FOOD FROM CEREALS AND OTHER SEEDS 24! 



The opinion prevails that when the feeding of buck- 

 wheat is prolonged, and especially when it forms any con- 

 siderable proportion of the ration, that it tends to induce 

 more or less of irritation in the skin and to the extent of be- 

 ing a disturbing factor. This opinion would seem to rest 

 upon a real basis. It is also claimed that the hulls have 

 made trouble when buckwheat meal has been fed very freely 

 to swine. The hulls are not readily digested. 



Speltz. This grain is really Emmer, Triticum dicoc- 

 cum, rather than Triticum spelta, but it is better known by 

 the name speltz or spelt. It has special adaptation for areas 

 where the short season for growth and the lack of moisture 

 is such as to make the production of the common cereals 

 more or less precarious. It is, therefore, grown chiefly in 

 the semi-arid belt of the West and in the country adjacent 

 thereto. It is more drought resistant than either corn or 

 wheat, is not easily injured by rust and does not lodge read- 

 ily. Notwithstanding these good qualities, it is not likely 

 that it will ever supplant the more common cereals where 

 these can be grown at their best, as it is not fully equal to 

 these in all round feeding value and, under the conditions 

 named, will not prove relatively more productive. It is fed 

 in the unground form to sheep and poultry and may be so 

 fed to horses, but when fed to other live stock it should first 

 be ground. In composition it is somewhat similar to barley, 

 but the hull which constitutes about 25 per cent of the grain 

 is somewhat more pronounced and it has more crude fibre 

 than barley. The trend of experiments shows that it is not 

 fully equal to barley in feeding value. 



For calves and cattle, during the growing period, its 

 adaptation is much the same as barley only a little below it. 

 For continued feeding to the former, a mixture of oats and 

 barley in the proportions of two and one respectively, by 

 weight, should prove satisfactory. For the latter, the pro- 

 portion of speltz may be larger. Along with say 33 per cent 

 bran by weight and 5 per cent oil meal or cake, it will 

 also prove very suitable. 



