504 
THE PRINCIPLES OP BOTANY. 
vegetable substances which we have so far grouped are very 
similarly composed; thus the simpler food products may be said 
to be composed of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, and their 
materials are called non-azotised compounds, such as starch. 
The essential and fixed oils consist of hydrogen and carbon, 
termed hydrocarbons, whilst the various alkaloids are com¬ 
pounded of CHO and N (nitrogen). These are termed 
organic bases. ^ 
We shall now review some of the seeds in which these sets 
of principles are the more prominent. The different kinds 
of corn and pulse belong more particularly to those seeds 
which produce simple nutriment, and in these are found 
varied proportions of starch and gluten, but in all kinds of 
grain there are differences depending mainly upon a differ¬ 
ence in the kind and structure of the starch granules, and of 
the relative proportions of these compared with those of the 
gluten. The gluten of wheat and legumine of pulse may be 
considered as nitrogenous products of their respective seeds, 
and seeds are considered stronger or milder food inversely in 
proportion to the quantity of water entering into their or¬ 
ganisation, and directly in proportion to the amount of 
gluten or its analogous legumine, and hence for horses beans 
are more stimulative than oats, and oats less feeding than 
wdieat, while both are better in proportion to their weight, as 
this argues a state of dryness or the absence of much water, 
and also a larger proportion of kernel or body of the seed to 
husk; thus it is that oats of 481bs. to the bushel are con¬ 
sidered as superior to those of 301b., and thus has originated 
the saying that work takes the beans out of a horse, as it 
causes a waste of the muscles on the one hand, and a de¬ 
struction of such heat-producing materials as starch to keep 
up, so to speak, the fire of life on the other. 
We now know the proportionals of these matters in dif¬ 
ferent kinds of grain, as well as in the different qualities of 
each. The chemical analyses of these, then, will explain to 
us the best and the cheapest source whence to get fat pro¬ 
ducing or muscle-making products, and this knowledge also 
])oints out to us what results may be expected from different 
kinds of seeds, according to their quality and condition ; thus 
a good quality of grain, as of oats, depends upon a full 
quantity of seed in the husk which, if in good condition, 
will contain less water than in bad, and as one effect of age 
is to produce a greater dryness, old corn is superior in feeding 
properties to newer. 
In order to show these differences we now give the ana^ 
lyses of beans and oats. 
