The fact that wheat bran is a common and valuable dairy feed should not lead feeders to believe that it is indispensable and must be bought at any price. It is often possible to buy other equally valuable concentrates at a lower cost.

Bran is especially valuable for feeding stock that requires a liberal supply of protein and mineral matter and are able to digest bulky feeds; on account of its coarseness it is well adapted for use with heavy feeds like corn meal, buckwheat, middlings, etc.

Wheat middlings or shorts are well suited to the use of young animals, like pigs and calves, that do not do well on bulky fibrous bran. They are especially valuable for feeding these classes of animals, and are always mixed with other feeds, like corn meal, ground oats or barley, oil meals, etc., when so used. They contain, as a rule, about 17 per cent protein, 5 per cent fat, and less than 8 per cent fiber.

Red-dog flour, or dark feeding flour, is rich in starch, protein, and fat, containing, on the average, about 18 per cent protein, 4.5 per cent fat, and over 60 per cent nitrogen-free extract; its fiber content is generally below 2 per cent. The high percentages of protein and fat contained in red dog are due to the presence therein of the rich wheat germs which generally go into this by-product. It is, therefore, a more valuable feed than the best grades of middlings, and is also somewhat higher in price. Besides for feeding young animals, calves, and pigs, red-dog flour is used in foundry work, to prevent the mold from adhering to the castings.

White middlings or flour middlings are composed of a mixture of standard middlings and red-dog flour, and have an intermediate composition and feeding value between these feeds.

Adulterated Wheat Feeds. As a rule, the wheat feeds on the market are pure feeds, or free from serious adulterations, although of greatly varying quality. Adulterations with ground cornstalks, ground corn cobs, cedar sawdust, oat hulls, and weed seeds have, however, been identified in commercial samples in the past. The only common adulteration of wheat bran and other wheat feeds is the admixture of whole or ground grain screenings. If finely ground, the screenings are, as a rule, rather unobjectionable, since the weed seeds contain considerable amounts of nutrients, but the whole screenings make a very undesirable adulteration, on account of the danger of fouling the farm land with weeds by their

One of the most striking recent examples of this danger that

1 Wisconsin Bulletin 97, p. 30; U. S. Notice of Judgment, 66, 67, and

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has come to the author's notice was presented by a sample of wheat bran examined in the feed-control work in Wisconsin.? The analysis showed that 1413 whole seeds were found in 10 grams (or less than one-third ounce) of the bran, and the weed seeds made up over 10 per cent of the weight of the sample. The number given represents over 128,000,000 weed seeds in a ton, which would be distributed on the land with manure and, to a large extent, be ready to germinate the first season. By taking up space and plant food that should be used by farm crops, the weeds grown from the seeds would decrease the production of the land and would also increase the cost of growing the crops (see Fig. 33, p. 171).

The feed laws of the various States require that bran containing screenings must be sold as “ wheat bran mixed with screenings," and a statement of the percentage contained therein is also required in some cases. The same applies to screenings in middlings.

Oat Feeds. The by-products in the manufacture of oatmeal are similar to those obtained at the flour mills, except for the differences in the structure of the oat kernel. Oats consist of a kernel and a hull which are easily separated. The former is high in starch, protein, and fat; the latter is low in all those components, and high in fiber, hence has a very low feeding value. As previously shown, the hulls make up about one-third of the oat kernel, on the average, and contain 30 to over 40 per cent fiber and only about 3 per cent protein.

The hairy tips on the oats are separated in the manufacture of oatmeal, after the kernels are hulled, and make up the by-product sold as oat dust. The only other refuse feed obtained in oat mills is oat shorts or middlings (often sold as oat feed).

Oat dust contains considerable protein (13.5 per cent), fat (4.8 per cent), and other valuable feed components, with about 18 per cent fiber. It is, therefore, a feed of some importance, although its light, fluffy mechanical condition makes it difficult to feed except in mixtures with heavy concentrates.

Oat shorts or middlings are the richest of the by-products from oats, and correspond closely to wheat middlings in chemical composition, with a somewhat higher fat content than this feed.

Oat feed contains ground oat hulls with shorts or middlings; it should be bought only on a definite guarantee of its composition, including maximum fiber content. The oat feeds on the market differ greatly in composition and feeding value, according to the

* Circular 30, p. 79; see also Circular 97 of the same station, and Vermont Bulletin 138.

condition of the feed market and the integrity of the manufacturer. Ground oat hulls have frequently in the past been used as adulterants for ground corn and oats, or oat feeds (p. 168). Unless they are present in excessive quantities, the true quality of these feeds can be determined only by chemical analysis, and it is not safe, therefore, to buy such feeds except on a guarantee, and of reputable feed dealers or manufacturers.

Oat clippings are mainly the upper ends of the oat kernel that have been cut off by clipping machines, in order to increase the bushel weight of the oats and save storage room, especially for the export trade. The clippings are of about similar composition and feeding value as oat dust.

Barley Feed.—In the manufacture of pearl barley or barley flour only one by-product is obtained, which is sold under the name of barley feed or meal. It resembles wheat bran closely in composition, except that it contains a somewhat higher percentage of nitrogen-free extract and less fiber. The two feeds may, in general, be considered of similar feeding value.

Rye Feeds.-Rye is used in this country mainly in the manufacture of spirits and for feeding livestock; the manufacture of rye flour is a relatively unimportant industry. The refuse from rye mills is sold either as rye feed or as two separate feeds, rye bran and rye middlings. The process of manufacture is similar to that of the wheat feeds. Rye feed contains, on the average, about 15.5 per cent protein, 0.3 per cent fat, and 5 per cent fiber. It is, therefore, considerably lower in fiber and in fat than wheat bran, but otherwise quite similar in composition to this feed. It is often sold at a lower price than wheat bran, and is then an economical feed, well worthy of a trial for feeding dairy cows or pigs. It should

a be fed in moderate amounts to pigs, as it will otherwise produce a soft work of inferior quality. In Germany rye feed is considered a more valuable feeding stuff than wheat bran, as it is believed to be more easily digested and more nutritious. This may be due to the fact that rye and rye feed contain a large amount of diastase, which is found in only small amounts in wheat bran. There are also marked differences in the protein substances of the two cereals, the most important one being that rye contains no glutenin, which, with gliadin, forms the main protein substance of wheat.

Buckwheat Feeds.—Buckwheat flour mills supply the feed market with three or four by-products, viz., buckwheat hulls, bran, middlings, and feed. Buckwheat hulls are the coarse, black cover

ing of the buckwheat kernels, which are readily separated therefrom. They have practically no feeding value whatever, although, if finely ground, they may serve a purpose as dilutant of heavy feeds, like corn meal or buckwheat middlings. The hulls contain about 4 per cent protein, less than 1 per cent fat, nearly 50 per cent fiber, and 36 per cent nitrogen-free extract. Buckwheat feed means the entire refuse obtained in the manufacture of buckwheat flour, and contains ordinarily one-half to two-thirds of hulls, the balance being made up of the heavy, floury portion of the buckwheart grain immediately inside of the hulls, known as middlings or shorts. Buckwheat feed composed of one-half middlings and one-half hulls will contain about 15.7 per cent protein and 24 per cent fiber, and one containing one-third middlings and two-thirds hulls about 12 per cent protein and 30 per cent fiber.* A study of the digestible components furnished by this feed and by wheat bran would lead to the conclusion that a good quality of buckwheat feed (containing not much over one-half hulls, by weight) is worth about 20 per cent less than wheat bran. Buckwheat middlings are a very valuable and rich feed, containing about 28 per cent true protein and 7 per cent fat, with only 4 to 6 per cent fiber. It is highly prized as a feed for dairy cows, but cannot often be obtained as a separate article of commerce; most millers sell their entire amount of refuse as buckwheat feed.

Corn Feeds.— The corn kernel (Fig. 36) consists of five different parts: An outer and an inner layer of skin or hull, a layer of gluten cells, the germ, and the main starchy part (endosperm), some of which is hard and flinty, and some soft. The New Jersey station made analyses of the different parts of the corn kernel and determined the approximate proportion of each, with results as shown in the table.

Composition of Dry Substance of Corn Kernel, in Per Cent

* Wisconsin Bulletin 170, p. 76.

Bulletin 105; see also Illinois Bulletin 87. For vitamine content of Indian corn and corn milling products, see Chem. Abstr. 12, p. 2600.

The most striking part of the data shown in the table is the high protein, fat, and ash contents of the corn germ. This contains 65 per cent of the total fat in the kernel, 16 per cent of the protein, and about 60 per cent of the ash (70 per cent of the phosphoric-acid content). The hulls (skin) contain very nearly one-half of the total fiber, and the starchy part about 90 per cent of the total nitrogen-free extract of the kernel.

The only by-products of corn or hominy mills used for feeding farm animals are corn bran and hominy meal. Both of these are obtained by similar manufacturing processes as those given under wheat feeds. The corn bran does not differ greatly from wheat bran in chemical composition; it is lower in ash and protein, and somewhat higher in carbohydrates and fiber, however; its digestibility is slighly higher than that of wheat bran, except for the protein it contains, which is considerably lower, viz., 54 per cent, against 77 per cent for wheat bran. The two feeds may, in general, be considered of similar feeding value, in so far as it is possible to compare the feeding values of two feeds of as different nutritive ratios (corn bran, 1: 10.6; wheat bran, 1:4).

Hominy meal, feed or chop, consists of the bran, germ, and soft floury portion of the corn kernel which are separated in the manufacture of hominy or brewer's grits." It forms a very valuable, palatable, fattening feed, of a similar composition to Indian corn, the main difference being that it is higher in fat and lower in nitrogenfree extract than is Indian corn, and also somewhat higher in fiber, as will be seen from the following average analyses:

Chemical Composition and Digestibility of Hominy Meal, in Per Cent

A similar feed manufactured from Southern "grits" is sold in the South as Corn Hearts."

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