96 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9O2. 



Hornby's H-O Oat Meal carries a guarantee that the quality 

 of the product contained in the package is superior to that of any 

 similar article. It has the composition of an average oat meal 

 and in flavor and appearance is similar to others. It is probable, 

 however, that the guarantee deceives but few. While the pack- 

 age of Hornby's Oat-Meal carried no very misleading statements, 

 the following was taken from a package of Hornby's H-O 

 Wheat: "Hornby's Oat-Meal is prepared by its own peculiar 

 process under our patents so that every grain is prepared for 

 easy digestion, making one package of more nutritive value than 

 three packages of ordinary oat meal." While there is no doubt 

 as to the good quality of Hornby's Oat-Meal, its chemical com- 

 position does not show it to be superior to other well made oat 

 meals. On the other hand, its cost per pound is 25 per cent 

 above the average and with but one exception higher than that of 

 any other oat food here given. 



The Liberty Pure Food Company claims for Oatnuts Food 

 that "after many years experimenting we have succeeded in sepa- 

 rating the meat of the oat from the shell, thus making Oatnuts ; 

 something heretofore found to be impossible." As Oatnuts 

 Food has about the average amount of crude fiber, there is no 

 evidence that the company has been more successful in "sepa- 

 rating the meat from the shell" than other companies. 



From the cost table on page 92 we find an interesting variation 

 in the prices of these goods. One article purchased in bulk costs 

 but 3.1 cents per pound, while the average cost is about 6.1 cents. 

 An imported brand, put up in tin boxes, sells for 10.9 cents per 

 pound, or nearly double the average price. This sample con- 

 tained over one per cent less protein than the average oat prepara- 

 tion, but yielded an excessive amount of fat. It is possible that 

 some reason exists why certain of these goods should sell for a 

 higher price than others, but it is rarely possible to trace any 

 relation between the cost and the actual nutritive value. 



WHEAT PREPARATIONS. 



Nineteen different samples of wheat preparations have been 

 examined, 7 of which carry more than 13 per cent of protein, 

 while 4 have from 9 to 10 per cent of protein. If one may judge 

 from the analyses, the tendency has been to use stronger wheats 

 than formerly in these preparations. A possible explanation of 



