NITROGENOUS NUTRIENTS. 31 



To explain : The animal body is made up of nitrogenous, 

 and non-nitrogenous elements, with some mineral sub- 

 stances. Some fodders possess all these elements in 

 proper combination, such as a mixture of grasses or meadow 

 hay. Some have one and some the other group of nutri- 

 ents in excess; such as straw, turnips and Indian corn, 

 have the carbonacious elements in excess, whilst oil-cake, 

 malt-sprouts, etc., contain an excess of the nitrogenous or 

 albuminoid nutrients but when properly mixed these will 

 constitute a complete food or ration. 



Let us now explain the three groups of nutrients con- 

 tained in vegetables. 



NITROGENOUS NUTRIENTS. 



We shall not attempt to go into a detailed explanation of 

 all the names of nitrogenous substances which modern 

 chemists have found to exist in vegetables used as food for 

 animals. So far as any practical advantage to the feeder, 

 these nitrogenous substances may all be considered to have 

 the same general composition as the albuminoids of the 

 animal body, and are generally called albuminoids. Three 

 of these vegetable albuminoids, best understood, albumen, 

 casein, and fibrin, we shall proceed to explain and compare 

 them with animal albuminoids giving a table containing 

 these with several other subdivisions recently made by 

 chemists. 



If we examine wheat flour, making it into a dough, then 

 washing it several times on a piece of muslin, tied over the 

 mouth of a tumbler, until the water passes through. clear, 

 the flour is separated into its two chief constituent parts 

 the starch, which forms the chief portion of the wheat, is 

 washed through the muslin ; the gluten, mixed with the 

 bran of the grain, remains on the muslin, in. the form of a 

 whitish-gray, sticky substance. The gluten thus obtained 

 is not simple, but a mixture of several similar substances 



