Bulletin No. 50. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTlU DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY. ^RICULTUR^ I LIBRARY,, j UNivERjsrr CALIFORi.i, COMPOSITION OF MAIZE (INDIAN CORN), INCLUDING THE GRAIN, MEAL, STALKS, PITH, FODDER, AND COBS. COMPILED CHIEFLY FROM THE RECORDS OF THE DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY, BY Chemist of the Department of Ayriciu.ure. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1898. Bulletin No. 50. U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY. COMPOSITION OF MAIZE (INDIAN CORN), INCLUDING THE GRAIN, MEAL, STALKS, PITH, FODDER. AND COBS. COMPILED CHIEFLY FROM THE RECORDS OF THE DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY, BY Chemist of the Department of Ayriculture. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 18 98. LETTER OF TRANSMirFAL. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Chemistry, Washington, July 25, 1898. Sir: I traDSinit herewith, for your inspection and approval, the manuscript of Bulletin No. 50 of this division, relating to the composi- tion of maize in all its parts. The material contained in this bulletin has been compiled from the records, mostly recent, of the investigations of the Division of Chem- istry of the composition of maize. Some of the data have also been derived from the researches of the agricultural colleges and experi- ment stations. No attempt lias been made to give a complete sum- mary of the work which has been done in this country on this product, but simply to present, in a condensed form, the more important data in connection with its composition. The immediate object of the i3rex)aration of this bulletin is to pre- sent it to the Third International Congress of Applied Chemistry, in Vienna. There is in Europe a considerable degree of prejudice against the use of Indian corn as a human food, and its value as a cattle food, both in respect of its grain and its stover, is not fully appreciated. It is believed that this brief summary of our present knowledge on the subject will prove advantageous both to the maize growers of this country and to the food consumers of Europe. EespectfuUy, H. W. Wiley, Chief of Division. Hon. James Wilson, Secretary. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/compositionofmaiOOunitrich CONTENTS. Page. Composition of the grains 7 Proteids of the kernels 9 Variations in compositiou 10 Milling of maize — qnalities of meal 10 Microscopic character of meal 12 Composition of fine meal 12 Eelative nutritive properties of wheat and maize 13 Experiments in feeding maize and wheat .' 13 Comparative assimilation of wheat and maize 14 Comparative production of pork from wheat and maize 15 Bread from maize meal 15 Ratio of nitrogenous to other digestible constituents 16 Maize oil 17 Composition and properties of the stalks 17 Division according to physical peculiarities 17 General composition of portions 18 Digestibility 18 Solubility with several reagents 19 Digestion with alkali 19 Furfurol content of the samples 20 Sugars 20 Successive digestion with acid and alkali 21 Kinds and quantities of sugars formed 22 Sugar in the nodes 23 Sugar in the pith 23 Separation of celluloses by the chlorination process 23 Summary of analyses 24 Maize stover as cattle feed 25 Preparation of maize fodder 1 26 Separation of the pith from the fiber 26 Properties of the pith 27 Composition of the cobs 27 Manufacture of starch 28 Manufacture of glucose 29 Manufacture of whisky and alcohol 29 By-products in the manufacture of starch, glucose, whisky, and alcohol 30 Conclusion 30 5 THE COMPOSITION OF MAIZE flNDlAN CORN) AND SOME OF ITS PRINCIPAL PRODUCTS. Maize is the most important crop cultivated iu the United States. The average area in maize for the ten years ended December 31, 1897, was 75,061,112 acres (30,370,815.80 hectares), and the average produc- tion of the grain of maize for the same period was 1,844,951,780 bushels (0 ,0,157,440.52 hectoliters). Maize is not only valuable for the grain which it produces, but the fodder, stalk, or stover, has a high commercial value as feeding mate- rial and for other purposes. It is true that the greater part of the fod- der at the present time is left upon the fields to be burned before the planting of the next crop. In the older parts of the country, however, the fodder is now carefully preserved and is found to be equally as valuable as the grain when prepared and fed in the x^roper manner. The purpose of this paper is to present, in ci condensed form, some of the results of the extensive chemical examinations which have beei? made in the laboratory of the Department of Agriculture at Washing- ton on the composition of Indian corn in its entirety, and especially in relation to some of its principal products. In all parts of the country maize forms a considerable percentage of the food of our people, and especially is this true in the Southern States, where Indian corn bread, among parts of the population, is the chief bread food used. In various other forms, as hasty pudding (mush) and other methods of preparation, it enters largely into our dietaries. Although important as a human food, the princii^al use of maize is as feed for live stock ; and it is also used for the manufacture of starch, of glucose, and of whisky and alcohol. On account of its great impor- tance, a somewhat careful study of its composition is justifiable. COMPOSITION OF THE GRAINS. For the typical samples of grain grown in the United States and collected at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago the following represents the constitution : Weight of 100 keruels... grams.. 38.979 Crude fiber percent.. 1.71 Moisture percent.. 10.93 Ash do 1.36 Proteids do 9.88 Carbohydrates other than crude Fatandoil do 4.17 liber percent.. 71.95 7 8 The following table represents the maxima, minima, and means of the constituents of maize collected in all parts of the world: Table of maxima, minima, and means of constituents of maize. Kind of sample. Domestic corn : Maxima Minima Means • Foreign corn : Maxima Minima Means Means of samples from the "United States exhibited at the Columbian Exposition (18 anal3^ses) Means of foreign samples ex; hibited at the Columbian Exposition (2 analyses) Means of former analyses of the Department of Agricul- ture: United States Northern States Southern States Middle West Far West Pacific Slope Jenkins and Winton (208 analyses) Konig (mean composition of samples from various lo- calities) : Miscellaneous origin (137> Italian samples (24) American samples (80) . . . Dent corn (149) Sugar corn (27) Southeastern Europe (19) . South -western Europe (8). Weight j of 100 jMoisture, kernels, i Grams. \ Per cent. a 48. 312 612.32 c 10. 608 6 9.58 38. 979 <'46.487 / 18. 428 28. 553 38. 979 28. 553 ft 36 747 37. 320 40. 659 32. 457 37. 528 27. 900 10.93 /12. 60 e 10. 43 11.71 10.93 Proteids. 11.71 tl0.04 9.98 8.96 12.33 9.50 9.78 10.90 13.35 13.13 10.02 10.14 8.70 14.53 12.47 Per cent. a 11. 55 6 8.58 711.55 e9.80 10.72 10. 72 j 10. 39 10.64 10.95 10.89 10.43 8.14 10.50 9.45 10.26 10.17 9.36 11.43 9.42 8.84 Ether extract. Per cent. a 5. 06 62.94 4.17 e4.85 /4.02 4.17 4.51 t5.20 5.11 4.94 4.97 5.30 6.40 5.40 4.29 3.84 4.78 4.96 7.79 4.13 5.80 Crude fiber. Per cent. 62 1.71 /2.20