WHEAT 187 
with other less expensive, bulky products. It is generally a poor 
practice to purchase the so-called gluten feeds without a guaranteed 
analysis. Even in such cases the true gluten meal is to be preferred, 
as it has a known digestibility. 
Hominy meal is another by-product of corn, resulting from the 
manufacture of corn into hominy, which is an article for human 
food consumption. The outer shell of the corn grain and the germ 
constitute a by-product which is very similar to gluten. This 
product is not generally used. 
Germ-oil meal is a by-product of the starch industry. Although 
rather limited in supply for feeding purposes, it is fairly high in 
protein and contains over ten per cent of fat. It is used in some 
localities for the finishing and fattening of poultry. 
Wheat constitutes one of the leading foods for both man and 
animals. It is becoming more and more popular as a feed for 
poultry, and at present it is recognized as the most efficient single 
feed which can be used for egg production. When compared with 
corn, wheat carries a slightly larger amount of starch as well as 
materially more protein and considerably less fat. Owing to 
this slight difference in composition it furnishes more nearly a 
balanced ration for poultry feeding. Experiments show that 
wheat is especially valuable in the feeding of young and growing 
animals, owing to its high protein and ash content. Wheat, 
together with corn, constitutes the great bulk of grain feed on 
the majority of farms in America. 
Wheat Bran and Middlings.—In the process of manufacturing 
flour, the layers of wheat kernels are split up into different com- 
ponents or grades. These are known as bran, middlings or shorts, 
and flour. Shorts are essentially the same as middlings, ex- 
cept that a larger amount of fine bran may be present. Bran 
consists of the outer coatings of wheat kernels left in large flakes 
with portions of the inner layer of protein-bearing cells. The 
product is light, bulky, and fibrous. Middlings contain a larger 
proportion of the inner layers, including some flour, and have less 
of the outer coats and are more starchy than bran (Fig. 114). 
Wheat bran, mixed with corn meal, usually forms the basis of 
most poultry mashes. Wheat bran contains a relatively high per- 
centage of nutrients, but its digestibility is rather low,—not much 
greater than that of a good grade of legume hay. Middlings may 
well form a part of a dry-mash mixture, but are rather too sticky 
for the wet mash. Coarser productsshould go with them in all cases. 
