CHAPTER V. 



Foods and Food Values. 



Readers of the poultry and agricultural press are contin- 

 ually coming across expressions, the meaning of which they 

 but dimly comprehend. They read of "narrow" and "wide" 

 rations, "proteids" and "carbohydrates," "concentrates" and 

 "coarse foods." All this in most cases is so much Greek. I 

 have talked with many intelligent poultry keepers, but have 

 rarely found one who could tell why he fed as he did apart 

 from the fact that his ration had justified itself in experience. 

 And yet a little knowledge of the elementary principle of sci- 

 entific feeding may be of great value. It will enable a man to 

 feed more economically, as he can often substitute for a high- 

 priced food one much lower in price, and also to feed so that 

 he can secure the results he is after without loss of time or 

 waste in any way. It is my purpose in this chapter to make 

 the matter of foods and feeding so simple that anyone can 

 understand it. 



PROTEIDS THINGS THAT BUILD UP. 



The food that is eaten has three functions to perform. The 

 first is to build up. In the animal body a process of waste and 

 repair is continually going on. Old tissues are breaking down 

 and being replaced by new ones. It is evident that if an exact 

 balance is to be preserved considerable food must be eaten. 

 But besides this process of waste and repair another process 

 may be going on that of growth and manufacture. In the 

 chick, for instance, the frame is being built up rapidly, the 

 feathers are coming out, and the flesh and muscles receive 

 their daily increment. In the laying hen the egg is being 

 formed. Now there are certain elements in the food that is 

 taken that go to repair the waste and build up the body ; they 

 also enter largely into the manufactured product the milk 

 of the cow and the egg of the hen. These elements are called 

 proteids. They are absolutely necessary to the life and health 

 of the animal, and must be furnished in sufficient quantities or 

 decay and death will ensue. 



