FEEDING 91 



The constituents containing nitrogen are 

 named the albuminoids, and those which do not 

 consist of the carbo-hydrates (starch, sugar, 

 cellulose, etc.), the fats and oils and the ash. 

 The chief vocation of the albuminoids is the 

 maintenance of lean flesh or muscle in the body, 

 and it is only from them it can be formed. The 

 carbo-hydrates and fats and oils supply energy 

 by their combustion, and also are stored up as 

 fat. There is, however, just this difference 

 between the carbo-hydrates and the fats and 

 oils ; fats and oils are in a sense concentrated 

 carbo-hydrates, because weight for weight they 

 are nearly two and a half times more valuable 

 than carbo-hydrates. The ash, or mineral 

 matter, is concerned chiefly in the formation of 

 bone, and as practically all food-stuffs contain a 

 sufficiency of it, it does not require further 

 attention here. 



Now for each kind of farm animal there is a 

 more or less fixed proportion the albuminoids 

 must bear to the other constituents, and this 

 proportion is termed the "albuminoid ratio." 

 The albuminoid ratio is the proportion the 

 albuminoids bear to the total of the carbo- 

 hydrates and the fats and oils, the latter being 



