REPORT OF THE CHEMIST 



171 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



No. 1. — An excellent meal, well calculated for use to increase the protein ratio 

 in poultry food. It differs from the majority of the better samples examin-ed in 10(>4 

 by possessing a larger proportion of proteiir, but a small percentage of bone. 



No. 2.— For furnishing protein, this meal is worth but little more than half No. 

 1. A comparison with the results obtained on the if organ product in 1904: shows that 

 its composition is practically identical with the meal then manufactured. 



THE NUTRlxm: VALUE OF FROZEN WHEAT STRAW AND CHAFF. 



It occasionally has happened in certain districts of the northwestern provinces 

 that frost has overtaken the wheat crop v.-hile the grain is still immature, or in other 

 words not fuUy ripe. Under such circumstances, development of the grain is arrested 

 and a small, more or less shrivelled, kernel resvilts. This frosted wheat, as we showed 

 some years ago, is very valuable from the feeding standpoint, though injured for 

 flour making purposes. Our data proved that its protein content is considerably 

 higher than that of the unfrozen, fully ripened wheat. 



We are now able to present data respecting the straw and chaff of frozen wheat, 

 the desirability of the work being brought before us by a correspondent in the north- 

 west who considered that such straw and chaff might possess an enhanced feeding 

 value. Our correspondent writes : ' Some wheat was injured by frost a week or ten 

 days before it was ripe, or about September 2, (1905). Thinking the straw worthless, 

 we put it at the bottom of the stack. However, the cattle discovered it and ate it 

 in preference to the upper part of the stack^ which was left standing until there was 

 danger of it falling over. Can you give me any reason for this preference? Evi- 

 dently the frozen straw has a higher feeding value.' 



Accordingly, we obtained samples of frozen straw and chaff and also, for the 

 purposes of comparison, straw and chaff from similar wheat that had been fully ma- 

 tured. As these were from adjacent fields the conditions of growth were probably 

 very much alike until such time as the frost occurred. As the samples were from the 

 thresher and contained as a consequence broken grain and more or less foreign matter, 

 tbey were all carefully picked over before grinding for analysis. The data, therefore, 

 represent in each case the composition of straw and the chaff perfectly free from any 

 admixture or impurity. 



Analysis. 



These data, while showing that no very great differences exist, are sufficiently 

 clear to confirm the conjecture that the frozen straw and chaff have the higher nutri- 

 tive value. 



The frozen straw contains -63 per cent or about one-seventh more protein than 

 the straw from the unfrozen, fully ripened grain ; and, similarly, we find in the frozen 

 chaff a higher protein content (about -39 per cent) than in that from the fully 

 matured wheat. 



Since the cattle prefer the frozen straw there can be no doubt about its greater 

 palatability. This is partly due to its being less hard and possibly in part to the de- 

 velopment of a certain amount of sugar by the frost — a point unfortunately over- 



