QUALITIES OF VARIOUS FOODS. 



35 



periment illustrates the effect of malt, or malt 

 culms, in aiding digestion, and it has always 

 surprised us that the Sussex fatteners have not 

 taken advantage of it. Where obtainable, malt 

 sprouts should always be purchased, and are far 

 preferable in most cases to pea-meal, especially 

 for young stock ; but unfortunately they are a 

 local brewing product, and only obtainable in 

 some places. 



Oatmeal stands out from the list as, by itself 

 alone, an almost perfect food. Its own ratio is 

 about I :4^, and it has sufficient salts. We can 

 see at once why the Scottish people fed upon 

 it possess such tall and muscular frames, and 

 why it rears such splendid cockerels. The same 

 analysis applies to the hulled grain, " grits," or 

 groats, given to chickens. Of all the foods, 

 these two are the most valuable, taken by 

 themselves alone. Oats mainly differ in the 

 larger quantity of husk which they contain ; but 

 by fowls much of this is ground in the gizzard 

 and digested, and when the whole grain is ground 

 fine, as in Sussex, where husk and all is ground 

 to a fine flour, this added cellulose makes 

 " ground oats " also a nearly perfect food, as 

 the results of it show. There is often difficulty 

 in obtaining oats thus properly ground, as the 

 stones have to be specially dressed, but it is to 

 be hoped that increased demand by poultry- 

 keepers will gradually spread the manufacture 

 over the country. 



Wheat is used in several forms. In the 

 whole grain albuminoids are too low, below 

 I In 6 ; but the greatest deficiency is in fat, 

 whence the philosophy of bread and butter. 

 Flour and white bread are worse, the albumin- 

 oids being less than i in 8 ; hence, a sand- 

 wich is plainly a scientific combination. Bran, 

 as we should therefore expect, is much richer 

 in albuminoids, and also in fats; here again, 

 therefore, we have a corrective which may be 

 very useful, only we must bear in mind that 

 it is not all digested, and that the husky matter 

 sometimes sets up intestinal irritation if long con- 

 tinued. Still, it is often a very useful albuminoid. 

 There remains middlings ox fine sharps, of which 

 the better quality equals oatmeal as an albumin- 

 oid, and is cheap and valuable food ; but the 

 quality and nomenclature differ very greatly. 

 Some middlings are little better than fine bran ; 

 the best consists of fine sharps with some 

 amount of the coarser parts of flour. This is 

 in some places called " pollard " ; but in other 

 places the same word " pollard " denotes mere 

 bran even coarser than usual. It is much to 

 be wished that these bye-products of wheat 

 were more uniformly and e.xactly defined. 



Of the other commerce grains, buckwheat is 



inferior to wheat, its ratio being about i : 6\, 

 but being more rich in fat ; hence we see why 

 it fattens fowls so well in France. The analysis, 

 however, only refers to the new, " full," grey 

 coloured grain, which mostly comes from France, 

 and is alone worth purchase. Much that is 

 offered is light in weight and brown in colour ; 

 such is kiln-dried, and of little food value. The 

 difference accounts for the refusal to eat this 

 grain which some correspondents report. Barley 

 has more husk, and is most deficient in fat of 

 all the grains ; and unfortunately it is just the 

 poorest and most husky samples that are ground 

 into meal. Rye has less husk and more starch, 

 but is otherwise of similarly " dry " character, 

 and a poor food ; its ratio is only about i : 7j. 

 Maize appears above as the most oily (e.xcluding 

 " seeds") of all common grains ; but this has been 

 disputed, Bauer giving an analysis by which 

 the fat in maize is reduced to 5, and that in 

 oats raised above 6, making oats the most oily 

 of the cereals. That oats are rich in fat is 

 shown above, and by the rancid smell and taste 

 of stale oatmeal. It appears that in certain 

 localities this fat is increased ; while, on the 

 other hand, the fat in various American maize 

 analyses has varied from 4-8 to as high as 8-3. 

 On the whole evidence we could collect, there- 

 fore (in which the notorious and special tendency 

 of maize to deposit yellow fat must be included), 

 we have taken the figures above as at least the 

 safest, for the samples which generally reach 

 this country. The ratio comes out i : S, albumin- 

 oids being also too low, and starch too high. 

 Dari is a little better, with less fat ; and at 

 the bottom of the list comes rice, little better 

 than dry starch, and practically destitute of fat 

 altogether. Allowing for the large quantity of 

 water, potatoes stand in somewhat the same 

 position, but with a much better, though still 

 low ratio of i : 6\. 



Some other ingredients claim attention for 

 various reasons. The extraordinary quantity of 

 oil in hempseed w\\\ be practically familiar to all 

 already, while its ratio is only i : 9. What our 

 table does is to bring out the far superior value, 

 as food for poultry, of sjtnfloiver-seed. This is 

 shown to be equally rich in fat, but far superior 

 in albuminoids, and with less starch, so that it 

 comes out on the whole as i : \\. Experience fully 

 bears this out, stamping it as a most valuable 

 food, and which, growing freely in many localities, 

 and the plants giving shelter meanwhile, is well 

 worth the attention of many poultry-breeders. 

 The real food value of grass and hay will not 

 fail to be noticed ; and above all the very high 

 value of clover. This, too, has long been dis- 

 covered and acted upon by the egg-farmers of 



