10 SULPHUR BLEACHING OF COMMERCIAL OATS AND BARLEY. 

 Table IL — Vitality of oats and barley before and after bleaching. 



According to Arthur,'' ))leached oats upon which experiments were 

 made for the purpose of removing smut from seed grain showed 9 per 

 cent less germination than those that had not been treated with sul- 

 phurous acid. 



From Table II it will be noted that an average of 86.92 per cent of 

 the kernels of the unbleached oats germinated, whereas an average of 

 only 68.14 per cent of the sulphur-bleached kernels germinated, being 

 an average of 18.78 per cent less germination in the sulphur-bleached 

 than in the unbleached oats. 



With barley the percentage of germination was also found to be 

 lowered by the treatment. As shown in Table II, the average germi- 

 nation of the unbleached barlej'' was 91.72 per cent, while the average 

 of the sulphur-bleached barley was only 73.15 per cent, being 18.27 

 per cent lower than the unbleached barle3\ In a few instances, it will 

 be noted, the percentage of germination of the bleached grain was 

 decidedly lower than the check, which is accounted for by the fact that 

 these particular lots had been twice bleached, showing that the vitality 

 of the grain is reduced in proportion to the severity of the treatment. 



FEEDING EXPERIMENT WITH BLEACHED AND UNBLEACHED OATS. 



In these investigations no attempt was made to determine the effect 

 of sulphur-bleached oats on the health of animals. However, for the 

 purpose of ascertaining whether or not horses would eat sulphur- 



a Arthur, J. C. Bulletin 103, Agricultural Experiment Station, Purdue University, 

 Lafayette, Ind., 1905. 

 [Cir. 74] 



