188 INDIAN CORN. 



tected any injurious quality in the cob, but has shown 

 that it contains a positive and available nutritive 

 value, and as the testimony of experience is mainly in 

 its favor, there seems to be no good reason why it 

 should not be turned to a useful account. 



The ratio of the cob to the grain, when compared 

 by weight, is found to be, on a general average, about 

 as one to four, and the proportion it bears to the entire 

 ear before shelling as one to five. 



According to chemical analysis there are in two 

 hundred pounds of cobs about one hundred and twenty- 

 seven pounds of fibre, and the balance consists of vari- 

 ous substances capable of assimilation , including sugar 

 and extract, dextrine or gum, glutinous matter, a 

 proportion of soluble fibre, etc. There are therefore 

 in every two hundred pounds of cobs not less than 

 seventy-three pounds of available matter, more or less 

 nutritive, which go to support respiration, to sustain 

 animal heat, and are capable of being transformed 

 into nerve, muscle, and bone. 



According to this view, there are in one thousand 

 pounds of corn and cob meal the following constit- 

 uents : 



Ground grain 800 Ibs. 



Assimilable portion of the cob Y3 



Nutritive matter 873 



Fibre of cob 12T 



1,000 Ibs. 



From this comparison it appears that, by grinding 

 the cob with the corn, there is a gain of twenty-five 



