12 
THE POULTRY BOOK. 
waste or the increase of fat ; it is now well known that the starchy materials before 
spoken of as warmth-giving food are capable of being converted, by the living 
forces of the body, into fat ; nevertheless it is unquestioned that where it is desired 
to fatten animals rapidly (or to supply fat to he consumed in generating warmth, as 
is necessary in all cold regions) it is the absolute requisite that the food eaten should 
contain oily and fatty matters, which can he readily absorbed by the digestive organs, 
and either stored up or applied to the immediate wants of the body. 
If we apply these principles to the examination of the various substances em- 
ployed in feeding poultry, we shall arrive at a far more satisfactory knowledge 
of their real value for the purposes required than by acting on any empirical 
opinion as to this or that variety of food being more valuable. 
FEEDER FOR GRAIN. 
a. A flap to be opened or shut at pleasure. — &. Hinged cover, through which the feeder is supplied. — c. An 
incline, throwing the com, as wanted, into the feeding trough. 
Grain of various kinds forms the chief article in the poultry dietary, and, of the 
different varieties of corn, barley is unquestionably more used than any other; 
This is evidently dependent on the fact that its cost by weight is less than that of 
either wheat or oats. Barley possesses a very fair proportion of flesh-forming sub- 
stances — about eleven per cent. — but is remarkable as containing a less amount of 
fatty matters than the other varieties of corn. Barley-meal is identical in composi- 
tion with the whole grain, as the latter is ground without the removal of the husk ; 
but it should be remembered that it is the inferior and cheaper samples which are 
so used. 
Wheat is dearer both by measure and weight than barley, and in a sound 
state is seldom employed. Its capability of putting on flesh is not so much greater 
than that of barley as is usually imagined, and hence its employment is not so 
advantageous as is generally supposed ; the amount of flesh-forming food in wheat 
averages about twelve per cent. It fortunately happens for the poultry keeper that 
the small wheat usually purchased for fowls is in every respect the more desirable. 
To quote from the late Professor Johnston’s Chemistry of Common Life , — “ It is a 
point of some interest that the small or tail corn which the farmer separates before 
