Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1888-04-18
Something About AIbuminoids.

Joaquin Miller.
Something About A1buminoids.
Recently correspondent of the Phil
adelphia Press wrote that agricultural
writers have too much to say about
'albuminoids, and other Thugs with
names that common people cannot un-
derstand Why don't they use plain
langu ,ge ?" he asked. To this the ed
itor answered that there is no common
name for albuminoid+, any more than
there Is for oxygen, or hydrogen, or
ammonia. Most farmers understand
these terms and they are no more i'm
portant to the farmers business than
albuminoids or carb -hydrates. The
time has gone by when farmer has any
excuse for not understanding these
terms, provided he can read. Every
agricultural paper, and secular paper,
too, use the word in almost every issue,
and in such connection that she who
runs may read" the meaning. It is not
necessary nowadays tor an agricultural
writer to d, fine the ordinary technical
terms. 1t is the farmers business to
know what they mean, and he should
be as much ashamed to plead ignorance
as he would be to say that he could not
read at all.
When the writer of these lines was
boy, his father was a regular subscriber
to thesAlbany Cultivator, and it did not
take him long to learn the meaning Of
nitrogen, and phosphoric acid, and pot
ash, and other component parts of
plants and crops and animals. Since
then the reports of the German expert
ment stations, and OF agricultural chem
terms albuminoids and carbohydrates
a md rlJtr int
and conversation as any scientific
terms.
AlbuminOids mean substances having
the same chemical composition as al
bumen, or the white CT an egg, or the
lean part of flesh (fbrin) or the curds
of which cheese is made. Food sub
stances containing albuminoids in large
proportion are necessary to animal life
and growth. They build up the muscu-
lar portions of the animal body, the
tendons and the nerves. Feed an ami
NAL exclusively on fats or oils, which
contain little albuminous or heterogeneous
matter and the animal would die from
exhaustion or muscular starvation
Feed horse or COW entirely on corn
meal and it would waste away and die
after a while. Such food is still more
inappropriate for young and grow
ing animals, as in addition to the
replacing of the daily waste, the muscles
must grow, and food which can be as
simulated into muscular growth must be
ea,en. Therefore, the ration of calf
or colt, or lamb, or child, must contain
more albuminoids in proportion to the
carb- hydrates, Tor heat-giving matter)
than is necessary for mature animals or
persons. When the farmer leeds his
team for hard work, or his COWS for large
InId Nc s h hn1 e H.
containing much albuminoids, as the
animal uses good deal in work or case
in. Carbohydrates are necessary in the
food to keep up the animal heat, and
the proportion between the albnminoids
and the carbohydrates in the food neces-
sary for an animal is called the "nutri-
tive ratio" of that food.
Ga have larger proportion of albu-
minoids to carb-hy drates than has corn
Hence, for team that is hard at work,
oats are better grain than corn. In
the winter, when the team is not at
work SO hard, and the animal heat is
can be increased safely and economi-
caly.
For young stock, bran, linseed.oil
meal, and cotton-seed meal, which have
had most of their carbohydrates ex-
tracted, are economical substances to
feed in conjunction tn hay, straw, and
cornstalks, whica are very deficient in
albuminoids.
We have spoken of foods containing
albuminOids as more economical than
those containing an excess of carb-
hydrates in making up a ration for grow
ing animals. Many farmers at first
might be tempted to suppose that corn
at 81 cents per bushel is cheaper than
oats at 40 cents, or oil meal az $24 per
ton. It really depends on the use to
be made of them. Corn may cost less
per pound, but if it is to be fed to calf
or colt in order to make it grow to full
size and strength, it is mostly thrown
away, not doing what was expected of
it. Take two colks, alike in every re-
spect, and feed one hay, straw and
corn, and the other the same ration, ex-
cept that oats are fed instead of corn,
and by the time $40 worth of grain is
fed to each one, the colt ted on oats will
be larger, heavier and stronger than the
other The oats ere the cheaper grain,
and more economical as part of the
ration.
This question of getting at the most
economical ration for the farm stock, by
mixing the albumenoids and carb-
hydrates in the proportions best adapted
to the object for which the stock is fed,
is we'll worth the careful study of every
farmer.-Ba!falo Erpress.
Thorough Cultivation,
e