Corn. 21 



land, and that for barley by the English feeder of stock, is not 

 merely a whim, but is founded on strictly scientific principles. 

 Thus I found good English barley quite as rich in nutritive 

 substances as Scottish oats, and a marked difference in the oats 

 produced by the two countries. To mention only one instance, 

 1 would observe that, in the analysis of two samples of oats, one 

 grown in England, the other in Scotland, I found about 1 per 

 cent, more flesh-forming substances in the Scottish oatmeal than 

 in the English. The white Scottish oats, moreover, weighed 

 42 Ibs. per bushel, and yielded, per 100 Ibs., 71 Ibs. of fine oatmeal, 

 and 28J- Ibs. of husk ; whilst the black English oats weighed only 

 37 Ibs. per bushel, and yielded 66i Ibs. of oatmeal and 33f Ibs. of 

 husk. The superior oats were sold 4s. Qd. dearer per bushel ; but 

 notwithstanding this higher price, a careful calculation, of which I 

 need not mention here the particulars, has led me to the conclu- 

 sion that it is more economical to pay 4s. 6d. more per bushel for 

 the Scottish oats than for the English. This example thus affords 

 a direct proof of the correctness of the prevailing opinion that 

 Scottish oats are better than English, and I have no doubt that in 

 those counties of England where barley or barleymeal is preferred 

 to oats or oatmeal by the farmer, the former will be found in 

 reality superior to the oats grown in the district. It likewise shows 

 that a practice generally followed by good farmers in one locality 

 ought not to be lightly discarded, and that apparent practical 

 differences of opinion often may be reconciled by judicious scien- 

 tific inquiry. 



The analyses mentioned above show that the cereal grains have 

 an analogous composition, and contain a large amount of fat- 

 producing substances. This general character distinguishes them 

 from the leguminous seed, containing a large proportion of flesh- 

 forming principles, and therefore not so well adapted to fattening 

 purposes as oat or barley meal. Indian corn, in addition to 

 much starch, which in the animal system is readily transformed 

 into fat, contains more ready-made fatty matter than any other 

 cereal grain. For this reason, Indian corn is superior in fattening 

 properties to oats and barley, and deserves to be employed as a 

 food for fattening beasts much more extensively than it is at 

 present. It also has been found a most useful fattening material 

 when given to pigs. 



As it may be interesting to compare the composition of wheaten 

 flour and oatmeal with that of the whole grain, I append the fol- 

 lowing tabular statements. The results represent the composi- 

 tion of wheaten flour and oatmeal used as human food. In the 

 best fine Scottish oatmeal as much as 18 per cent, of muscle 

 producing substances has been detected, whereas in the finest 

 wheaten flour the proportion of these substances hardly amounts 



c2 



