36 AGRICUI.TURE O'^ MAINE. 



Distillers' grains consist of the dried refuse from the manu- 

 facture of whiskey or alcohol which may have been made from 

 rye, corn, oats or barley, singly or mixed together in varying 

 amounts. The corn distillers' grains contain the highest per- 

 centage of protein and are the ones oftenest met with in the 

 Massachusetts markets. On account of their high protein con- 

 tent and bulky nature, they are quite favorably known. To 

 many farmers, the terms, brewers' grains and distillers' grains 

 are synonymous. There is a wide difference in feeding value. 

 Corn distillers' grains are equal if not superior to gluten feed. 



WHEAT FEEDS. 



These are flour middlings, standard middlings, wheat bran 

 and mixed feed. Wheat bran consists of the hull or outer part 

 of the seed. Wheat bran as compared with other concentrates 

 usually is an expensive feed and if it were not for its value as a 

 diluter for more concentrated feeds, and as a regulator for dairy 

 animals, its use would not be advisable at present prices. Only 

 a little over one-half of the bran is digested, and assimilated 

 by the animal. At the Massachusetts Experiment Station we 

 have been quite successful in mixing rich concentrates with the 

 ensilage and doing away with bran entirely. 



The gluten cells of the wheat seed which are just under the 

 hull, as in the case of the corn kernel, together with some of the 

 hull and some of the starch, make up the middlings. In the 

 standard middlings, the flour predominates. 



Good mixed feed should contain all of the by-products of the 

 flour mill, with the exception of the screenings. Some millers 

 grind the screenings and incorporate them with the mixed feed, 

 which produces an inferior article that can be readily detected 

 by the black specks present. 



During the last few years, adulterated mixed feed has been 

 sold to some extent in New England. Most of this feed con- 

 tains about 500 pounds ground cobs to 1,500 pounds mixed 

 feed. Formerly, the feed was sold as a pure wheat feed but 

 at the present time it is being sold in most cases on its merits. 



A number of other protein feeds, most of which contain under 

 20 per cent of protein, might be mentioned. Among them are 

 prepared stock foods, which contain, beside refuse from the 



