NAKED OATS 



T. R. Stanton 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture, IVashiiic/foii, D. C. 



THE naked or hull-less oat is 

 without doubt the proverbial 

 "black sheep" of the cultivated 

 oat family. In appearance it is very 

 attractive and interestini;', but it is 

 alwavs short on performance. Its 

 oddity and attractive appearance make 

 it readily salable to those who do not 

 know it, and consequently it has been 

 considerably exploited. 



During the past fifty years naked 

 oats have been advertised several times 

 as a valuable new variety, with ex- 

 travagant claims as to their yielding 

 power and usefulness as compared with 

 common oats. The purchaser in every 

 case was "gold bricked" and l^ecame 

 the unfortunate victim of the clever 

 advertising of the promoter. The pro- 

 moter's agents, traveling from farm to 

 farm, showed with great enthusiasm a 

 few kernels of the naked oats in 

 small vials which they carried with 

 them, proclaiming it to be one of the 

 marvels of the age. 



In the decade from 1870 to 1880, 

 naked oats, under the name of Bohe- 

 mian oats, were for the first time wide- 

 ly exploited in this country. They were 

 known prior to this, but apparently 

 had been given no serious considera- 

 tion, especially as a plant novelty that 

 would lend itself readily to spurious 

 exploitation. During the period of the 

 Bohemian oat scandal the seed was 

 sold for as much as fifty cents a pound. 

 The Bohemian oats were rather widely 

 distributed, but farmers discovered that 

 they were greatly inferior to ordinary 

 oats and soon they had almost entirely 

 disappeared from cultivation. How- 

 ever, sporadic exploitation of naked 

 oats under other names has occurred 

 up to the present day. Every spring 

 the Office of Cereal Investigations, U. 

 S. Department of Agriculture, receives 



letters from farmers requesting seed 

 or information on naked or hull-less 

 oats. 



History 



The origin of naked oats is not 

 known, though they appear to have 

 come originally from central and east- 

 ern Asia. This type of oats was 

 grown in England as early as the mid- 

 dle of the sixteenth century. In some 

 of the older English publications they 

 are referred to as "peelcorn" and also 

 as "skinless oats." Naked oats are 

 now found in the dry Tibetan-Hima- 

 laya highlands in Russia and Chinese 

 Turkestan, and in northern and west- 

 ern China. Indications are that they 

 have grown in that part of the world 

 for many centuries, the grain being 

 used quite largely as human food. 

 Practically all of the naked varieties 

 received by the Office of Cereal In- 

 vestigations were collected by the late 

 Frank N. Meyer in the regions men- 

 tioned. He reports that they usually 

 were found growing on sterile moun- 

 tain sides at high altitudes. 



Description 



The chief distinguishing character- 

 istic of naked oats is, as the name im- 

 plies, the multiple-flowered spikelet 

 with naked or hull-less kernels. The 

 hull is not retained as in common oats, 

 but the grain thrashes free from it. 

 The number of flowers in the spikelet 

 varies from three to twelve, the average 

 number being about seven. The culms 

 and leaves are similar to those of com- 

 mon oats, though the culm is usually 

 shorter and weaker and lodges more 

 easily. As in common oats, there 

 are varieties with both spreading and 

 side (horsemane) panicles, the latter 

 being j^ractically unknown in America. 



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