122 MAINE AGRICUI.TUAL e;XPERIME:NT STATION. I905. 



Of the unmalted cereal foods, the oats contain 25 per cent 

 more protein than the wheat preparations, and nearly double 

 that of the corn. The oats also furnish four times as much fat 

 as the wheat and ten times as much as the corn. They are richer 

 in ash constituents and furnish more energy (heat of combus- 

 tion) than either of the other two grains. The only respect in 

 which oats are excelled by the corn and wheat is in the amount 

 of carbohydrates, the most abundant and least valuable of the 

 nutrients named. Corn in its natural condition contains on the 

 average over 4 per cent of fat. The small amount in the corn 

 meal and hominy is due to the removal of the germ. The wheat 

 products are intermediate in composition between the corn and 

 oats. 



The malted foods seem to have been more thoroughly dried 

 than the other products, containing only from 6^ to 7 per cent 

 of water. Otherwise their percentage composition does not vary 

 greatly from that of the same cereals in the unmalted conditions, 

 although there are other differences to be mentioned later. 



Analyses made at different times of the same brand show great 

 variations in composition. This is not strange when it is remem- 

 bered that there are many varieties of these cereal grains, vary- 

 ing much in composition, and that even the same variety will 

 show wide differences in composition according to the character 

 of the season, soil, and fertilizer used. In the manufacture of 

 patent flours the variations are carefully offset by the miller, 

 who first informs himself concerning the quality of the wheats 

 at his disposal, and then by judicious blending of several grades 

 is able to turn out a very uniform product. Equally exact 

 results might be obtained with these goods if the manufacturer 

 found it for his interest to give the matter his study and care. 

 Variations in the composition of these goods are not as easily 

 discoverable as with bread flours, and the composition of the 

 output, except for the limits imposed by nature, becomes largely 

 a matter of chance. 



Graham flour is made by grinding the entire wheat kernel. 

 It contains, therefore, everything found in the kernel, including 

 the woody and indigestible outer coatings. The so-called 

 "entire wheat flour" is usually prepared in precisely the same 

 manner, except that it is afterward subjected to a bolting or sift- 



