OP AGRICULTURE, 169 



but in these, proportions vary to some considerable 

 extent. Even in the same species of grain, the 

 quantity of starch differs in accordance with the 

 circumstances of climate, soil and culture. 



Wheat contains about from forty to fifty per cent. 

 of starch. Corn varies less widely in its proportion 

 of starch, ranging from forty to forty-five per cent. 

 The white, soft varieties of both wheat and corn 

 abound most in starch. Eye, oats, buckwheat, and 

 beans, do not vary widely from corn, nor from one 

 another, in the per centum of this element. Rico 

 has about seventy per cent. Potatoes contain fifteen 

 per cent, of starch ; and even hay, about three to five 

 per cent. 



Gum and sugar are very similar to each other, and 

 very similar to starch in their nutritive value. They 

 are found in nearly all of our cultivated crops, in 

 quantities varying from two to fifteen per cent. Hay 

 cut in good time, has more of the substances than we 

 find in any of the ordinary grains, except rye. 



Protein compounds are composed, in part, of nitrogen. 

 They resemble most of the muscular and membraneous 

 parts of animals, and constitute the elements of food 

 which nourish these parts of the animal body. As 

 the greater part of the solid portion of the animal 

 is made up of protein matter, it may be regarded as 

 consisting of the concentrated protein of the food 

 consumed during its growth. Hence, we see the 

 importance of this kind of food in building up the 

 animal system. 



Beans and peas contain more protein matter than 

 is found in any other of our crops. It exists here in 

 a form called "legumin," and in quantity as high as 



