DIYISIUX OF CHEMISTRY 



229 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



influences, and in this respect resemble wheat. A hot and rather dry season during 

 the filling out of the kernel tends to a small grain, rich in protein, whereas if this 

 period be cool and wet the grain is larger and more starchy. 



Average Composition of Barley and Oats. 



These averages are from analyses made a few years ago in the Farm laboratories, 

 about twenty samples each of barley and oats, grown chiefly in different parts of 

 Ontario, Veins- examined. It will be observed that oats are rather richer in protein 

 and 1 in ash constituent and much richer in oil than barley; they, however, contain 

 more fibre. Speaking broadly, ground barley would be mealier (due to a larger per- 

 centage of starch) but the ground oats would be the stronger and richer, though some- 

 what the more fibrous feed. 



The two grains mixed and ground together make an excellent feeding material. Such 

 a mixture (usually two parts of oats to one of barley) has long been used with much 

 satisfaction in England and other Northern European countries, both for milk and 

 pork production, and undoubtedly such a meal will be found equally valuable in 

 Canadian feeding and more especially for dairy stock. The first four analyses of the 

 table are from samples drawn at short periods from a meal made by grinding oats 

 and barley in equal proportions and used on the Central Experimental Farm in an 

 experiment in pig feeding. The results indicate that the mixing has been thorough, 

 the differences between the different samples being very slight, and that a meal of a 

 most desirable character has been produced. It has a protein-content between 11 and 

 12 per cent, largely digestible, and a comparatively low percentage of fibre, two 

 features which, with its moderately loose and bulky character, should make it gener- 

 ally useful as a large component of the ration for several classes of farm stock. 



Middlings and Feed Flour. — In the modern milling of wheat by the roller pro- 

 cess, from 25 to 30 per cent of the grain appears as certain by-products of very con- 

 siderable value as cattle feeds, viz., bran, shorts, middlings, and feed flour. Bran 

 consists of the membranous coats of the wheat berry, together with the underlying 

 ' aleurone ' layer, which is especially rich in protein. Shorts and middlings are 

 almost synoymous terms and contain more floury particles and less fibre than does 

 bran. There appear to be several grades of these two latter feeds and it is not 

 uncommon nowadays to find shorts to be merely a reground, fine bran, practically 

 destitute of the mealiness that characterized the shorts of the old stone mills. Middlings 

 will vary in appearance and composition according to the proportions of the 

 fine bran particles and flour present. This by-product also occasionally contains the * 

 wheat germ, which is rich in protein and fat, but which is an undesirable ingredient 

 in flour. Feed flour also known as ' red dog,' dark feeding flour, etc., is the lowest 

 grade of flour, too dark for bread making but which has a high feeding value. 



In the table of analyses presented, the composition of middlings and feed flour 

 used in experimental pig feeding on the Central Farm, is given. In protein-content 

 they are very similar and there is not much difference in fat, though the middlings 

 are somewhat the richer. In fibre the middlings contain about four times the amount 

 found in the feed flour and similarly in ash constituents (phosphate of lime) the 



