------------------+-------+-------+-------+---------+------+------- |Flesh- |Warmth-| Bone- | Husk |Water.| |forming|giving |making | or | | There is in every | Food. | Food. | Food. | Fibre. | | 100 lbs. of +-------+-------+-------+---------+ | |Gluten,|Fat or |Starch,| Mineral | | | &c. | Oil. | &c. |Substance| | ------------------+-------+-------+-------+---------+------+------- Oats | 15 | 6 | 47 | 2 | 20 | 10 Oatmeal | 18 | 6 | 63 | 2 | 2 | 9 Middlings or fine | | | | | | Sharps | 18 | 6 | 53 | 5 | 4 | 14 Wheat | 12 | 3 | 70 | 2 | 1 | 12 Barley | 11 | 2 | 60 | 2 | 14 | 1 Indian Corn | 11 | 8 | 65 | 1 | 5 | 10 Rice | 7 |a trace| 80 | a trace | -- | 13 Beans and Peas | 25 | 2 | 48 | 2 | 8 | 15 Milk | 41/2 | 3 | 5 | 3/4 | -- | 863/4 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Barley is more generally used than any other grain, and, reckoned by weight, is cheaper than wheat or oats; but, unless in the form of meal, should not be the only grain given, for fowls do not fatten upon it, as, though possessing a very fair proportion of flesh-forming substances, it contains a lesser amount of fatty matters than other varieties of corn. In Surrey barley is the usual grain given, excepting during the time of incubation, when the sitting hens have oats, as being less heating to the system than the former. Barley-meal contains the same component parts as the whole grain, being ground with the husk, but only inferior barley is made into meal. Wheat of the best description is dearer than barley, both by weight and measure, and possesses but about one-twelfth part more flesh-forming material, but it is fortunate that the small cheap wheat is the best for poultry, for Professor Johnston says, "the small or tail corn which the farmer separates before bringing his grain to market is richer in gluten (flesh-forming food) than the full-grown grain, and is therefore more nutritious." The "Henwife" finds "light wheats or tailings the best grain for daily use, and next to that barley."