128 Feeds and Feeding. 



packers; but we consider wheat-fed stock worth as much, as 

 corn-fed. " 



169. Damaged wheat. When low prices prevail for wheat, 

 only the best grades should be sold by the farmer. Shrunken 

 and damaged grain has almost no market value at such times, 

 while for feeding purposes it may be nearly or quite equal to 

 grain which commands the highest price. The farmer should 

 carefully grade his grain at home and sell only the best. 



Sometimes the farmer with such wheat on hand hesitates about 

 feeding it, fearing disastrous results. A number of inquiries a& 

 to the advisability of feeding poor wheat have come to the writer 

 in past years, and he has always recommended that, instead of 

 wasting such grain, it be fed in moderate quantities mixed with 

 other materials. No ill results have ever come to notice from 

 such grain when fed in reasonable quantity. (763-4) 



170. Composition of wheat grain. If we examine the wheat grain 

 we find, first of all, three membranous coats which have some- 

 what the character of straw, and show on analysis about the same 

 composition, with corresponding feeding value. Beneath these 

 comes the fourth, called the "aleurone layer, 77 which is rich in 

 protein, and which during the process of milling goes with the 

 three outer layers to form bran. The embryo or germ of the 

 grain is rich in oil, protein and mineral matter. The remaining 

 portion of the grain consists of thin- walled cells, all packed to 

 repletion with starch grains. Associated with the starch are 

 grains of protein matter called gluten, which give to dough from 

 wheat flour that tenacity which enables it to retain gas bubbles, 

 produced by yeast fermentation, during baking, thereby yielding 

 a light, porous bread. In producing flour the aim of the miller is 

 to secure all of the starch and gluten possible, avoiding the other 

 constituents of the grain. He avoids incorporating the embryo 

 or germ because, though rich in oil and protein, it turns dark on 

 exposure to the air and gives the flour a specked appearance; 

 further, the germ makes a sticky dough. Nor does the miller 

 desire the aleurone layer, rich though it is in protein, for flour 

 containing it has a brown tint. The amount of gluten in the 

 wheat grain is smallest in the center and increases toward the 



