194 Kansas Academy of Science. 



Table V exhibits the elementary composition of the ash of several 

 cereals and their products as determined by E. B. Forbes and his as- 

 sociates. The figures given under "total" are not comparable with those 

 under "ash" in Table II, as the latter include oxygen that is combined with 

 the other elements. Time does not permit much detailed comparison of 

 the data shown in Table V, but attention may be drawn to a few points. 

 Com carries only about three-fourths as much total mineral elements or 

 total phosphorus as does wheat or oats, while slightly exceeding kafir 

 corn in these constituents. In calcium it is equal to kafir corn, but wheat 

 has four times as much, and oats eight times as much. In the percentage 

 of magnesium these four grains are almost identical. If now we consider 

 the ratio of calcium to magnesium we find it to be as follows: In kafii* 

 corn, 1:11; corn, 1:9; wheat, 1:2.5; oats, 1:1.2. As in the human body 

 the ratio of calcium to magnesium is 1:0.025 or 40:1, and this probably 

 holds approximately for other animals, it will be seen that not only does 

 corn exhibit a very low content of calcium, but that the ratio of calcium 

 to magnesium is far lower than with these other grains, and that all of 

 them provide calcium in much smaller quantities than they do magnesium 

 when compared with the storage needs of a growing animal. Milk con- 

 tains about eight times as much calcium as magnesium, nearly the re- 

 verse of the ratio found in corn. 



While corn and its products are very extensively used as human food, 

 corn meal being the cheapest of all food articles, the greatest use of corn 

 is for the feeding of animals. When swine are fed, the cheapest grain is 

 thus transformed into meat by the species that makes the most rapid 

 growth of all domestic animals, and is therefore by the conjunction of 

 these two factors the most economical source of meat that we have, or are 

 likely to have. 



Much might be said, if time permitted, on investigations with animals 

 touching the nutritional characteristics of corn and its products. I wish 

 to bring before you part of the results obtained in a series conducted 

 jointly by President Waters and members of the Experiment Station 

 force in the departments of Animal Husbandry and of Chemistry in the 

 Kansas State Agricultural College. 



It is a matter of common experience with practical farmers that corn 

 does not seem to be a perfect grain food. Though used extensively with 

 horses, cattle, swine and poultry, it is most satisfactory when accompanied 

 by significant quantities of other feeds. Scientific men have sought to 

 account for this by directing attention to the low ash content of corn, of 

 which mention has been made. Going somewhat deeper, the unbalanced 

 character of corn ash has been noted. In milk, calcium and magnesium 

 are present in the ratio of about 7.6:1, in the animal body the ratio is 

 about 40:1, while in corn grain it is only 0.11:1. Milk may be taken as 

 Nature's guide to the proper relation of the several metals and other 

 food constituents in food for a growing animal, and, tested by that cri- 

 terion, corn has only about one-seventieth of the calcium that would be 

 necessary to balance the magnesium present. If total solids be con- 

 sidered, it is seen that milk solids contain .770 per cent of calcium and 

 .103 per cent of magnesium, while corn solids contain .014 per cent of 



