POULTRY FOR PROFIT 83 



carbohydrates is called the nutritive ratio. Thus, 

 when we say the nutritive ratio of shrunken wheat 

 is 1 :6.5, we mean that the wheat contains one part 

 protein to six and a half of carbohydrates and fats. 

 There is a difference between the actual protein and 

 that proportion of the actual protein which is diges- 

 tible. Some substances like oat hay contain a good 

 deal more protein than it is possible for animals to 

 digest, while others like peas and beans contain the 

 protein in such shape that it is nearly all digestible. 



This matter of digestibility of protein in its vari- 

 ous forms is a very difficult one to understand. 

 Probably no one does quite understand it. Milo 

 Hastings says in "The Dollar Hen" : "In digestion 

 these proteins are all torn to pieces and built up into 

 other kinds of protein. Just as in tearing down an 

 old house only a portion of the material can be used 

 in a new house, so it is with protein, and laboratory 

 analysis cannot tell us how much of the old house 

 can be utilized in building the new one." 



It is enough for us to know that protein is required 

 and that some feed substances contain more of it 

 than others. 



Bulletin 164 of the Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion at Berkeley goes into the composition of vari- 

 ous feedstuffs very carefully, and should be in the 

 hands of every feeder of poultry. I quote from it 

 the nutritive ratios of a few of the most common 

 feeds : 



Wheat, shrunken 1:6.5 or 1 :4.6 



Wheat, plump 1 :6.9 



Oats 1:6.2 



Barley 1 :7.7 



Beans, dried 1 :2.9 



Corn, Indian 1 :8.5 



Corn, Kaffir.. , 1:10.3 



