252 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



kind of production is required, muscular force. And I need not say that 

 for these different kinds of production different kinds and amounts of 

 fodder are requisite. 



In the light of modern experimental science the maintenance of the 

 animal and the production of meat, milk, heat, and force are not matter 

 of so much hay, grain, and roots, but of the gluten, sugar, starch, fat, 

 and so on, of which these are composed. 



It has been already explained that animal and vegetable substances 

 are composed of water, organic matters, and ash. 



The following is, for instance, what is found in 100 pounds of wheat 

 (grain) : 



Pounds. 



Water 13.5 



Organic substances : 



Gluten, fibrin, &c. (containing nitrogen) 13.2 



Starch f 1 59.5 



Sugar -^ I containing >^ 2.4 



Gum and other extractive matter ] no nitrogen, i 4. 7 



Fiber (cellulose) I J 3.0 



Fatty matters (containing no nitrogen) 1. G 



Mineral matter (ash) 2. 1 



Total 100.0 



Corn, hay, potatoes, in fact vegetables generally, contain nearly the 

 same list of ingredients as wheat, but in different proportions. The 

 same is true of animal foods. Meat and milk consist of similar ingre- 

 dients. 



For our present purpose we have to consider only the organic substance. 

 Now notice in the table above that there is a distinction between two 

 classes of ingredients of this organic substance of wheat. The gluten 

 and fibrin contain nitrogen, while the sugar, starch, fiber, fat, &c., con- 

 tain no nitrogen. 



This distinction between the nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous food 

 ingredients is a fundamental one in economical cattle feeding. 



Albumen, found pure in the white of an egg, is a representative of 

 several kinds of substances, which consist chiefly of carbon, oxygen, 

 hydrogen, and nitrogen. To these nitrogenous materials we apply the 

 general name, albuminoids. The albuminoids are found in all animals 

 and plants. Muscle or lean meat, casein (curd) of milk, fibrin of blood, 

 gluten, albumen, and fibrin of plants, are examples. Clover, beans, 

 pease, oil-cake, are rich in albuminoids. 



Again, there are other animal and vegetable materials that consistj 

 of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, simply. These are called carbohy-l 

 drates and fats. Starch, sugar, gum, and cellulose or fiber are carbohy-' 

 drates. The oily and fatty matters of plants as well as butter, tallow, 

 &c., are fats. Potatoes, sugar-beets, fodder-corn, and straw are rich in 

 carbohydrates and poor in albuminoids. 



The distinctions between the ingredients of the animal tissues and 



