FOOD VALUE. The wheat grain consists mainly of a large starchy mass surrounding an embryo and surrounded by six layers of tissue, known to As shown by analyses, the different sorts of flour do not vary very greatly when ground from the same lot of wheat„ although the amount of mineral matter and protein is somewhat larger in the whole wheat and Graham flour than in the higher-grade flour. Digestion experiments with healthy men have shown that the fine-Hour bread is more digestible than the breads made from the coarser grain. The average coefficients of three sorts of bread made from flours ground from the same lot of wheat. obtained experimentally by Snyder. are stated in the table on p. 462.
It has been calculated that wheat-flour bread and crackers. pastry, and similar products eon stitute 19 per cent. of the total food of the average American family, furnishing about 27 per cent. of the total protein. 0 per cent. of the total fat, and 46 per cent, of the total carbo hydrates. They contain a high percentage of starch and may be profitably combined with materials rich in protein, meat, eggs, etc., to form a well-balanced diet.
Wheat is ordinarily so valuable for human food that it is not used for feeding farm ani mals. But when the crop is very abundant and the market value correspondingly low, it may be profitably fed. Several milling products of
wheat such as bran, shorts, and middlings are important feeding stuffs, as are also various by products obtained in the manufacture of wheat breakfast foods. Wheat straw is a well-known feeding stuff, and is also used for bedding. The unthreshed wheat is sometimes fed under the name of sheaf wheat. The green wheat is occa sionally cut and cured as hay. Shrunken or damaged wheat is very often more valuable as a feeding than for marketing, while wheat screenings (inferior grains and weed seeds) are also fed. The average composition of winter and spring wheat and several wheat products is shown in the following table: many horsemen only as an occasional food. It is especially useful for feeding dairy cows, as it gives the desired bulk to the ration and supplies a considerable amount of protein and ash, which are needed for the production of milk. Digestion experiments have shown that on an average about 62 per cent. of the total dry matter, 78 per cent. protein, 29 per cent. crude fibre, and tf9 per cent. nitrogen-free extract, of wheat bran are digestible. See Colored Plate of CEREALS.