The Adaptability of Certain Foods 397 



digest various foods which can supply equal proportions 

 of digestible matter may be also at certain times an 

 important factor. 



A large number of the ordinary grains seem prac- 

 tically interchangeable and many grain by-products can 

 be freely substituted for different whole grains or for 

 each other and all combined as desired. But some 

 foods, such as cottonseed meal, do not seem suited to 

 common fowls, even in very small quantities. Linseed 

 meal can be fed more freely, but the unground flax- 

 seed is less satisfactory. It is probable that oats, 

 whole or ground, which appear so valuable sometimes, 

 should not be freely used at other times. About thirty 

 per cent of the entire grain is hull. To obtain the 

 available material from this requires an expenditure 

 of energy that can be better applied during periods of 

 rapid transformation, especially during the first few 

 weeks of the young bird's growth. The products of 

 the oat kernel, however, from which the hull has been 

 separated are in the unquestioned class of foods. The 

 same observation applies to buckwheat, some kinds of 

 pea meal and to certain other foods less commonly 

 used, containing a large proportion of crude fiber. 

 Reference to this point has been made before under 

 the topic of coarse and bulky foods. 



Primary consideration has naturally been given to 

 those domestic fowls upon which we depend for the 

 great bulk of eggs and meat. Other kinds are of 

 considerable importance in certain localities, or often 

 to the fancier, but concerning them not enough is 

 recorded to establish separate feeding standards. It 



