IS'ew York Agricultural Experiment Station. 63 



oat cliop No. 542 hiave in them but little starch, these being nearly 

 pure oat offals. 



These facts are in harmony with the outcome of digestion ex- 

 periments, from which we learn that the nitrogen-free extract 

 of the whole grains is much more digestible than that of most of 

 th|e manufacturing Avastes which come from them, as can be seen 

 by the figures in the right hand column of the above table. 



Some " mixed feeds " apparently are compounded and 

 advertised on the assumption that feeding stuffs are to be compared 

 in value solely on the basis of their percentage of protein and fat. 

 Tliis is a false basis. The quality of the accompanying carbo- 

 hydrates must always be considered. For instance it would not 

 be difficult to simulate the composition of corn meal or of wheat 

 middlings by mixing oat hulls with some of the old style linseed 

 meal, adding a little crushed linseed to make up the deficiency of 

 fat. But would the mixture equal corn meal in value? By no 

 means. In one case the protein and fat would be associated with 

 woody fiber in large proportion, and in the other case with little 

 else than starch. The net value of the corn meal would be much 

 above that of the mixture as measured by the extent and labor 

 of digestion. 



It is quite clear to the writer that those teachers who publish 

 tables or estimates of feeding stuff comparative values based wholly 

 upon the protein content are misleading the agTicultural public 

 and furnishing to manufacturers a justification for false claims. 



The relation of oat offals to one class of feeding stuffs has been 

 discussed somewhat at length, because it is proper for farmers to 

 understand its sig-nificance. They have a right to know the 

 nature and value of what they are buying, a statement to which 

 no legitimate trade interest will take exception. 



miscellaneous feeding stuffs. 



The succeeding table gives the analyses of a number of materials 

 of some interest. 



