------
Water | 16.0 | 14.25| 14.0| 13.00 | 14.5 | 14.0| 16.0 | 14.19
Flesh-formers | 10.5 | 10.10| 11.5| 16.00 | 10.0 | 5.3| 9.0 | 8.58
Fat-formers | 67.0 | 64.60| 64.5| 68.00 | 69.0 | 78.5| 66.0 | 51.91
Woody fibre | 3.5 | 9.03| 7.0| 1.75 | 5.0 | 2.5| 8.0 | 23.12
Mineral matter| 3.0 | 2.02| 3.0| 1.25 | 1.5 | 0.7| 1.0 | 2.20
+-------+------+-----+--------+------+-----+--------+------
| 100.0 |100.00|100.0| 100.00 |100.0 |100.0| 100.0 |100.00
--------------+-------+------+-----+--------+------+-----+--------+------

_Barley_ is inferior in composition to wheat. As a feeding stuff, the
English farmers assign to it a higher, and the Scotch farmers a lower,
place than oats, which, perhaps, merely proves that in Scotland the oat
thrives better than the barley, and in England the barley better than
the oat. Barley-meal is extensively used by the English feeders, and
with excellent results. Where _barley-dust_ can be obtained it is a far
cheaper feeding stuff than the meal. Barley husks should never be given
to animals unless in a cooked or fermented state.

_Oat Grain_ is, perhaps, the most valuable of the concentrated foods
which are given to fattening stock. When it is cheap it will be found
a more economical feeding stuff than linseed-cake, and, unlike that
substance, can be used without the fear of adulteration. Oats are equal
to wheat in their amount of flesh-forming matters; but their very high
proportion of indigestible woody fibre detracts from their nutritive
value. Oat-meal is more nutritious than wheat-meal; and oat-flour,
especially if finely dressed, greatly excels wheat-flour in its
nutrimental properties, because, unlike the latter, the finer it is the
greater is its amount of flesh-formers. Bread made of oat-flour is very
heavy, and is far less palatable than the bread of wheat. Oat-meal has
been found to contain nearly 20 per cent. of nitrogenous matters. The
white oat is more nutritious than the black, and the greatest amount of
aliment is found in the grain which has not been allowed to over-ripen
in the field. Oat husk is very inferior to the bran of wheat. Toppings
are seldom worth the price at which they are sold.

_Indian Corn_ has been highly extolled as a fattening food for stock,
and its chemical composition would seem to justify the high opinion
which practical men have formed of its relative nutritive va