Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1873-06-28
The Nutritive Value Of Bran.

The nutritive value of all food depends
much upon the amount of gluten which
1t contains, as this is the substance which
goes to form muscle. The proportions
of gluten in whole grain, bran, and fine
flour are as follows: Whole grain, twelve
per cent; bran, fourteen per cent; fine
flour, ten per cent. By sitting. out the
bran we, therefore, render the flour less
nutritious as well as less wholesome. AS
bran constitutes from one-eighth to one
fourth of the whole weight of wheat, on
the average. ene-siXth, there Is great
waste of muscle-forming material by bolt
ing. True, it may 90 for the nourishment
of inferior animals, but 1t sells for less
price, does less good, and thus used is
drawback on the just profits Of the
farmer.
As compensation for this loss in the
sale of his wheat and flour, the farmer
should use all his bran In feeding his
stock, and if he purchases the bran of
his neighbors, those who live In Illinois
or California, or any other country where
manure is a nuisance, both his stock and
his farm will be benefited. Wheat bran
may not put as much fat on cattle as does
corn-meal as it does not contain SO much
starch and oil, but it will produce more
muscle and more bone. We have seen
that 1t contains more gluten muscle ma
teriaD than fine flour, and If we burn any
given weight of bran and fine meal, we
shall find that the amount Of ash (bone
materially is at least six times as much In
the former as in the latter. As 1t is this
inorganic matter which is so much needed
on our old soils, farmers can in no more
economical way renovate their old lands
than by feeding bran heavily to stock.
We know some farmers In Massachus-
etts who feed to their COWS, both Summer
and Winter, from four to eight quarts of
bran daily, and get great returns not only
in the increased flow of milk, but In the
improved pastures and meadows. We have
looked over the pastures of some Of these
bran-feeding farmers, and are satisfied
that there Is no better mode of renovating
them. Bran furnishes just the compensa-
ton that the pastures need for the phOs-
pilates and sulphates of lime, potash and
soda, which have been removed from them
in the form of muscle and bones. By
feeding it during the Summer to cows,
they scatter it in their excrements over
the pastures without any expense to the
farmers.
If the cows are found to lose flesh Qat)
under bran diet, mix with the bran one
third, or one-half corn meal. In the Win
ter we should recommend mixing meal
with the bran for a regular diet, as the
highly carbonaceOus character of meal
tends to furnish warmth to the animal.
Fed alone, and in large quantity, meal
produces too infiammatory q condition,
tends to garget and other inflammatory
diseases, and runs the COW through life
too fast. Bran acts as an antidote to this
inflammatory tendency In meal, and while
stimulating q great flow of milk, keeps
the animal In good health and prolongs
her usefulness to good old age. If oil
cake, orcotton-seed meal Is fed to young
cattle or milch cows. there Is still greater
necessity for mixing some bran with their
feed, as these substances furnish carbon
i'm more concentrated form than does
meal, and consequently acts on the ami
NAL much as abundance of coal and q
strong draft do on furnace-they burn
it up quickly. A cow driven to the top
Of her speed, with oil-cake, cotton-seed
meal, or even corn-meal, cannot be ex-
pected to last many years. Roots or bran
must temper such high-feediug.