Experiments on the Feeding of Stock. 
441 
hiblted ; the grain is swollen, ami, in spite of every attention 
being paid to it, will not resume its former natural bulk." 
A further experiment, made on a j\ eapolitan white wheat 
(Richelle), confirmed these results. In this case, 420 grammes 
were moistened until they were at the sprouting-point ; they then 
weighed 540 grammes, and had therefore absorbed 28 per cent, 
of water. 
After being dried for 4 days in the open air, the wheat 
returned to its original weight, and had therefore given up 
all the water it had absorbed. At the first the density of this 
wheat was 1381, its weight per litre SOl'l grammes (or (34 lbs. 
(nearly) per bushel); at the last the density was 1327, and the 
weight per litre 70G"4 (=56 lbs. per bushel). 
In the wet season of 1850 the crop actually grown on the farm 
had the specific gravity 1350, and weighed 748 grammes (= 57^ 
lbs. per bushel). 
This shows clearly that wheat measures well after it has been 
damped, and that it will not lose much of its acquired bulk if 
kept till it is fairly dry again. 
M. Reiset next approaches the question of nutritive value : he 
assumes that this will vary with the amount of gluten and albu- 
men, and proceeds (in accordance with M. Boussingault's teaching) 
to ascertain by two methods the nitrogen in the grain, from which, 
he may then calculate the gluten arid albumen contained in it. 
He finds that the nitrogen in the grain varies from 1'71 to 2'87 
per cent., equivalent to 10'63 and 17"93 per cent, of gluten 
respectively, allowing 16 of gluten to 1 of nitrogen ; that there is 
no apparent connection between the amount of gluten found in 
any variety and its weight per bushel, but an evident relation 
between the gluten and the density. As a rule, the dry hard 
glazed wheats, such as are generally sought for in the manufacture 
of maccaroni, &c., have the greater density and the most gluten. 
The amount of ash (which is from 1"77 to 2'25 per cent.) generally 
varies with the nitrogen. 
Estimated by this standard, wheats have a very different feeding 
value, which is but ill appreciated in the markets. 
To bring out this distinction, a comparison is made between 
Barker's stiff-straw wheat, containing 16"51 per cent, of water 
with 9'54 per cent, of gluten, and a wheat named Herisson (the 
Hedgehog), grown near Arpajon, containing 13"48 per cent, of 
water and 15-51 of gluten. Merchants would prefer the English 
wheat, because the grain is plump and tender, and, if they bought 
the other at all, would insist on a lower rate, because its kernels 
are small, glazed, and ill-shapen ; yet as much nitrogen is con- 
tained in 100 lbs. of the latter as in 162^ of the English wheat. 
Suppose, says M, Reiset, that the labourer can buy these two 
