fatteh-
ing food for any of our domestic farm AMI
mails. The question of the most vital Inn
portance to the owner of large numbers OF
work stock is, GLOW can 1 feed my ami
mails so, as to maintain them In the best
possible health and condition, and get from
them the greatest amount of work, at the
minimum of cOst?' On the satisfactory so
luton of this question hangs thousands OF
dollars. It Is a generally accepted prlncl-
pie that in order to keep a working horse
in good condition q food rich in nitrogen
GUS material must be used, for, as il Is
sometimes expressed the 'albumenoid ra-
tlo must be high, or narrow. This ratio is
defined as the numerical relation of the
digesuble carbohydrates, including any
small quantity of fat. Thus ratio OF l to
is said to be high or narrow, while q ra-
ito of ! to y is regarded as low or wide.
Wolf. the great German authority on this
subject, recommended a diet for farm
horses doing ordinary work, having an al
bumenoid ratio Of 1 to Z, while for animals
dong very hard work, he recommends an
increased quantity of a diet having an al
bumenold ratio of / to 81.
In Rlancll& over q THESHIs bllllpi VI tAAS
Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales,
we came across the results of some feed
ing trials on very large scale, with loo
horses belonging to the Colonial Sugar
Refining Company in Fiji, for the purpose
of testing the food value of the enormous
amounts of waste molasses that were
available seeing that the food on which
the animals had been feeding (oats, corn
and green cane tops In addition) did not
prove satisfactory in the trying tropical
climate; sickness being frequent, and the
death rate high, while the price for fod-
der was very heavy. Without going into
all the details of the trials, 1t may be
mentioned that the ration finally adopted
was fifteen pounds of molasses, three
pounds of bran and four pounds of corn
per day; the molasses being mixed with
the bran and chopped cane tops. This ra-
ton has now been fed to over 400 heads
of horses on the Rarawai plantation for
nearly two years, with entirely satisfac-
tory results. The average weight of the
horses was about 1,270 pounds. There was
no undue fattening nor injury to the
wind, and no tendency TO excessive perspi-
ration or softness. After the first month
there was an average loss of weight per
head of fifteen pounds, after the second
month four and one-half pounds of the
loss had been recovered, and after the
third month there was a further gain of
sixteen and one-half pounds, making a
gain over the whole period of six pounds
per head.
Sickness, which formerly was frequent,
is now uncommon, and the horses are cap
able of performing harder and more con-
tinuous work. The improvement in this
respect is so great that while the area OF
cultivation has been largely increased, it
has not been necessary to make any addi-
ton to the working stock on another
plantation in Fiji, where the nolasses sys- !
tenn of feeding was adopted, the same
satisfactory results were not at first Oh
tanned. This was due, however, to thin
hing the molasses with water SO that il
could be more readily pumped into a stor-
age tank. Fermentation rapidly took place,
and the stock began to suffer from purg-
ing, which was at first wrongly attributed
to the molasses. The conclusions arrived
at by Mr.. T. U. Walton, b. &c. F. c. S.
f. l. c., the gentleman who conducted
the trials are as follows:
First-That for working horses the sugar
in cane molasses IS a satisfactory substi-
tute for starchy food, being readily digest
ed and transformed into work.
Second-That fifteen pounds of the mo-
lasses can be given to 1,270-pound work
horse with advantage TO the health OF
the animal and to the efficiency of IFS
work.
Third-T'hat 1t produces no undue fatten-
ing softness. nor injury to the wind.
Fourth-That the high proportion of salts
in 1t has no injurious effect.
Fifth-That an albumenoid ratio as low
(wide) as l to lis has proven highly suit
able for heavy continuous work when a
sufficient quantity of digestible matter is
given.
These results evidently prove that the
orthodox proportion of both albumenoids |
and fat, which have been heretofore con-
sidered necessary, can be reduced by half |
The author adds, that probably the !
warmth of the tropical climate renders
the small proportion of fat sufficient !
but the satisfactory results obtained with |
the reduced proportions of albumenoids |
prove that the current theory on the mat
ter is erroneous.
Many of our planters are in the habit |
of feeding molasses to the mules at the |
present time, but without any definite
system. II might be of advantage to give !
a trial of the system adopted in Fiji. |
Should II prove satisfactory as regards |
The condition OF the mules and their work.
1t would certainly be an enormous saving
in the feed BILL under the present evs- |
tenn Of grain-feedlng. The safest method |
would, no doubt. be to make the change
gradually. And one of the most important |