12 



THE ECONOMICS OF FEEDING HORSES 



matter under the two separate forms of proteins and 

 amides, and not simply as a joint total : 



Percentage Composition of Pasture Grass cut at Different 

 Dates — in 100 Parts of the Dry Matter (Warrington). 



The cereal grains and most concentrated foods fed to 

 working horses contain a very small proportion of nitro- 

 genous substance in the form of amides, so that for 

 practical purposes it suffices to reckon the total nitrog- 

 enous matter as equivalent to that amount of protein. 

 In immature and watery foods, such as young grass and 

 roots, in malt-coombs, and, among other foodstuffs, in 

 molasses, the percentage of amides is considerable, and 

 must be allowed for. They must be deducted from the 

 total nitrogenous matter so as to leave only the true 

 proteins, but they should be added on to the other 

 nutrients as energy producers. 



The Carbo-hydrates in foodstuffs can be divided into 

 two groups — the soluble, such as starch, sugar, and 

 soluble cellulose ; and the insoluble, chiefly occurring in 

 the crude fibre as cellulose derivatives, such as lignin. 

 The soluble carbo-hydrates are very important con- 

 stituents of a diet, and are composed of the elements 

 carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, the hydrogen and oxygen 

 always being in the atomic proportion of two of the 

 former to one of the latter. A sugar such as glucose, 



