nd of a better quality, too, than
is found in either ripe or very unripe seed. But this is not the only
advantage, for the straw of the green, or rather of the greenish-yellow
corn, is fully twice as valuable for feeding purposes as that of the
over-ripe cereals. There is an extraordinary decrease in the amount
of the albuminous constituents of the stems of the cereals during the
last two or three weeks of their maturation, and as there is not a
corresponding increase of those materials in the seed, they must be
evolved in some form or other from the plants.

There can be only one object attained by allowing the seed to fully
ripen itself, and that is the insurance of its more perfect adaptability
to the purpose of reproduction. When the _testa_ is thick it best
protects the germ of the future plant enclosed in it from the ordinary
atmospheric influences until it is placed under the proper conditions
for its germination.

_Wheat, a costly food._--It occasionally happens that the wheat harvest
is so abundant, that many feeders give large quantities of this grain to
their stock. Now, as Indian corn is at least 25 per cent. cheaper than
wheat, even when the price of the latter is at its _minimum_, I believe
that it is always more economical to sell the wheat raised on the farm,
and to purchase with the proceeds of its sale an equivalent of Indian
corn, which is a more fattening kind of food.

_Bran_ is, with perhaps the exception of malt-dust, the most nutritious
of the refuse portions of grains. It is usually given to horses, and
owing to its high proportion of nitrogen, is, perhaps, better expended
in the bodies of those hard-working animals, than in those of pigs and
cows--animals that occasionally come in for a share of this valuable
feeding-stuff. It should be borne in mind that bran commonly acts as
a slight laxative, and that it is less digestible than flour, a large
portion of it usually passing through the animal's body unchanged.
This drawback to the use of bran may be obviated by either cooking or
fermenting the article, or by combining it with beans or some other
kind of binding food.

AVERAGE ANALYSES OF GRAIN.

--------------+-------+------+-----+--------+------+-----+--------+------
| | | | |Indian| | Rye |Buck-
|Barley.| Bere.|Oats.|Oatmeal.| Corn.|Rice.|(Irish).|wheat.
+-------+------+-----+--------+------+-----+--------+