170     EXPERIMENTS  ON  THE  COMPOSITION  OF  WHEAT  GRAIN. 
Percentage  of  Water. 
Spalding  red.  Hallett's  white. 
Translucent  .  .  1642  .  .  14-34 
Opaque      .       .       .       1640       .       .  14-47 
But  the  percentages  of  nitrogen  were  remarkably  different ; — 
Percentage  of  Nitrogen. 
Spalding  red.  Hallett's  white. 
Translucent  .  .  1-792  .  .  2-088 
Opaque      .       .       .       1405       .       .  1-521 
It  is  usually  assumed  that  the  percentage  of  u  flesh-formers  " 
or  albuminoids  in  feeding-materials  may  be  deduced  from  the 
percentage  of  nitrogen  by  multiplying  it  by  6*25.  According 
to  this  calculation,  we  find  the  percentage  of  albuminoids  in  the 
translucent  grains  of  Hallett's  white  wheat  to  be  13*06,  while  in 
the  opaque  grains  it  is  only  9-51.  In  Spalding  red  wheat,  the 
flesh-formers  in  the  translucent  grains  amount  to  11*20  per  cent., 
and  to  8*78  per  cent,  only  in  the  opaque  grains.  Assuming  the 
medium  grains  to  be  intermediate  in  composition,  it  is  easy  to 
calculate  what  amount  of  nitrogen  the  whole  wheat  would  con- 
tain. The  calculated  and  experimental  percentages  of  nitrogen 
are — 
Spalding  red.    Hallett's  white. 
Percentages  of  nitrogen  calculated       1-598  1*745 
"  1-600  1-752 
The  chief  conclusions  at  which  I  have  arrived  from  my  ex- 
periments previously  published,  from  those  recorded  in  the  pre- 
sent note,  and  from  others  not  yet  made  known,  may  be  briefly 
summed  up  as  follows  : — 
1.  In  a  sample  of  wheat  the  translucent  grains  contain  much 
more  nitrogen  than  the  opaque,  but  the  same  percentage  of 
water. 
2.  The  translucent  grains  are  denser  than  the  opaque. 
3.  A  larger  proportion  of  the  opaque  than  of  the  translucent 
grains  germinates  and  fruits. 
4.  The  yield  of  dressed  corn  is  greater  from  the  denser  seeds, 
and  this  dressed  corn,  from  the  greater  perfection  of  its  grains, 
is  itself  denser. — London  Pharm.  Journ.,  March  1,  1866,  from 
Journal  of  Botany. 
